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The Young Tradition | |
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Origin | England |
Genres | Folk |
Years active | 1965–1969 |
Labels | Transatlantic |
Members | Peter Bellamy Heather Wood Royston Wood |
The Young Tradition was an English folk group of the 1960s, formed by Peter Bellamy, Royston Wood and Heather Wood. They recorded three albums of mainly traditional British folk music, sung in arrangements for their three unaccompanied voices.
The Young Tradition was formed on 18 April 1965 by Peter Bellamy (born Peter Franklyn Bellamy, 8 September 1944, Bournemouth, Dorset, England – 19 September 1991, Keighley, Yorkshire, England), Royston Wood (born Royston Michael Wood, 1935 – 8 April 1990, New Rochelle, New York, U.S.) and Heather Wood (born Arielle Heather Wood, 31 March 1945, Attercliffe, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England – 15 July 2024, Stony Brook, New York) (who was unrelated to Royston Wood). [1] Most of their repertoire was traditional British folk music, sung without instrumental accompaniment, and was drawn especially from the music of the Copper Family from Sussex, who had a strong oral musical tradition. [1] They augmented the pure folk music with some composed songs which were strongly rooted in the English folk tradition, such as sea shanties written by Cyril Tawney, of which "Chicken on a Raft" was the most notable.
In the late 1960s, London became the centre of the English folk music revival and The Young Tradition moved there, [1] sharing a house with John Renbourn, Bert Jansch and Anne Briggs.
They recorded three albums as well as an EP on the Transatlantic Records label. Allegedly, the group also had an uncredited cameo appearance singing the Marat, We're Poor chorus on Judy Collins' 1966 In My Life album. [2] They also collaborated with Shirley Collins on an album recorded in 1969 called The Holly Bears the Crown . A single of The Boar's Head Carol was released from these sessions in 1974 (by Argo Records), but owing in part to the band's 1969 break up, the full album was not released until 1995 (by Fledg'ling Records). Transatlantic also released a compilation record in 1969: The Young Tradition Sampler.
Their later work became more influenced by mediaeval music. [1] "Galleries", their last album released during the life of the band, was musically augmented by Dolly Collins, Dave Swarbrick, David Munrow and The Early Music Consort. [1] It included a version of "Agincourt Carol".
In 1969, the group split up on account of their different musical preferences, with Bellamy wanting to pursue pure traditional music. [1] Their final concert was at Cecil Sharp House, home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, in October 1969.
Royston and Heather Wood continued to work together after the split with Peter Bellamy in 1969, [1] but they did not record again until 1977 when they released No Relation, an album which included Peter Bellamy as guest singer on three tracks and also appearances by guitarists Pete Kirtley and Simon Nicol and bass guitarist Ashley Hutchings.
In 1972 Royston Wood joined The Albion Country Band on vocals and English concertina, with ex-Fairport Convention members Ashley Hutchings, Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks, along with fiddler, Sue Draheim and singer-songwriter, Steve Ashley. Following the break-up of this band he sang briefly with Swan Arcade [1] and died after a car accident in 1990, and Peter Bellamy died by suicide in 1991.
The last recording to be found under the name "The Young Tradition: Oberlin '68," was a 2013 release of a live concert performed for the Oberlin College folk music society, recorded unbeknownst (or possibly just unremembered) to the trio, rediscovered by the recording engineer among his old reel-to-reels, and deemed by English label Fledg'ling to be worthy of distribution. The album shows the band at their stand-up performing best, with the jokes and introductions to the songs providing a clear picture of their performing style while they were in their heyday.
Heather Wood became a mainstay of the New York and East Coast folk scenes, as sometimes Treasurer, and sometimes Program Chair of the Folk Music Society of New York, Inc. (formerly the Pinewoods Folk Music Club), and co-founded with Joy Bennett (The Johnson Girls, Executive Director of Old Songs) the club's week-long annual folk music camp TradMaD, held at Pinewoods Camp in Plymouth, Massachusetts each summer. As well as organizing traditional music events and performances, she wrote serious and funny songs, and poems, and seasonal plays, and she performed frequently as a solo artist as well as in a duo known as Crossover with Andy Wallace, an American traditional singer (1984 - 1986); in trios including Poor Old Horse with David Jones (English) and Tom Gibney (American) (1992 - 2005); and as TradMore with David Kleiman and Ken Schatz, two American blokes). She was determined to keep traditional English music alive, and in her later years influenced many unaccompanied folksingers who she dubbed collectively as "the young," a number of whom sang her to her rest at Stony Brook University Hospital, where she died. Heather Wood lived in New York City from 1977 until her death on 15 July 2024, at the age of 79. [3]
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, and Matthews later left during the recording of their third album.
