Dave Pegg (born 2 November 1947) is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, primarily a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of folk and rock groups including the Ian Campbell Folk Group and Jethro Tull.
After leaving school he worked as an insurance clerk for about a year while playing in a part-time bands the Crawdaddys and The Roy Everett Blues Band, who supported several performers from the Birmingham beat scene of the time, including the Spencer Davis Group and The Moody Blues.[3] In 1966 he auditioned for The Uglys, featuring Steve Gibbons and was beaten to the position by friend and guitarist Roger Hill, but was offered the job of bass guitarist and switched instruments.[3]
The Uglys cut one single before Pegg and Hill left to form a blues trio, The Exception, with singer Alan Eastwood. At this period he played with Robert Plant and in his next band, The Way of Life, the drummer was John Bonham, later both went to form Led Zeppelin. In 1967 he joined the Ian Campbell Folk Group, where he switched to stand-up bass, learnt to play the mandolin and acquired his affection for folk music. It was also where he came to the attention of local folk guitarist Ralph McTell and former Campbell Group and future Fairport Convention member Dave Swarbrick.[3]
By early 1969 he had moved back to electric bass with The Beast, with Cozy Powell and Dave Clempson, before the latter left for Colosseum. Soon after this he joined the Birmingham band Dave Peace Quartet, and played bass on their electric blues album "Good Morning Mr Blues" released on SAGA FID 2155.[4] One week after seeing Fairport for the first time on his twenty-first birthday he was called by Swarbrick to audition for the band after the departure of Ashley Hutchings, who was soon to found Steeleye Span.[3]
Pegg joined Fairport Convention towards the end of 1969 and formed a strong playing partnership with drummer Dave Mattacks and good relationships with the other members. Although Hutchings had been a solid and melodic bass player, Pegg played with greater virtuosity, complexity and energy.[3] Ashley Hutchings credits Pegg with being the musician who began the technique of playing jigs and reels on the bass, rather than just a supportive bass line, which was subsequently adopted by most British folk rock and even folk punk bassists.[5] All this was obvious on the 1970 tour of Britain and America (including support for Jethro Tull), recordings from which surfaced on the Live at the L.A. Troubadour album (1977). His first album with the group, Full House (1970), showed more technically accomplished playing from the band, showing Pegg's musical influence on the group.[6]
On joining the band Pegg had moved his family from Birmingham and into the former pub, the Angel in Hadham, Hertfordshire along with other group members and their families.[6] This became the theme for the title track of the next album Angel Delight (1971), for which Pegg received his first writing credit. On the next album Babbacombe Lee, a folk-rock opera masterminded by Swarbrick, he played a much greater role, contributing to seven of the fifteen tracks.[7] The next album Rosie contained three of his contributions, including the song Peggy's Pub a statement of a lifelong ambition.[8]
In 1971 when Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks left the band, Pegg and Swarbrick were the only remaining members and, as a succession of personnel came (or returned) and left again over the next five years, their partnership kept the band running.[9] Some of these performers, like Sandy Denny and her husband Trevor Lucas, were acknowledged songwriters and as a result, although he still made contributions and took part in collaborations, Pegg's song-writing took a back seat to his instrumental and organisational skills.[10] After the financial disaster that followed the Rising for the Moon (1975) tour, which prompted Denny, Lucas and Jerry Donahue to quit the band, Pegg became increasingly determined for the group to take control of their finances and direction and took over a larger responsibility.[2] Pegg and Swarbrick renewed contact with Nicol in 1975 forming a low key trio, Three Desperate Mortgages, which toured student venues across Britain.[11][12]
With only Pegg, Swarbrick and replacement drummer Bruce Rowland left, they persuaded Nicol to rejoin the band during the Gottle O'Geer album sessions. The remaining quartet signed up with Vertigo, and produced two albums, The Bonny Bunch of Roses (1977) and Tipplers Tales (1978). Although well crafted these albums did not sell well and Vertigo bought them out of their contract.[13] With Swarbrick suffering acute hearing problems and with no recording contract the group decided to disband and played a final concert at Cropredy in Oxfordshire on 4 August 1979, close to where Pegg lived.[14]
While with Fairport, Pegg had played on a variety of albums for other performers. Among them were: Nick Drake's Bryter Layter (1970); John Martyn's Solid Air (1973) and One World (1977), as well as work for current and ex-Fairporters, including several albums for Dave Swarbrick, on Sandy Denny's Like an Old Fashioned Waltz (1973) and Rendezvous (1977) and Richard Thompson's Pour Down Like Silver (1975). He appeared on three Ralph McTell albums, including Streets (1973), and Slide Aside the Screen (1976), which Pegg also produced.
