Courtesy FCList
Deb Skolnik prepared this for Folk Tales, Green Man Review’s predecessor.
If you have been following the English folk music scene for any length of time, particularly in the ’60s, you will not have been able to escape hearing something about the group Fairport Convention. We have a number of reviews of Fairport Convention CDs and performances on our Web site, but the subject of this essay is what has become a tradition in its own right, the band’s annual festival called Cropredy (named for its location near Banbury, Oxfordshire, UK). (There are lots of great descriptions of how Cropredy turned into an annual music festival — a few on our own Web site, many on the band’s.)
I confess to being enough of a Fairport fanatic myself, that, although for various reasons I lost touch with the fact that the band even still existed until the Internet let me “find” Fairport (and other people who love the band) again, I have gone to England twice (in 1996 and 1997) to attend the festival, dragging along my ever-loving spouse, who is far more of a blues and jazz fan than anything else.
Unfortunately, in the past two years I’ve been unable to attend, so I’ve had to get my reports second-hand via Fairport’s own mailing list, and personal accounts from friends I’ve made through the list and at the festival itself.
I decided it would be fun to have a group interview about this year’s festival by e-mailing several Folk Tales staffers who are also Fairport fans: Chris Woods, Richard Hamilton, Koen Hottentot, and Ian Walden. I had a bonus interviewee in the form of Ian’s companion, Ellen Rawson, who was there for the first time this year and is not a staff member. Chris, Richard and Ian live in the UK; Koen is from the Netherlands, and Ellen is American (as I am). One of the interesting things about Fairport is that they have fans literally all over the world. They all were given the same set of questions to answer, and you will find their responses below: I have used first names only since they all have different ones, rather than initials.
Deb Skolnik: How many Cropredys have you attended? Was anyone there for the first time?
Ellen: This one was my first. I had wanted to go for years, though.
Ian: My first time was back in ’88. My then girlfriend had been the year before for the first time, and dragged me along the following year. In those days, folk music to me was fat bearded people with their fingers in their ears, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. As I can’t find my t-shirt from that year, I can’t comment on the line-up. I do remember a defining moment — the sound of Ric Sanders’ electric violin in “The Hiring Fair,” [editor’s note: a Ralph McTell song that is a staple in the Fairport repertoire] coming across the field, which somehow triggered something in me. Went every year after that, although I had to miss ’97 and ’98 due to other obligations.
Courtesy FCList
Chris: Regularly since ’89. The audience is much bigger now. It did a big jump for the 25th [anniversary of the band] and seems to have held at about that number.
Koen: ’89 was my first too, and I haven’t missed one since.
Richard: ’90 was my first. Should have been ’89, but something came up that prevented my attending then.
DS: What is the most memorable Cropredy you have ever attended — and why?
Ian: Different shows stick in the memory for different reasons. One year the Bootleg Beatles were the headline act on the Friday, and like this year, it was pissing with rain, so we all abandoned the field and went back to the tent where we drank and smoked and still had excellent sound quality. Memorable moments for me include the year Steve Harley was a guest in Fairport’s set — 15,000 drunken folkies singing along to “Come Up And See Me, Make Me Smile.” Another year we had a similar number of people singing along to Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale.” But the most special time was on the year that they actually did a song after [their usual show-closer] “Meet On The Ledge,” where Julianne Regan from the group All About Eve came on with the rest of the band and they sang “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?”…pure magic.
Chris: I think the first time we went, simply because the atmosphere and the music were such a pleasant surprise. Having previously heard Fairport only at small theatre-sized gigs, I was amazed that first time at how different they sounded with a field-sized sound system. Of course we think of them (reasonably accurately) as a folk-rock band, but with a good sound system and the support of the crowd, it was very clear that folk-rock didn’t mean a compromise. They could play folk, and they could rock out, too.
Anyone who witnessed the guest appearance of Robert Plant in 1993 and heard Fairport backing him would have no doubts about their ability to make lots of noise when necessary!