Ashley Stephen Hutchings, MBE, sometimes known in early years as "Tyger" Hutchings, is an English bassist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founding member of three noteworthy English folk-rock bands: Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band. Hutchings has overseen numerous other projects, including records and live theatre, and has collaborated on film and television projects.
Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on piano and portative organ created unique settings for Shirley's plain, austere singing style.
Fellside Recordings is a British independent record label, formed by Paul Adams and Linda Adams in 1976 in Workington, Cumbria, and still run by them.
Peter Franklyn Bellamy was an English folk singer. He was a founding member of The Young Tradition and also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls. He is noted for his ballad-opera The Transports, and has been acknowledged as a major influence by performers of later generations including Damien Barber, Oli Steadman, and Jon Boden.
The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, is a British folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. An important grouping in the genre, it has contained or been associated with a large proportion of major English folk performers in its long and fluid history.
Mr Fox were an early 1970s British folk rock band. They were seen as in the 'second generation' of British folk rock performers and for a time were compared with Steeleye Span and Sandy Denny's Fotheringay. Unlike Steeleye Span they mainly wrote their own material in a traditional style and developed a distinct 'northern' variant of the genre. They demonstrate the impact and diversity of the British folk rock movement and the members went on to pursue significant careers within the folk rock and traditional music genres after they disbanded in 1972 having recorded two highly regarded albums.
No Roses is an album by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band. It was recorded in the summer of 1971 and produced by Sandy Roberton and Ashley Hutchings, who was Collins' husband at the time. It was released in October 1971 on the Pegasus label.
Anthems in Eden is a 1969 album by Shirley and Dolly Collins, with the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow. The album originally consisted of a 28-minute set of folk songs plus seven other individual pieces performed by the same group. The musical arrangements for these eight pieces included early music instruments, such as viols, recorders, sackbuts and crumhorns. In 1976, six new songs were recorded with a different assortment of accompanists, to replace the original seven individual songs. This 1976 album consisting of the 28-minute set plus the six new songs was released by Harvest Records under the title Amaranth. Subsequent releases have combined all fourteen pieces under the original title, Anthems in Eden.
Hedwig Grace "Hedy" West was an American folksinger and songwriter. She belonged to the same generation of folk revivalists as Joan Baez and Judy Collins. Her most famous song "500 Miles" is one of America's most popular folk songs. English folk musician A. L. Lloyd declared West to be "far and away the best of [the] American girl singers in the [folk] revival."
Home Service is a British folk rock group, formed in late 1980 from a nucleus of musicians who had been playing in Ashley Hutchings' Albion Band. Their career is generally agreed to have peaked with the album Alright Jack, and has had an influence on later work. John Tams and several other members of the band, have had solo careers and worked in other projects. In 2016 John Kirkpatrick replaced Tams as main singer in Home Service, and features as such on their next album.
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.
The "Agincourt Carol" is an English folk song written some time in the early 15th century. It recounts the 1415 Battle of Agincourt, in which the English army led by Henry V of England defeated that of the French Charles VI in what is now the Pas-de-Calais region of France.
Love, Death and the Lady is an album by Shirley and Dolly Collins.
The Holly Bears The Crown is an album by The Young Tradition with Shirley and Dolly Collins and other guest musicians. The trio "The Young Tradition" sang a cappella folk songs in a style similar to the Copper Family.
The Etchingham Steam Band were a folk group formed by Ashley Hutchings and Shirley Collins in England in 1974 after the Albion Country Band had disbanded in late 1973.
Swan Arcade were a British folk music vocal group formed in 1970. "A leading light of the British folk revival" they sang a wide variety of songs, including blues, pop and rock and roll, as well as traditional folk music, mostly performed a cappella. Swan Arcade also performed with The Watersons as the Boggle Hole Chorale, and The Watersons and Martin Carthy as Blue Murder. They finally disbanded in 1988, but one of their members, Jim Boyes, still performs as part of Coope Boyes and Simpson.
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.
Stroll On is the debut album by British singer-songwriter Steve Ashley. It was released in April 1974 in LP format on Gull Records and was critically acclaimed in the UK, being awarded “Contemporary Folk album of the Year” in the leading monthly folk magazine, Folk Review. It has been described as "a masterful, beautifully textured and gentle epic" and "a masterpiece of its kind – a beautiful, rich and deeply atmospheric collection of very English songs, like a musical impression of Dickens, Victorian Christmas cards and Thomas Hardy’s Wessex with a running concept concerning seasonal change". According to the music collectors' magazine Goldmine, it is "one of the key albums in the entire history of English Folk Rock".