TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

I am ashamed to say, having read this interview, that until recently I had not heard of Allan Taylor  ???  and was interested to read of his connection with the early Fairport Sandy/Swarb etc..



http://www.triste.co.uk/at.htm

Hi JJ

I caught on to Allan in the 70s and then lost sight of him till he turned up at St Neots a couple of years ago.  I did a few songs in support and we hit it off pretty well ever since - he's been very supportive with my new CD.  Lovely guy, and as he's got older, the subject matter of the songs and the voice have deepened and darkened.  He's hugely popular on the continent and it's reflected in his writing.  There's a very European sensibility and he fits well into chanson and troubadour environments.  The most recent CD Hotels and Dreamers is very representative.  He also does a songs and readings show based on the life and writings of Jack Kerouac which is well worth catching as well as his live act.

Very well worth following up.

Thanks for that JJ: that explains a lot!!
As a youngster in Brighton in the late 60s 'Spud' was a great favourite, and I remember some of those nights when Swarb and Martin Carthy played the sweaty upstairs rooms with immense nostalgia.
Apart form a couple of passing mentions and a guest appearance I had completely lost sight of him, but will now have my antennae out!! - perhaps fill a couple of crevices in my CD collection...

The first time I ever saw Fairport (October 1970, De Montfort Hall, Leicester), the support acts were Roger Ruskin Spear and His Giant Kinetic Wardrobe; and Allan Taylor. Two support acts! Ah, those were the days.

Changed my life.