The other wonderful thing about the music at Cropredy, especially Fairport’s traditional Saturday evening maxi-set, are the guests from Fairport’s past. It’s an impossible task to pick a “favorite year,” but if pushed, (and admitting to being a bit of a nostalgia fan), I would have to go for 1997 as one of my personal best-ever audience moments. That was the 30th anniversary of the band, and they recreated the history of the band and the music with as many as possible of the original members. Starting with a line-up of Ashley Hutchings, Judy Dyble, and Richard Thompson — and playing songs such as “Jack O’Diamonds” and “Time Will Show The Wiser” — they took me back to my students days in the late ’60s, then worked through 30 years of their musical history. Other guests included were long-time first Fairport fiddler; Dave Swarbrick, Ralph McTell (who has written many a song to grace their albums); Dan Ar Braz; Bruce Rowland; and they ended at midnight on Saturday with the current Fairport line up.
[Editor’s note: Most of this wonderful set has been captured on a 3-disc CD compilation called The Cropredy Box and just re-released, so for those of you who want to “be there” after the fact, you can do so. Folk Tales has a review of this set.]
But good though it was in 1997, every year brings a surprise. This year’s “moment” for me was to hear Fairport backing Steve Ashley in a stunning rendition of “Fire and Wine,” a song I have always liked but never before heard live — and never thought I ever would.
Koen: Musically, 1997 — because it was a fantastic celebration of 30 years of Fairport. There was no mud either. Socially, every year is memorable really because you keep meeting new people.
Richard: The most memorable musical moment for me (Fairport’s own musical performances excepted), was the Hellecasters’ performance in 1997. The Hellecasters are Jerry Donahue, a former Fairporter, Will Ray, and John Jorgenson.
DS: What makes Cropredy so “different” from other music festivals?
Ellen: 17,000 people were there. I’m used to smaller folk fests. Irregularly attend Rocky Mountain Folks Fest (5,000 people) and Telluride (10,000 people). However, despite the much larger number of people at Cropredy, the atmosphere is very mellow. The audience members, performers, and staff in general are very friendly and casual. It does not feel as huge as it is.
It’s not at all like some of the larger festivals on the East Coast of the US, with rampant security, competitive morning runs for tarp space, etc.
Ian: Cropredy, like Fairport, is an institution. Somehow it is more than just a music festival. There are plenty of “folk festivals” around, but Cropredy has something different — a sense of belonging, a sense of community. After the festival this year, we went over to the stone circle –The Roll right Stones — and while we were there, so many other people came to see the stones, still wearing their wristbands, and they all stopped to chat about the festival. It is like being part of a big family for a weekend, and knowing that next year, you will be there again.
Chris: The atmosphere. I would say it’s:
1) Because every single person in the audience has something in common — they are all Fairport fans. You can’t have that at any other festival because there are no others “centered” around the same band every year.
2) Fairport themselves are a very special band — not just to me but to their fans generally. They do not fit the mold of commercial bands.
3) It’s well organised, not just to make money, but as a party for both performers and fans.
4) It’s a part of life for the village of Cropredy, not just something imposed on it.
[Editor’s note: The village people go to great lengths to welcome the people who temporarily turn their tiny village into a mini-city. They serve breakfast to festival campers who don’t choose to bring their own food. In turn, Fairport regularly donate some of the money they make as profit back to the village.]
Koen: It’s the only festival these days where Fairport Convention can be the headline act and still sell tickets! Seriously, though, there’s never any trouble — it must be the safest festival around. I think it’s largely down to the fact that Dave Pegg (Fairport’s bass player) and his wife, Christine are the ones who organize it, and who hand-pick the performing bands. I think that the atmosphere at Cropredy is un-rivalled.
Richard: Its size is just right. And, for me, as a local resident of the area, it’s the amazement that a quintessentially English music form (which is so underrated and ignored by people in its own country) is supported by so many people from far-flung foreign lands, so many of whom keep coming back. Perhaps I’d enjoy it (or the anticipation of it) even more if I too had to travel half-way around the world to get there.
[Editor’s note: As one of those people who has traveled many miles to experience Cropredy, I would say that Richard has a major point here. If you like to travel in general, anticipating the whole experience that is Cropredy is a highlight of the year if you’re lucky enough to be able to go. It certainly has been so for me on the two occasions I’ve been lucky enough to be there.]