Woodworm and Jethro Tull 1980–1995
Although Fairport had disbanded they continued to play annual reunions at Cropredy, supplemented by New Year's gigs in minor locations and occasional larger European festivals.[15] Because no record label was interested in putting out recordings of the Cropredy concerts, Pegg and his wife Christine established their own label, Woodworm Records. They released the final concert as the album Farewell, Farewell (1979) and subsequent recordings were issued as 'official bootlegs'. He had already established a small recording studio in his house and with the money from the end of the record deal with Vertigo, he was able to develop this and it was eventually moved to a nearby converted chapel. The result was that Pegg had his own recording facility and record label. Artists like Steve Ashley began to record albums there from 1979. The Peggs established a mailing list of fans of the band, keeping interest in Fairport alive and, particularly Christine, took over the organization of the Cropredy Festival, which grew in size every year to reach about 18,000 attendees by the mid-1980s.[16]
In 1979 Ian Anderson invited Pegg to stand in for the ailing John Glascock on the Jethro Tull Stormwatch tour. After Glascock's death, Pegg was invited to join the band, still one of the biggest in the world, and it provided paid employment for Pegg for the next fifteen years.[2] Pegg happened to join at a turning point for Jethro Tull. His first recording was intended as a solo album for Anderson, involving only Martin Barre from the band. The album, A (1980) was in stark contrast to the medieval and folk music inspired previous work, depending heavily on synthesizers for its sound. At this time all the other longstanding members left the band and the recording was put out as a Jethro Tull album. Pegg coped with this, and subsequent changes of style. The next album, Broadsword and the Beast (1982) had a heavier sound and more medieval theme and Pegg joined the band on stage in pseudo-medieval costume beside a Viking ship.[17] In 1983 Pegg recorded his first solo album, The Cocktail Cowboy Goes It Alone (1983). After the next Tull album, Under Wraps (1984), Anderson's vocal problems forced him to retire from touring for three years and Pegg had more time to pursue other projects.[18]
Reforming Fairport 1985–1995
In 1981 Pegg joined Ralph McTell and ex-Fairport members Richard Thompson and Dave Mattacks in the GPs (an abbreviation for the 'Grazed Pontiffs', after a comment by Dave Mattacks following the attempted assassination of the Pope). The aim was for a pub band, playing a few originals and blues, rock n' roll, soul and country standards. They only gave six performances, including the Fairport reunion festival in 1981 (at Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire), which Woodworm Records released a recording of the performance as Saturday Rolling Around (1991).[19] In the 1980s he also appeared on several recordings by other folk artists, including Murray Head and Dick Gaughan, besides those by Fairport and ex-Fairport members Simon Nicol and Richard Thompson.
