It’s well known that the 1960s had seen a revival of interest in the US
and the UK in folk music – most particularly in its crossover to
more contemporary styles. In the UK, traditional folk music
preservation, academia and performance had long been part of the
culture, but by the 1960s it seems there was conflict between those
who wanted to play the music “authentically” (thus ignoring that
folk songs had always evolved over the centuries), those who wanted
to play those songs in a more contemporary fashion, and (shock
horror) those who wanted to compose NEW songs in an accepted folk
Welcome to episode 187 of Love That Album podcast.
While there were many groups in the UK who were a part of the folk-rock
scene starting in the 1960s, the three most famous were Fairport
Convention, Pentangle and Steeleye Span. It seems that group
memberships had something of a revolving door policy with many
leaving one to join another when musical ideologies weren’t being
met. Ashley Hutchings had become dissatisfied with the direction that
Fairport was headed, and formed Steeleye Span. Span themselves went
through several lineup and sound changes before arriving at its
accepted classic lineup for their sixth LP, Now We Are Six.
The focus of this LTA is album number 7, released in 1975, Commoner’s
Crown. I am joined once again by the co-host of the superb Only Three
Lads podcast, Brett Vargo. He is a man of many musical passions, and
one of them is the English folk scene of that 60s / 70s period. I
discovered you can’t have a proper discussion on Span (or maybe
other folk groups as well) without talking about the Child Ballads. I
need to give credit to Nate Wilcox of the wonderful Let It Roll
podcast who drew my attention to the existence of the Child Ballads
through his show. It’s a shame our recording schedules couldn’t
align for him to join us, but hopefully somewhere down the track Nate
Brett and I discuss some Steeleye Span history, Frances Child’s
contribution to the folk and rock repertoire, murder, infidelity,
drugs and theft – all folk subject staples. The folk repertoire is
so much about story-telling, so we delve into the origins of some of
these songs, how the stories changed over the centuries to the point
of Steeleye Span recording, and the musicianship and vocal
arrangements on Commoner’s Crown…..oh and we discuss about
how Hercules Grytpype-Thynne dropped by to play some
My huge gratitude goes to Brett for providing his insight to this music
and time to the show. Only Three Lads is an essential podcast listen.
Every week, Brett and Uncle Gregg bring in incredible musician guests
from the golden age of alternative music to discuss not only their
own work, but to help count down a top 5 of whatever the given
subject may be. Search for Only Three Lads at your favourite podcast
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