It’s the only festival I’ve been to which has elicited so many invitations to sample hospitality from people I’ve met at Cropredy who have come from America, Canada, and Holland.
[Editor’s note again: This works in reverse. I have been a guest in the homes of a number of people in the UK when the initial connection between us was our mutual love of Fairport.]
DS: What do you think about the direction Fairport is taking musically at the moment?
Ellen: They’re heading in a different direction? They seem (to me) to be heading in the same direction they have been leaning towards since the group originated. The line-up changes, but it’s still Fairport. They don’t perform as much traditional music as they used to, but even in 1966 they sang a lot of their own songs, covered artists such as Bob Dylan and Buddy Holly, etc. Fairport has always had its own direction. The songs from the upcoming album seem to me to be in the same vein as their most recent releases.
They’re recording more of their own material again (thanks to Chris Leslie), but they’ve had songwriters in the past — Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, etc. — who have written songs just for Fairport.
Perhaps you could say their direction is a cycle or labyrinth of sorts. 
I still miss Sandy’s voice. I last saw her perform with Fairport in 1975 for the US Rising For The Moon tour — and I loved seeing Richard Thompson perform with them again. Would that Sandy could do so!
Ian: I think the recent line-up changes are bringing a different approach — getting back more to the folk side of things. Also, with Chris and Gerry, they now have more song-writing talent in the band, as opposed to relying on external sources. Having chatted to the band during Saturday afternoon, I understand that the majority of the next album will be self-penned material, which can only be a good thing. I asked Ric what version of Fairport they were on now, and he couldn’t remember, but he did say that, in a way, Fairport was like the London Symphony Orchestra — people change, but the band goes on. On the evidence of this festival, I like what is happening.
Chris: Some of the new material heard at Cropredy was very good indeed. Most of this was new, from the forthcoming album expected for the winter tour, and unfortunately I don’t know the titles. My favourite new song is “The Wood and The Wire,” which was previewed during last winter’s tour. This is “classic” driving folkrock, the sort of material that, for me, shows Fairport at its best, and I think it could become a future favorite.
Other pieces, I fear, are tending towards being somewhat lightweight. Fairport have always played a wide range of songs, from ballads to lively rock-based songs, and indeed, any set list needs variety and contrast, so I’m just hard to please, I suppose. I do find some material (like “Sailing Boat” or “I Wandered By A Brookside”) just a little too comfortable and middle-of-the-road formy tastes. There is nothing wrong with them; I simply find them too sweet and reliant on performance and presentation (which is excellent, of course), rather than substance. Note: I must apologise to Chris Leslie for singling out one of his songs as an example of what I like least, but please note that my favorite new song is one of his, too!
Koen: I think Chris Leslie is a great asset to the band, and his replacing Maartin Allcock was an interesting change of sound within Fairport. Having said that, though, I do think they need a kick in the behind at times, and I secretly hope that at some point, a good lead guitarist appears on the scene. Indeed, why not? They’ve been a six-piece before!
Richard: Much as I enjoy the ballads, the band seem to have lost a little hardness by playing too many softer tracks. I’d love them to resurrect songs which I haven’t heard for years (John Richard’s “Honour & Praise,” for example), and drop some of the Steve Tilston numbers. “The Naked Highwayman,” never a huge favorite of mine, is long past its sell-by date.
Nicol, Pegg and Conway really let rip during the Dylan Project set, and appeared to be enjoying themselves much more than when they were doing the official job this year. As Fairport, they played as well as ever, but perhaps they were a bit more clinical and subdued, essentially on auto-pilot. For the first time ever, I left early during the second warm-up at the Mill. I was very disappointed with the performance (I know it was a “rehearsal,” but they charge people to go see it!). The banter between songs was particularly weak, repetitive, unfunny — and tiresome. Happily, the show at the festival proper was much improved.
DS: Who was your favorite support act this year?
Ellen: It was a three-way tie between annA rydeR, Barrage, and Maddy Prior.
Ian: Difficult to say — Maddy Prior was excellent as usual, Barrage were a very welcome new act with loads of energy, and I liked annA rydeR’s set a lot too.
