English country music
Encyclopedia
English Country Music is a term that gained currency in the 1960s and early 70s to specifically describe a genre of instrumental music then receiving attention from the folk revival.
This was a deliberate attempt to avoid the term "folk", at the time being used widely to include much acoustically performed music with or without genuine folk origins or "traditional" which would strictly preclude the more recent material country musicians performed. Those like Keith Summers who sought traditional musicians in rural areas often found that both songs and tunes from published sources, music hall, radio, 78 recordings or later coexisted in a performer's repertoire, sometimes, but not always, alongside music which could be strictly defined as "folk" or "traditional". The focus for revival performers of English Country Music became the style of their informants as much as their repertoire. Rather than a folk club a venue might be a remote country pub where revival and traditional musicians or singers would make music together in the bar. These were sometimes organised by revivalists like Ken Stubbs and Taffy Thomas
who had developed real empathy with the older musicians. The polka dominated instrumental repertoire differed from the music that had been associated with English Country Dance
up to this point. The term seems to have fallen out of regular use in favour of a more relaxed definition of "traditional" perhaps due to confusion with the better known but altogether different American Country Music
.
The band Oak
's LP "Welcome to our fair" with its subtitle "English Country Music and Song" was a milestone in establishing the genre in the revival and this was followed by the even more influential re-issue by Topic Records
of Reg Hall's earlier limited edition recording "English Country Music". Reg's association with Sussex concertina player Scan Tester
is well documented in his "I never played to many posh dances".
Original Oak members Rod and Danny Stradling moved to Cheltenham
forming the Old Swan Band
and initiating the English Country Music Weekends which started at Cricklade
and featured traditional rather than revival musicians while Peta Webb and Tony Engle remained in London where Tony became the driving force behind Topic Records
. Topic's catalogue became the mainstay of recorded source material for those aspiring to play English Country Music. English Country Music can still be heard at The East Anglian Music Trust's annual Traditional Music Day at Stowmarket's Museum of East Angian Life every August, at other trust events and at pub sessions and barn dances or ceilidhs across the country.
This was a deliberate attempt to avoid the term "folk", at the time being used widely to include much acoustically performed music with or without genuine folk origins or "traditional" which would strictly preclude the more recent material country musicians performed. Those like Keith Summers who sought traditional musicians in rural areas often found that both songs and tunes from published sources, music hall, radio, 78 recordings or later coexisted in a performer's repertoire, sometimes, but not always, alongside music which could be strictly defined as "folk" or "traditional". The focus for revival performers of English Country Music became the style of their informants as much as their repertoire. Rather than a folk club a venue might be a remote country pub where revival and traditional musicians or singers would make music together in the bar. These were sometimes organised by revivalists like Ken Stubbs and Taffy Thomas
Taffy Thomas
Taffy Thomas, MBE is a storyteller, based in Grasmere in the English Lake District.-Biography:In September 2009, Thomas accepted the honorary position of the UK's first Laureate for Storytelling, which was officially launched on 30 January 2010 at the British Library as part of a series of national...
who had developed real empathy with the older musicians. The polka dominated instrumental repertoire differed from the music that had been associated with English Country Dance
English Country Dance
English Country Dance is a form of folk dance. It is a social dance form, which has earliest documented instances in the late 16th century. Queen Elizabeth I of England is noted to have been entertained by "Country Dancing," although the relationship of the dances she saw to the surviving dances of...
up to this point. The term seems to have fallen out of regular use in favour of a more relaxed definition of "traditional" perhaps due to confusion with the better known but altogether different American Country Music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
.
The band Oak
Oak (band)
Oak were an English folk band in the early 1970s which had a major influence on the folk revival in the UK, despite being together for only two years.Oak were:* Tony Engle * Danny Stradling...
's LP "Welcome to our fair" with its subtitle "English Country Music and Song" was a milestone in establishing the genre in the revival and this was followed by the even more influential re-issue by Topic Records
Topic Records
Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.-History:...
of Reg Hall's earlier limited edition recording "English Country Music". Reg's association with Sussex concertina player Scan Tester
Scan Tester
Scan Tester was an English folk and English country musician.-Overview:Lewis "Scan" Tester was born in Chelwood Gate, near Horsted Keynes, Sussex. At about the age of five he acquired the nickname "scantelope"...
is well documented in his "I never played to many posh dances".
Original Oak members Rod and Danny Stradling moved to Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
forming the Old Swan Band
Old Swan Band
-Early years:Its origins lie in the early 1970s with the English country dance band Oak, one of a tiny handful at that time that combined melodeon with fiddles. Two members of Oak, husband and wife Rod and Danny Stradling , went on to form The Cotswold Liberation Front, which became The Old Swan...
and initiating the English Country Music Weekends which started at Cricklade
Cricklade
Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire in England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester.On 25 September 2011 Cricklade was awarded The Royal Horticultural Society's 'Champion of Champions' award in the Britain in Bloom competition.Cricklade is twinned with...
and featured traditional rather than revival musicians while Peta Webb and Tony Engle remained in London where Tony became the driving force behind Topic Records
Topic Records
Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.-History:...
. Topic's catalogue became the mainstay of recorded source material for those aspiring to play English Country Music. English Country Music can still be heard at The East Anglian Music Trust's annual Traditional Music Day at Stowmarket's Museum of East Angian Life every August, at other trust events and at pub sessions and barn dances or ceilidhs across the country.