Steve Tilston

Last updated

Steve Tilston
SteveTilston20080528.jpg
Tilston in 2008
Background information
Born (1950-03-26) 26 March 1950 (age 73)
England
Genres Folk
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)
Years active1971–present
LabelsHubris
Website www.stevetilston.com

Steve Tilston (born 26 March 1950) [1] is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Contents

Early life

Steve Tilston was born in Liverpool and brought up in Leicestershire. [1] A graphic designer before taking up music in 1971, Tilston lived in Bristol where he recorded his first album, An Acoustic Confusion. In the early 1980s, he ran a folk club with Bert Jansch in New Kings Road, London. Tilston recorded a rock album in 1982 called In for a Penny – In for a Pound, but soon reverted to quieter music. In 1985, Tilston played guitar and mandolin with the on-stage band for "Sergeant Early's Dream" while on tour with Ballet Rambert, and again when the ballet toured England in 2000–2001. Tilston formed his own record label, Run River, in 1987, and in 1988 he was a member of John Renbourn's group Ship of Fools, which released one eponymous album on Tilston's label. In 1990, he was a session musician on Peter Bellamy's album Soldiers Three. By the 1990s, Tilston was frequently performing with Maggie Boyle, whom he had married in 1984. Tilston garnered positive reviews in the United States for his 1992 album, Of Moor and Mesa, which contained two of his compositions, "The Slip Jigs and Reels" and "The Naked Highwayman", that were later recorded by Fairport Convention. Tilston formed Hubris Records in 1995.

By 1999, Tilston and Maggie Boyle had separated.

Career

As solo artist

He then joined WAZ! with Pete Zorn and Maartin Allcock. In 2003, there was a slight change of direction as he moved towards melodic jazz with Such And Such, an album with saxophonist Andy Sheppard. Live Hemistry was not a misspelling for "Chemistry" but a live album with many of his best songs, so named because the live recordings are taken from the UK and Australia, thus from two hemispheres. The Thomas Paine Society selected his song "Here's to Tom Paine" as their theme song. [2] His song "Night Owl" was not only recorded by Dolores Keane, but was the title of her 1998 album. His songs have been recorded by Fairport Convention, Dolores Keane, The House Band, Peter Bellamy, North Cregg, Bob Fox, John Wright and others. His instrumental style crosses classical music with Irish and English folk. He also plays an early 19th-century instrument called an arpeggione (bowed guitar). He has been a tutor at summer camps. In 2007, Reaching Back was released. This was a boxed set of five CDs of his songs, with rarities and contributions from Wizz Jones, Ralph McTell and Coope, Boyes and Simpson. 2008 saw the release of another solo album, Ziggurat. He performed a 40th anniversary concert in Bristol on 23 September 2010 with guests Wizz Jones, Keith Warmington, Brooks Williams, Chris Parkinson, Maggie Boyle, Hugh Bradley, and his children Martha, Joe and Molly.

Steve Tilston & The Durbervilles

In 2010, Tilston also began working with Yorkshire-based band The Durbervilles, with a selection of low key live dates followed by work in the studio. The first fruits of the collaboration was a track on a Bob Dylan 70th birthday tribute album put out by UK label, Fat Cat Records. [3] Steve Tilston & The Durbervilles then worked as a touring unit appearing at various venues in the UK including Cropredy Festival 2011. [4] In March 2012, Steve Tilston & the Durbervilles released The Oxenhope EP. [5]

TV work and Folk Award

In 2011, Tilston released his solo album, The Reckoning, on his own Hubris label. [6] In October 2011, he performed "Oil & Water" from the album on Later... with Jools Holland . He was subsequently interviewed by Jools Holland "at the piano" and the pair paid homage to the late Bert Jansch who died earlier in the month. In February 2012 the title track from The Reckoning was awarded Best Original Song at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. [7] The award was shared with Bella Hardy, who polled exactly the same number of votes. [8]

Personal life

His daughter Martha also maintains a folk music career as a solo artist while his son Joe Tilston is in the ska-punk band, Random Hand.

In August 2010, it was reported that John Lennon had penned a letter of support to Tilston in 1971, though it was never delivered. Lennon had been inspired to write to the then 21-year-old folk singer after having read an interview in ZigZag magazine in which Tilston admitted he feared wealth and fame might negatively affect his songwriting. Tilston did not become aware of the letter's existence until a collector contacted him in 2005 to verify its authenticity. "Being rich doesn't change your experience in the way you think", Lennon wrote. It was signed "Love John and Yoko." [9] This letter was the inspiration behind the 2015 film Danny Collins . [10]

Discography

Solo albums

  • An Acoustic Confusion (1971) (1997 reissue)
  • Collection (1972)
  • Songs From the Dress Rehearsal (1977) (2005 reissue)
  • In for a Penny, In for a Pound (1982)
  • Life by Misadventure (1987)
  • Swans at Coole (1990)
  • And So It Goes (1995)
  • The Greening Wind (1999 compilation of 1971–1992 recordings)
  • Solorubato (1999)
  • Live Hemistry (2001)
  • Such and Such (2003)
  • Of Many Hands (2005)
  • Reaching Back: The Life And Music of Steve Tilston (5 CD Compilation) (2007)
  • Ziggurat (2008)
  • The Reckoning (2011)
  • Truth To Tell (2015)
  • Distant Days (2018)
  • Such Times (2021)

As contributor to compilations

With John Renbourn's Ship of Fools

With Maggie Boyle

As member of WAZ!