Chris: Richard Thompson (what a silly question)! However, I’ll modify that and say that the best 30 minutes of the whole festival was hearing Richard Thompson doing his guest spot with Fairport. I understand why they want to pursue different artistic paths, but I’m firmly convinced that Fairport are the best backing band Richard could ever wish for, and that Richard is the best lead guitarist Fairport have ever had. It’s a treat to hear them together at Cropredy.
Koen: There was a very good line-up this year at Cropredy, but if I have to pick one it’ll have to be Kevin Dempsey and Dave Swarbrick, because it was the latter’s official comeback after his illness started and the Daily Telegraph subsequently published his obituary, obviously prematurely. Swarb can’t sing yet and was seated all the time, but it was such a joy to see and hear him perform again. He was obviously in good spirits, and he had that old spark back in his eye. The joke about the oxygen mask he used on stage being actually a cunning device to inhale cocaine had everyone in stitches.
Richard: No question. The Dylan Project, closely followed by anon-form Maddy Prior.
DS: Who was the worst support act this year? [Editor’s Note: Our panelists didn’t like this question, as you will see by their answers.]
Ellen: Fairport doesn’t invite such acts. I may not be into all the acts myself, but they appeal to other audience members. And even if I don’t want to own certain artists’ CDs, I appreciate what they do.
Ian: There wasn’t anyone who was really bad. One of the bands playing during Saturday afternoon were a bit “Yeah, OK … so what”? I can’t remember their name.
Chris: I don’t like this question. There wasn’t a bad support act, although inevitably some were less to my taste and some were less effective. I don’t like the “bluesy” bands much, and some single performers don’t carry well into the middle and the back of the field. Even Ralph McTell didn’t come over very well midfield — he just wasn’t loud enough. Neither were Chris [While] and Julie [Matthews].
Koen: Although I didn’t pay much attention during their set for I had duties elsewhere (I had to drink pints at the bar), I understand a lot of people were left pretty unimpressed by the Paul Mitchell Band. This is hearsay, however, since I wasn’t really paying attention, so this is not my official position.
Richard: A very strong line-up this year. No band was bad per se. But I ignored some because I was hungry, thirsty, or meeting friends on the site.
DS: Who would you like to see play Cropredy next year?
Ellen: Steeleye Span, Ashley Hutchings, Shirley Collins, Susan McKeown and the Chanting House, Kathryn Tickell, Kate Rusby, Martin Carthy (or any incarnation of the Waterson/Carthy family), The Equation, Natalie MacMaster, Great Big Sea, etc.
Ian: Great Big Sea would be wonderful. I would also like to see Vikki Clayton guesting with Fairport again — that way, we get the next best thing to Sandy Denny.
Chris: Great Big Sea, The Phil Beer Band, Ashley Hutchings, and Iain Matthews.
Koen: Little Johnny England (Banbury’s bright new hope, consisting of some veterans — Tom Leary (fiddle), Gareth Turner (melodeon), PJWright (guitar — Steve Gibbons Band, Dylan Project), and the former rhythm section of that other local band (now sadly disbanded), Clarion, who performed at Cropredy twice in previous years. I haven’t heard Little Johnny England’s stuff yet myself, but those who were lucky enough to catch a few of their early gigs were very enthusiastic.
Richard: How long have you got? There’s a new band, formed in Banbury, called Little Johnny England. Features ex-Clarion members Mat Davies and Edd Frost, together with Gareth Turner, PJ Wright, and Tom Leary. Although it’ll never happen, something really big and unexpected: Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.
DS: How do people manage to drink prodigious quantities of 6X and still stay on their feet? What’s your silliest drink-related story? And, can one have a good time if one doesn’t drink at Cropredy?
Ellen: We drank cider! Yes, of course one can have a good time there if one doesn’t drink alcohol there. Silly question (said with a smile).
[Editor’s Note: I can attest to this personally. Water is the strongest thing I drank there during my two Cropredy experiences. Ellen’s right — it’s a silly question! ]
Ian: This year I drank far less than normal — too far to walk to the bogs [toilets, for anyone not understanding UK English.] I think the spirit of the festival is that you don’t need the beer to have a good time, and conversely, if you do have a lot of beer, it doesn’t really matter. I have hardly ever encountered obnoxious behaviour at Cropredy, despite the fact that the 6X is delivered by the tanker load.