In 1985 Pegg, Nicol and Mattacks were also free and the trio decided to make an album of new material for the band to play at the Cropredy Festival, using the Woodworm studio and label. The result was Gladys' Leap (1985), which was generally well received in the music and national press, but caused some tension with Swarbrick who refused to play any of the new material at the 1985 Cropredy Festival. Nevertheless, the decision to reform the band, without Swarbrick, was taken by the other three remaining members. Ric Sanders was invited to join, along with guitarist, composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Maartin Allcock.[20] Pegg was now in two major bands at the same time. The reformed Fairport produced an instrumental album Expletive Delighted (1986), mainly designed to showcase the virtuosity of Sanders and Allcock.[21]
In 1987 Jethro Tull produced their first album for three years, Crest of a Knave, to which Pegg contributed and this was to be followed by an American tour, on which Anderson invited Fairport to support Jethro Tull. Needing an album to promote, Pegg negotiated financial support from Island Records and Fairport put together In Real Time (1987).[2] This was presented as a live album, but was actually a studio recording (albeit with all the songs recorded "as live" with all the musicians playing at the same time) with dubbed audience reactions.[22] Although the tour was musically rewarding, it was unproductive financially and Pegg, being in both bands, left the stage with one band to return after a few minutes with the other, and the process was inevitably exhausting.[2] Pegg played on three more Jethro Tull studio albums: Rock Island (1989), Catfish Rising (1991) and Roots to Branches (1995). In the same period he contributed to three studio albums by Fairport Convention: Red and Gold (1989) the Five Seasons (1990) and Jewel in the Crown (1995).[23] Fairport's popularity and the scale of their tours were growing throughout this period and the strain of undertaking two jobs, plus his other commitments, was becoming too much and he decided to leave Tull and focus on Fairport.[24]
Part of the result of this change was a higher output of albums for Fairport Convention, with five studio albums from the acoustic Old New Borrowed Blue (1996) to Over the Next Hill (2004), beside four live albums and compilations. Pegg also released his second solo album Birthday Party (1998), which combined recordings from a celebratory concert for his fiftieth birthday at Dudley Town Hall with studio recordings.[25]
In 1998, Pegg formed The Dylan Project, a Bob Dylantribute band with Simon Nicol, PJ Wright, Steve Gibbons, and Gerry Conway. In 2006, Nicol was replaced by Birmingham keyboard player Phil Bond. They tour annually in the autumn and have produced two studio albums and a live album recorded at Cropredy Festival.[26]
In 2002 Dave Pegg shared with other Fairport Convention members a 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
In 2004 Pegg and his wife Christine divorced. The Woodworm studio was sold, and a new record label, Matty Grooves was established for the band and the group as a whole now organises the Cropredy Festival, now called Fairport's Cropredy Convention.[27]
Pegg also formed Peggy & PJ, a duo with guitarist PJ Wright, who had been lead guitar with the Steve Gibbons Band, touring smaller venues and producing an album Galileo's Apology in 2007, a collection of pop and folk-rock songs and instrumentals.[28] Pegg also had a second 'birthday bash' at Birmingham Town Hall, released as Dave Pegg's 60th Birthday Bash (2008).[29]
From 2010 to 2013 he appeared in France with the Breton band Red Cardell.
Pegg lives in Banbury, Oxfordshire.[25] He has a daughter, Stephanie, who works as a PR consultant; his son, Matt Pegg, is a bassist who has played with Procol Harum and Francis Dunnery[31] and has also stood in for Pegg live with Jethro Tull when Pegg was committed to touring with Fairport Convention.[32]
David James Mattacks is an English rock and folk drummer, best known for his work with British folk rock band Fairport Convention.
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater. They started out influenced by American folk rock, with a set list dominated by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell songs and a sound that earned them the nickname "the British Jefferson Airplane". Vocalists Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews joined them before the recording of their self-titled debut in 1968; afterwards, Dyble was replaced by Sandy Denny, with Matthews later leaving during the recording of their third album.
David Cyril Eric Swarbrick was an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. His style has been copied or developed by almost every British and many world folk violin players who have followed him. He was one of the most highly regarded musicians produced by the second British folk revival, contributing to some of the most important groups and projects of the 1960s, and he became a much sought-after session musician, which led him throughout his career to work with many of the major figures in folk and folk rock music.
Woodworm Records was a record label created in 1979 to enable the British folk-rock band Fairport Convention to release their album Farewell, Farewell. The album was a recording of performances taken from the band's 1979 farewell tour. The impending break-up of the band had followed medical advice given to fiddle-player Dave Swarbrick to save his hearing by playing no more amplified music. As there was no record label willing to release the recording, bass guitarist Dave Pegg and his wife Christine formed their own label to release the album.
