The Albion Country Band
| The Albion Band | |
|---|---|
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Electric folk, folk |
| Years active | 1971–2002, 2011–2014 |
| Associated acts |
Fairport Convention Steeleye Span Home Service Etchingham Steam Band |
| Website | albionchristmas |
| Past members | See: Band members section |
The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band and The Albion Dance Band, were an English electric folk band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. Generally considered one of the most important groupings in the genre, it has contained or been associated with a large proportion of major English folk performers in its long and fluid history.
The one constant in the band’s history has been the band leader Ashley Hutchings, founding member of arguably the two other pre-eminent English folk rock groupings Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, and it has been the home for most of the projects of his long and highly productive career, though in the 2011 incarnation of the band he has handed over the reins to his son Blair Dunlop.
Initially Hutchings formed the band in April 1971 to accompany his then wife the singer Shirley Collins on her No Roses album. Dave Mattacks, Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, from Fairport Convention, beside such luminaries as Lal and Mike Waterson of The Watersons and Maddy Prior, were among twenty five credited backing musicians. On a short tour, core members were joined by Richard Thompson and his then wife Linda Thompson. Several members contributed with Hutchings to the project Morris On (1972), including John Kirkpatrick, Richard Thompson and Dave Mattacks, and cumbersomely all their names appeared on the album cover.
Hutchings was keen to make a permanent band from these musicians and the first attempt included Royston Wood, Steve Ashley and Sue Draheim in the line-up, but the group failed to gel and he recruited a second band, turning to Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick, Sue Harris, Roger Swallow and Simon Nicol. The band remained fragile and split in August 1973, but an album was released retrospectively under the title Battle of the Field, on Island Records in 1976. Other material recorded by this line-up eventually appeared on the later BBC Sessions CD (1998).
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