Chris: The answer to the first question is — practice! My answer to the second question is that I don’t have one; most drunks are pathetic, not funny. And to the third question (non-alcoholic Cropredy?) — easily!
Koen: I have no idea, I don’t have any experience with that! (i.e., not drinking at Cropredy)!
Richard: They don’t. They drink copious amounts, then go to the front of the stage and talk loudly during the sets. If you want to go to Cropredy just to concentrate on good music, forget it, pal. (The music often gets in the way of impromptu debating societies which spring up around the field!). A bit more seriously, the answer is yes, you can still enjoy yourself if you drink in (reasonable) moderation.
DS: How were the toilets this year? [Editor’s note: this may seem like a strange question, but it’s an essential component of the Cropredy experience, honest!]
Ellen: They’re great! They flush and have hot running water. Yes, they run out of loo paper occasionally, but what’s the big deal? (Can you tell I’m used to folk festivals in Colorado where we don’t have running water in mountain campgrounds)? However, Rocky Mountain Folks Fest had great flush toilets this year — a first!
Ian: Actually, I thought the toilets were particularly well managed this year — no overflows that I experienced, only had to resort to my personal supply of paper twice. They even had hot water most of the time! My main complaint was that they were such a long way from my tent. OK, the plastic Tardis like ones in the main field got a bit grim by the end of the evening, but by and large, they were pretty civilized. Again, it is a measure of the community nature of the festival that people queue in good spirit, don’t jump the queues, share paper if needs, and don’t get in a strop about it.
Chris: The ones in the caravan field were OK (we passed them to and from the car park).
Koen: No real comment, since I didn’t use them. I was camping with a mate of mine in a private garden in the village, due to the main normal campsites being closed due to the flooding, and the one I ended up in was not to my liking and way too far from the festival site. We had the use of the bathroom of the house where the garden belonged to, so I don’t have any horrible toilet stories this year!
Richard: From what people have been saying, they were crap this year. Mind you, come to think of it… (smile inserted here).
DS: What was the strangest mud-related story this particular year?
Ellen: Actually, the weather was only terrible for a small part of the festival. It poured and poured Friday night (the rain ended by the time Richard Thompson’s set was over, however) and poured again on Saturday afternoon, but that storm was brief. What was terrible for the majority of the festival was the mud!
I laughed at how everyone was hanging their wet clothing from Friday night over cars, tents, etc., Saturday morning. We were all still scraping mud off of jeans and slacks, shoes, etc.
I giggled at the three police officers who helped herd us out Saturday night. They were there to make sure we slipped in the mud only if we wished to do so (said with a smile)! They wore signs on top of their hats reading “This Way” and “Good Night!”
Ian: Wandering back to the campsite after the Fairport set, there were a number of youths who had given up on the idea of cleanliness and were basically having mud races, mud-wrestling and such-like, and looking very happy about it. Further along the track, the three policemen [mentioned in Ellen’s remarks above] looked happy– and so were most of the audience, being gently herded through gates and across bridges, making gentle sheep noises as they did so.
Chris: Watching a group of people try and get a large-ish rear-wheel-drive panel van up the field (in fact, we think it was the band Barrage). The wheels were spinning madly while three or four people jumped up and down in unison on the rear step. The van moved about a foot each time they landed.
Koen: There have been sightings of an unidentified creature named Mudman in Cropredy lately. No one knows who he really is or was, but the locals say that it’s the spirit of some large bloke who had drunk prodigious quantities of 6X and did not stay on his feet, and subsequently drowned in the mud during Richard Thompson’s set; 168 more people drowned that evening, and 38 are still missing, but Mudman couldn’t lay his soul to rest and still roams the fields to this day, covered in mud and singing a haunting version of “A Man In Need” (for that was the song Richard Thompson was playing when Mudman drowned. It’s very sad, really. [Editor’s Note: Of course you know that Koen is famous for leg-pulling, right?]
Richard: Ex-Clarion guitarist Fred Davis virtually naked and caked from head to toe in mud, much the worse for alcohol. His skin must be baby soft again.