With The Durbervilles

With the Steve Tilston Trio

With Jez Lowe

DVDs

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentangle (band)</span> British folk rock band

Pentangle are a British folk band, formed in London in 1967. The original band was active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and a later version has been active since the early 1980s. The original line-up, which was unchanged throughout the band's first incarnation (1967–1973), was Jacqui McShee (vocals); John Renbourn ; Bert Jansch ; Danny Thompson ; and Terry Cox (drums).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Pegg</span> English bass guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and record producer (born 1947)

Dave Pegg 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Jansch</span> Scottish folk musician (1943–2011)

Herbert Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter. He recorded more than 28 albums and toured extensively from the 1960s to the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Renbourn</span> English guitarist and songwriter

John Renbourn was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence (1967–1973). He worked later in a duo with Stefan Grossman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards</span> Annual folk music award by BBC Radio 2

The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archie Fisher</span> Scottish folk singer and songwriter

Archie Macdonald Fisher is a Scottish folk singer and songwriter. He has released several solo albums since his first, eponymous album, in 1968. Fisher composed the song "The Final Trawl", recorded on the album Windward Away, that several other groups and singers, including The Clancy Brothers, have also recorded. Starting in the mid-1970s, he produced four folk albums with Makem and Clancy. He also performed with them and other groups as a backup singer and guitarist. He hosted his own radio show on BBC Radio Scotland for almost three decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davey Graham</span> Musical artist

David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham was a British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival. He inspired many famous practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar such as Bert Jansch, Wizz Jones, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy, John Martyn, Paul Simon and Jimmy Page, who based his solo "White Summer" on Graham's "She Moved Through the Fair". Graham is probably best known for his acoustic instrumental "Anji" and for popularizing DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by acoustic guitarists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson C. Frank</span> American folk musician

Jackson Carey Frank was an American folk musician. He released his first and only album in 1965, produced by Paul Simon. After the release of the record, Frank was plagued by a series of personal issues, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and protracted depression that prevented him from maintaining his career.

Anne Patricia Briggs is an English folk singer. Although she travelled widely in the 1960s and early 1970s, appearing at folk clubs and venues in England and Ireland, she never aspired to commercial success or to achieve widespread public acknowledgment of her music. However, she was an influential figure in the British folk revival, being a source of songs and musical inspiration for others such as A. L. Lloyd, Bert Jansch, Jimmy Page, The Watersons, June Tabor, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, and Maddy Prior.

The Young Tradition were 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maartin Allcock</span> Musical artist

Maartin Allcock was an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wizz Jones</span> British musician (born 1939)

Raymond Ronald Jones, better-known as Wizz Jones, is an English acoustic guitarist, and singer-songwriter. He was born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, England and has been performing since the late 1950s and recording from 1965 to the present. He has worked with many of the notable guitarists of the British folk revival, such as John Renbourn and Bert Jansch.

Maggie Boyle was an English, London-born folk singer, who also played flute, whistle and bodhrán.

<i>The Grapes of Life</i> 1987 studio album by Wizz Jones

The Grapes of Life is the 1987 studio album by the noted and influential British folk guitarist, singer and songwriter Wizz Jones.

Alan Tunbridge is an English artist, book dust-jacket illustrator and songwriter.

<i>The Ornament Tree</i> 1990 studio album by Bert Jansch

The Ornament Tree is the 18th album by Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch, released virtually simultaneously with another album, Sketches.

"Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" is a jazz instrumental composed by Charles Mingus, originally recorded by his sextet in 1959 and released on his album Mingus Ah Um. It was subsequently released on his 1963 album, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus as "Theme for Lester Young" and 1977's Three or Four Shades of Blues. Composed in E-flat minor, Mingus wrote it as an elegy for saxophonist Lester Young, who had died two months prior to the recording session and who was known for wearing unusually broad-brimmed pork pie hats. These were "busted down" by Young himself, from hats that might better be described as Homburgs, but which he only purchased in "Negro districts". This was since, according to an interview with Young in the November 1949 edition of Our World, "You can't get the right type in a 'gray' neighborhood".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Ashley</span> British singer-songwriter

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Jansch discography</span>

Bert Jansch was a Scottish folk musician. His discography consists of 21 studio albums, 8 live albums, 36 compilations, 5 videos, 2 EPs, and 12 singles. In addition, his compositions and guitar work have been featured on a number of albums by other artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Renbourn discography</span>

John Renbourn was an English guitarist and composer. His discography consists of 20 studio albums, 5 live albums, 19 compilations, and 2 videos. In addition, his compositions and guitar work have been featured on a number of albums by other artists.

References

  1. 1 2 Schofield, Nigel (2007). Reaching Back: The Life and Music of Steve Tilston [book accompanying CD boxed set]. Belper, Derbyshire, United Kingdom: Free Reed Records & Music Ltd. ISBN   978-0-9553568-1-0.
  2. "Get Ready to ROCK! Interview with folk singer songwriter Steve Tilston about the album 'Such And Such' and his interests and influences". Getreadytorock.com. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  3. "Younger Than That Now- Home". Youngerthanthatnow.info. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  4. "Fairport Convention's official website". Fairportconvention.com. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  5. "Folk Live and CD Reviews". Folk and Roots. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  6. Robin Denselow (21 July 2011). "Steve Tilston: The Reckoning – review | Music". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  7. "Radio 2 – Events – Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012". BBC. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  8. "Hebden Bridge Web News 2012: Steve Tilston wins at BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards". Hebdenbridge.co.uk. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  9. Roberts, Laura (16 August 2010). "John Lennon letter to aspiring folk singer received nearly four decades later". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  10. Jude Rogers. "How a letter from John Lennon to folk singer Steve Tilston inspired the new Al Pacino movie | Music". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 May 2020.