Christopher Julian Leslie is a British folk rock musician. He joined Fairport Convention in 1997.
Full House is a 1970 album by British folk rock group Fairport Convention, their fifth since their debut, Fairport Convention in 1968, and their first without a female vocalist.
Liege & Lief is the fourth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third album the group released in the UK during 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist, as well as the first to feature future long-serving personnel Dave Swarbrick and Dave Mattacks on violin/mandolin and drums, respectively, as full band members. It is also the first Fairport album on which all songs are either adapted (freely) from traditional British and Celtic folk material, or else are original compositions written and performed in a similar style. Although Denny and founding bass player Ashley Hutchings quit the band before the album's release, Fairport Convention has continued to the present day to make music strongly based within the British folk rock idiom, and are still the band most prominently associated with it.
Simon John Breckenridge Nicol is an English guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founding member of British folk rock group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the band. He has also been involved with the Albion Band and a wide range of musical projects, both as a collaborator, producer and as a solo artist. He has received several awards for his work and career.
Maartin Allcock was an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer.
Moat on the Ledge: Live at Broughton Castle, August '81 is a live folk rock album by Fairport Convention. The album was produced by Simon Nicol and Dave Pegg.
Rising for the Moon is the tenth studio album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in 1975. It reached number 52 in the UK albums charts. This was the last Fairport album to feature vocalist Sandy Denny.
Angel Delight is the sixth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention, released in June 1971. This was the first Fairport Convention album without guitarist Richard Thompson, and the lineup consisted of Simon Nicol, Dave Swarbrick, Dave Pegg, and Dave Mattacks (drums).
This is a list of artists who have played at the various Fairport Convention Fairport's Cropredy Convention over the years.
Rosie is a 1973 album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, their eighth album since their debut in 1968.
The Cropredy Box is an album by Fairport Convention recorded at their annual live concert in Cropredy, Oxfordshire, England to celebrate the band's thirtieth anniversary in 1997. Featuring many songs for which the band had become noted, the set also features performances from many former members including violinist Dave Swarbrick, original vocalist Judy Dyble, and Ralph McTell. Commentary is provided by their first manager, Joe Boyd, and Ashley Hutchings.
Expletive Delighted! is a 1986 album by British folk rock band Fairport Convention, their fifteenth studio album since their debut in 1968. It is the band's only album consisting solely of instrumental tracks, despite the claim "Lyric sheet enclosed" on the album cover.
Old New Borrowed Blue is the nineteenth studio album by folk rock band Fairport Convention, although for this release, they were billed as "Fairport Acoustic Convention" as it was the band's first all-acoustic album in 29 years. Part studio, part live, it was recorded to publicise a tour of the United States and consisted of cover versions, new songs and classic tracks dating back to the band's early career. Dave Mattacks, who had provided drums and electronic instrumentation for previous albums, was absent.
Who Knows Where the Time Goes? is the twentieth studio album released in 1997 by folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is a mixture of studio and live tracks recorded by Mark Tucker at Woodworm Studios, Oxfordshire, The Cropredy Festival 1995 and the Fairport Convention Winter Tour 1997. It was Fairport Convention's first studio album with singer and violinist Chris Leslie, who replaced Maartin Allcock and would become a mainstay in the band.
Steve Frank Ashley is an English singer-songwriter, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, writer and graphic designer. Ashley is best known as a songwriter and first gained public recognition for his work with his debut solo album, Stroll On. Taking his inspiration from English traditional songs, Ashley has developed a songwriting style which is contemporary in content while reflecting traditional influences in his melodies, poetry and vocal delivery.
References
Frame, P. (1993). Rock Family Trees (3rded.). Omnibus.
Humphries, P. (1997). Meet on the Ledge, Fairport Convention, the Classic Years (2nded.). Virgin.
Nollen, S.A. (2001). Jethro Tull: A History of the Band, 1968–2001. McFarland.
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