DS: How has the arrival of the Internet changed the festival (for better or worse), in your opinion?
Ellen: I can’t say, since I was a newbie. However, I appreciated reading all of the information about the festival on the Web.
Ian: Other than allowing me to search for email addresses for artists I wanted to chat to, I don’t think it made much of a difference.
Chris: For better, simply because it has allowed me to meet many more like-minded people.
Koen: All those strange people introducing each other by their email addresses, wearing strange “Meet On The Net” T-shirts — it’s horrible, horrible! (Said with a smile.)
Richard: Better: Conversing with international friends made at Cropredy all year round. Worse: Correspondents who resort to using the Internet in order to needlessly flame or insult.
DS: What was your favorite food from the food stalls? And conversely, what did you NOT like very much?
Ellen: I kept going for the saag aloo. We ate our own breakfasts and lunches and only ate dinner from the stalls. I went to two different vegetarian Indian stalls, and enjoyed the saag aloo from each. One stall gave me some naan, and the other didn’t. There seemed to be plenty of good food for vegetarians.
Ian: I think I lived on the Real Meat Sausages (100% organic meat, for those who don’t like their food polluted by antibiotics, growth enhancers, etc. — and so far as I know, the animals are free range– another reason for liking them, apart from the taste) for most of the weekend. Sadly they didn’t have their famed Chili Dog sausage this year. My companion survived on assorted vegetarian curries, and neither of us had ill effects. Didn’t have any donuts this year, much to my surprise.
Chris: I think the food choice has improved dramatically over recent years. Back when we started going it was almost impossible to get anything that children would eat; everything then was vegeterian or foreign (spicy). Much as you may dislike the hamburger and chips culture there is a much wider range of food on offer now for all tastes. I enjoy the variety. This year’s best was a mixed plate of different curries. It narrowly beat the Japanese stall, but I also enjoyed the jumbo sausages in a roll — the Real Meat Sausage Company make excellent sausages — better than you can buy in the supermarket. There was excellent fresh brewed coffee on the field too.
Also of note: the prices. While some may appear a bit pricey at first glance, most are in fact excellent value when compared with the real world outside. Saturday night we stopped at some motorway services and paid more for two teas than we had on the field at Cropredy. Field teas and coffee at Cropredy were actually the same as the coffee bar where I work.
Koen: Leon’s veggie food is always outstanding, even though I am not a veggie at heart at all. But the prize of the best food must go to him once again. The worst …well, I have a pretty sorry excuse for a plate of chips somewhere, and I do hope the Japanese Noodle food stand serves their food warm next time.
Richard: As someone who is not a committed vegetarian, the only place to go this and every year is Leon’s Vegetarian food tent. Excellent value, and fabulous tuck.
DS: Have you made arrangements for next year’s festival … or is this the last one for you?
Ellen: No way — mud and all, plans are on for Ian and me to return next year! It’s tradition now!
Ian: Subject to job and financial constraints, it’s a must-do for next year.
Chris: We’ll be there, although I can’t say it’s arranged, but the date is noted.
Koen: Arrangements? We only just dealt with this one! But I’ll be there, as ever. Hope it’ll never stop!
Richard: millennium bug permitting, I’ll definitely be at 1900’s festival. [Editor’s note: Richard is notorious also for leg-pulling — would it surprise you to know that he and Koen are very good friends?]
Ad hoc comments from the group:
Ian: Despite the mud, despite the rain, people had a good time without annoying others, getting angry, etc. The age range is tremendous — must have covered four generations easily. For one weekend, you are part of a larger family, all of whom are there to enjoy.
Koen: For a completely unexpurgated version of my weekend at Cropredy, please visit my Web site.
Chris: Don’t you want to hear about the music?!
[Editor’s note: To do this properly, you need to join the Fairport mailing list, where you will hear in great detail about the music …and everything else Fairport.]
[2025 update: The Fairport mailing list is still online at https://fclist.org/, but it appears to have been last updated in 2017.]
Introduced, compiled and edited by Debbie Skolnik.
Oxfordshire, U.K ., Aug. 13-14, 1999
