RIVALS, FRIENDS AND FELLOW TRAVELLERS
Updated: 18 Feb 2010
Relevant artists and others who have contributed over the years to the Strawbs story or who link to the Strawbsweb site.
Send any suggestions for inclusion (or broken links) to:
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ELMER GANTRY/STRETCH - After Velvet Opera, Gantry later joined a band called Stretch with Kirby Gregory, who has links with Curved Air. |
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FAIRPORT CONVENTION - Premier much-loved folk-rock band, often compared with Strawbs, in terms of longevity if nothing else. Acoustic Strawbs and Acoustic Fairport have played on the same bill on a number of occasions in the US. And of course fiddle supremo Ric Sanders played on "Ringing Down The Years" at Chiswick and on "The Young Pretender" on Cousins & Wakeman's Hummingbird. To say nothing of the Sandy Denny connection .... Fairport continue to tour and record and hold the massively successful Cropredy Festival each year - Strawbs playing for the first time at Cropredy in 2007. |
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ADAM FALKNER - joined Strawbs for an electric tour in 2012. Inventer of the Stomperine, a gadget to allow drummer to play tambourine with their feet. |
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FEAST OF FIDDLES - Forget your fiddlers three, this is your fiddlers many more than three, with the stellar drumming talents of one Dave Mattacks to hold them together. Ian Cutler is a leading light, as is Tom Leary who played with Dave Lambert in the folk supergroup Zeus, which sadly only played a few gigs. |
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FOCUS - Focus and Wishbone travelled the length and breadth of the UK with Acoustic Strawbs on a successful 2009 tour. |
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FOGGY - Danny Clarke and Lennie Wesley formed this soft folk duo in the late 60s, initially called Foggy Dew-O, but later shortening the name to just Foggy. Brian Willoughby was a member briefly in 1973. On Born To Take The Highway they covered four Strawbs songs. Dave Cousins and Tony Hooper produced and various Strawbs played on their album, Simple Gifts. These days Granville Clark is a watercolour artist. |
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FOGGY MOUNTAIN BOYS/ LESTER FLATT & EARL SCRUGGS - The Foggy Mountain Boys inspired Strawbs in a number of ways - Cousins' breakneck banjo playing was a result of their influence amongst others; and of course the band's original name, the Strawberry Hill Boys, was a take off of the many bluegrass "boys" bands of that period, conjured up by Cousins when put on the spot to give a band name for an early booking. |
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GALLAGHER & LYLE - A&M labelmates, Benny Gallagher & Graham Lyle had history as songwriters and then with McGuinness Flint, before striking out on their own as a duo. They supported Strawbs at the traumatic Rainbow gig in April 1973, where internal bickering foreshadowed the break-up which would erupt on the US tour later that summer. |
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DICK GAUGHAN - Celebrated Scottish folkie, also a member of fine 70s folk band Five Hand Reel. An excellent archive of songwords on the site. |
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GORDON GILTRAP - Splendid acoustic guitar hero, a splemdid site run by Strawbs fan Sue Holton |
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STEVE HACKETT - Former Genesis guitarist struck out on his own after 1977's Wind And Wuthering- both Chas Cronk and Tony Fernandez have played with the Steve Hackett Band. |
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HALF MOON PUTNEY - Site of many a Strawbs gig, a celebrated music venue in South West London, recently under threat of closure, but now reprieved. |
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ROSIE HARDMAN - I saw Rosie many times in folk clubs, what a fantastic singer and songwriter. She duetted with Dave Cousins on "Lean On Me" (a Rosie-written number not the old standard) from her album Stopped In My Tracks, which also featured a cover of "Grace Darling". After a long time away, she performed again in October last year - a repeat scheduled for 3 October 2007 ... |
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ROY HARPER - The newly electrified Strawbs featuring Rick Wakeman, Hud and John Ford toured with Roy Harper in 1970 prior to the QEH extravaganza which became Antiques and Curios. |
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JON HISEMAN/COLOSSEUM - Hiseman, taking time out from his band Colosseum played on Dave Cousins' 1972 solo album Two Weeks Last Summer. |
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RUPERT HOLMES - Holmes produced 1976's Deep Cuts with Jeffrey Lesser. A soft rock recording artist in his own right. |
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MARY HOPKIN - Brian Willoughby's first gig was as Mary's guitarist, a seminal singer of the 60s, married Tony Visconti. Cousins played on her Earth Song album (along with Claire Deniz); Mary sang on Willoughby's Black And White, Cousins & Willoughby's The Bridge and Strawbs' Blue Angel albums. |
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IANYA - Italian band Ianva released an EP with an Italian cover of "The Battle" in Oct 2007.
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IF - John Mealing played in jazz rock band If prior to hooking up with the Strawbs in 1975. |
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INCREDIBLE STRING BAND - contemporaries of the early Strawberry Hill Boys, Robin Williamson, Mike Heron and Clive Palmer formed ISB in 1965. Palmer quickly left behind the nucleus of Williamson and Heron, who, adding girlfriends to the roster, then others, remained the quirky heart of this outfit until its split in1974. Joe Boyd produced various of their albums. |
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JETHRO TULL - Tull's recording career spand as imilar period to that of the Strawbs, ranging from their early blues influences through to folk-rock, though perhaps in a heavier vein. Keyboardist Don Airey played in both bands. |
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DAVEY JOHNSTONE - folk guitraist in the 1970s aka Shaggis, Johnstone hooked up first with Noel Murphy for Noel's "Another Round LP, and then ex-Strawbs bass player Ron Chesterman to form folk band Draught Porridge. Fame and fortune beckoned when he became Elton John's lead guitarist, a role he's filled for many many years |
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THE JOHNSTONS - 1970s irish folk band, featuring Paul Brady. They covered Dave Cousins "You Keep Going Your Way" on their album of contemporary songs Give A Damn |
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NIC JONES - Nic Jones was a much celebrated folk singer in the UK in the 1970s, sadly his career was cut short by a bad car accident. |