So how did YOU get into Fairport?

[Will S]

Like, it seems, a number of others I was originally into heavy rock in my late teens - Quo, Rainbow, etc, etc - veered off towards the Prog Rock revival that was going on then (Marillion, Pendragon, Haze, Twelfth Night, etc).  Through that I discovered Steeleye Span through the Original Masters compilation album.  I don't remember when I first heard about Fairport, but thought 'if they're anything like Steeleye they can't be bad'.

I remember being very disappointed that I couldn't see them when they played at my university (Sheffield) in January 1985 (clash of commitments), but did see them there the next January and have been hooked ever since!  I think I saw them three times on that first tour.

Didn't make it to Cropredy until 1989 though.  But have bought almost all the official albums and a numebr of others since.  Just can't get enough 

[Goaty]

I'm sure we've done this before, ho hum...

I used to be a rock fiend in the 80s, a bit of a festival botherer, Reading, Donnington, that sort of thing.  Then a group of friends convinced me to go to Cropredy with them in the late 80s, I'd heard of FC but hadn't heard much at all.  Needless to say, I was blown away, had a fantastic time etc and the rest is history.  Next year will be my fourteenth Copredy.

PS. Why isn't Cropredy in the spell checker mods ?

[Simon Withers]

I can not actually remember when I first heard Fairport, I think it was in about 1976. I know it was the L&L album and I know I had borrowed the LP for some considerable time before I returned it back to its rightful owner. However I only finally got to see Fairport in 1982 at Cropredy and have continued to see them ever since. In 1985 I think I saw them five times during the Glady's Leap tour - including the Sheffield Octagon gig which 'Will S' would like to have attended - I was a student at Sheffield at this time and spent most of my grant money for the forthcoming term on attending Fairport Gigs and buying original Fairport LP's from record fairs (as you do) If I remember right the Gig at Derby in '85 succumbed to a power failure and DM undertook a rare drum solo until the power was resumed once more. Ah the memories!

[Edthefolkie]

How does one get OUT of Fairport? Bit like a tattoo innit, very difficult to remove.

I noticed absent friends e.g. Otts were mentioned. I thought Otto got a job so didn't have so much time for boarding - I believe he also had/has some involvement with the Bluebell Railway so maybe steam has taken over - not difficult, see the late Fred Dibnah.

I also noticed people nearly got to swapping ages just now. Well I'm 60 in March so there, which is STILL younger than most of Swarb.

Cheers - Ed

 

[Jules Gray]

As a lifelong fan of the kind of music where rock meets folk, I had been meaning to get into Fairport for years.  My brother hurried me along by buying me the remastered Unhalfbricking for my birthday two and a half years ago.  He thought I'd like it, though he didn't actually have it himself.  Thanks, Marcus!

After a while I decided to add to my collection.  It has been growing at an alarming rate for the past 18 months, and yet there's still so many titles on my "Fairport To Buy" list.  Not to mention all the spin off releases by RT, Sandy, Swarb, Ashley et al.  Still it's a fascinating and entertaining journey, even if I do feel like the out-of-breath kid at the back of a cross country run.

Jules

[Albie]

Bit of a latecomer I am afraid.
Teens were spent listening to 'eavy stuff and especially punk, then reggae and Blues and Dylan kicked in later.
Only the last few years I've started getting into country and folk, but didn't really pick up on FC until a couple of years back    having some of their tracks on cheap compilations I'd bought,  and then I got dragged to Cropredy, which was great. 

I wish I'd been into them yonks ago, but you can't listen to everything. Folkwise I discovered the likes of Nick Drake, June Tabor, The Oysterband,  Cara Dillon, before FC.

[Miguel Cajon (Mick)]

I grew up in a village in Northants not far from Cropredy and started going to the Festival from about 1988 onwards. There were a group of us at school who listened to all sorts of stuff and a friend of mine, Paul lent me What We Did On Our Holidays and Liege and Lief. From then on I've been hooked, not just on Fairport but all sorts. I like the fact that each week I discover something new. I've been a Cropredy regular for a number of years with a hiatus in the mid 90's due to re-location and some er, other issues.

When I did return I found it quite emotional as none of my school friends were there. Instead, I met new ones, took new ones with me and so introduced other people into Fairport Convention and so it goes on. The best thing for me now as that my 7 year old daughter, when she can't sleep, asks me to put some folk music on and drifts off to sleep listening to Red and Gold, Who Knows Where The Time Goes and the mellow FC stuff I've put on a CD for her. Every week she asks me if I've got anything new for her and I try my best to find something. At the moment she likes Flook, she says it makes her think of happy people dancing at a festival. I can't think of anything more apt.

[Scousertommy (Ian)]

I too a Tull fan in the early 70's, but was also bowled away by Steeleye Span. Went to see them at Southport Floral Hall and ended up dancing up and  down the aisle with Maddy.  Got more into the rock thing with a band I was involved with called Restless in the late 70's. Grew up and went to college. At end of year 1 introduced to John Martyn who brought me more back to folk again. In Holland found a copy of Nine which reawoke my enjoyment of folk.  Not much more happened for 30 years. listened to a bit of Swarb, Carthy etc. mourned the impending retirement of Swarb and Martyn. Had a heart attack! Swarbs and Martyn's determination was immense in my rehab. Saw John was on at Cropredy this summer so bit the bullet................... What happened was a re-awakening. I remembered why I enjoyed the dingy folk clubs in Liverpool and later Manchester.  I'm back home were I belong

[Heather]

My father is into them and so always played the music in the car and at home, and occasionally ran off to Cropredy every now and then (well, when the festival was on) and I just liked the music so listened to it. He had lots of CDs all nicely available for me to steal and listen to so it worked quite well really 

[Speleologist (Robin)]

Since I seemed to miss this thread in it's previous resurrections, here's the tale.

As a young child various folk related music was a part of life. My parents were enthusiastic scottish country dancers, and we grew up with the sound of reels and strathspeys as a constant backdrop. They also listened to people like Ian & Lorna Campbell, Rory & Alex McEwan, The Critics Group and The Young Tradition. Dad could play a mean set of reels on the fiddle as well. So I grew up with a link to the folk world all around me.

Then, in 1969, I went away to boarding school, and my musical horizons were instantly widened. From Hendrix to Wagner, with lots of Tull, Zeppelin, Purple, and of course, The Doors. But one friend had an album that stood out as interesting, different and enjoyable. "What We Did on our Holidays" This album opened the door to Fairport, and I bought most of the albums up until "Nine"

I never got to see thema s such, but in around 1975 saw a cut down version of Simon, Swarb and Peggy under the title "Swarbrick, Nicol & Pegg" at ul University.

I then lost touch with them until the early eighties, when officially they didn't exist. Fate had deposited me in Masham, and that was in the days of the unofficial gigs in the town hall. What great nights! By then I was married, and Cath became as enthusiastic as I was. We also discovered the delights of Cropredy, where we have been without fail since 1987. One great delight was in 1990, when my parents decided to join us. It was their first festival, and they loved it!

[Neil Morrell]

After being enthralled with "Fog on the Tyne (pre Gazza - 1989) - my first foray into Folk Rock, I took "What we did in our Holidays" out of Central Library, St Helens. 

That'll be the same copy that I got out, at around the same time! My dad had the Plainsong LP (Iain Matthews, Andy Roberts and others) which I really liked and so this led me to Fairport. Got WWDOOH, Unhalfbricking and Leige and Lief out of the local library and was blown away, especially Nottamun Town, which seemed so eerie and otherworldly. Really powerful.

Indeed it probably was.  Sounds like that album had a pretty profound effect on many of us!

[Jack O Diamonds]

Greatest FC album... Unhalfbricking come close.... L&L very good too.... but WWDOOH is one of the truly great British rock/folk-rock albums...

[Jules Gray]

Greatest FC album... Unhalfbricking come close.... L&L very good too.... but WWDOOH is one of the truly great British rock/folk-rock albums...

It's Liege and Lief all the way for me!  With the expanded Full House coming a close second.  I like the earlier albums, but they just don't move me the same way.

Jules

[davidmjs]

1. What We Did on Our Holidays
2. Unhalfbricking
3. Full House
4. Fairport Convention
5. Liege and Lief

but the order will change by tea time...    One thing that won't is that these first 5 albums are one of the best runs of any band at any time.  Ever.

[Jack O Diamonds]

1. What We Did on Our Holidays
2. Unhalfbricking
3. Full House
4. Fairport Convention
5. Liege and Lief

but the order will change by tea time...    One thing that won't is that these first 5 albums are one of the best runs of any band at any time.  Ever.

Like, erh... I think I ... erh... love you .... erh... maaaan... Excellent judgement methinks!

[Stationary M25 Traveller]

My father is into them and so always played the music in the car and at home, and occasionally ran off to Cropredy every now and then (well, when the festival was on) and I just liked the music so listened to it. He had lots of CDs all nicely available for me to steal and listen to so it worked quite well really 

Sounds like one of my kids !!

[jonmuse]

I am one of probably several Tull converts. First decided to try Fairport around 1990 starting with In Real Time and Maart's first. First saw them live in '96

[Sir Martin]

I'd heard of them, being a bif Tull and Steeleye Span fan, then a friend introduced me to them while at University (this would be about 1981-2).

Eventually I cracked abd bought the 'History of' comp and took ti from there.

First Gig was Masham town hall the year I graduated (1984) which blew my socks off - really energetic. Bought all the albume I could find on vinyl, first Cropers wass the following year, then of course I bought a CD player and bought them all again on CD....

[monkeybob]

I think the first Fairport I ever heard was a scratched copy of Fairport Nine that my parents had. My mum used to work in the Barclays Bank in Banbury and someone from the band bought a copy in for her one day! That was around my early teens, when I started devouring my parent's record collection. I then remember ordering Leige and Leaf from Boots around the age of sixteen, and went from there. I've been to cropredy twice, and took my fiancee this year, who seemed to enjoy it. I've also seen Fairport in Swindon a few times when they've passed through.

At Cropredy this year I bought the Fiddlestix compilation - I wanted Nine on CD, but they'd sold out. It was great to hear Polly on the Shore for the first time in about 10 years, and the first time without scatches! I actually became a little obsessed with the song and listened to it on almost constant repeat for about two weeks in the car....

I'm a guitarist and have been influenced loads by Richard Thompson, Simon Nichol (I'm always playing end of a holiday!), and Jerry Donohue more recently, as well as other non-fairport folk musicians like Bert Jansh and Nick Drake.

[Chris]

Simon Nichol (I'm always playing end of a holiday!)

Careful, or Mr Nicol will come after you....he's an esteemed member here.

Welcome Monkeybob....