So how did YOU get into Fairport?

[GraemeH]

A slightly stange friend of mine (later to become a swampy-style road protestor, GM crop destroyer and eventually respectable, with wife, job and child) played a very upbeat, melodic folky (but not too folky) tape at some party or other. To cut a long and boring story short, it turned out to be In Real Time.
When funds permitted, I acquired the CD (and a CD player!!!) and was, basically, hooked.
I had chased up most of the post-1985 FC stuff by the time the Five Seasons was released, and made my Cropredy debut in 1991.
I haven't missed a year since....

[clive]

Funny, I had a couple of slightly strange friends who kept suggesting I ought to go to this place called 'Cropredy'
I made my debut a couple of years later and haven't missed a year since.

Laydeees and Gentlemen, let me introduce one of those strange friends .................Graeme H 

Also to be found under the sign of the penguin.

Ta mate

Clive

[Big Dave]

Welcome Graham H! I trust that you will be able to join the happy throng at the Alex on the 12th?  Keep an eye out for the fezzes and fez badges  , do come up and introduce yourself old bean 

[David W]

The year 1981, I was 14 and everyone else was listening to either bog standard heavy metal of the time (Whitesnake, saxon etc) or even worse the awful synth pop which was coming through.
I sought something else - something different and I found it when visiting with some friends of the family and the husband put Son of Morris On on his record player. That year my elder brother went to Cropredy for the first time and in 1985 I caught the Gladys Leap tour and was blown away - not so much by the quality of the music but by the sheer joy and friendliness of the band. The die was cast and I have never looked back since, like many others on this I do ctiticise the band sometimes but my life is richer for being a fan of Fairport than it would have been without them.

Now all I have to do is convince Mrs Jackdaw (celebrating our 7th week anniversary on Saturday) but hope the chaps will do that on Thursday at Leamington.

Wassail,

JD 67

[Chris]

The year 1981.....That year my elder brother went to Cropredy for the first time

I did that too....only to find that 'Cropredy' was happening at Broughton Castle that year.....

[David W]

I did that too....only to find that 'Cropredy' was happening at Broughton Castle that year.....

Which could explain why he was very quiet about the event.

JD

[Karlhippy]

a mate at work recommended Cropredy to me as a i am a Glasto regular
that was May 1999, and i do say that it has been a most enjoyable experience
as for FC, a mate gave me a CD of a FC compliation, some good some a bit naff
got a few of the older CD's out of the library (1/2-bricking, Leige, hoildays)
and enjoy most of the music on those.

As for violin diddy-dee, I prefer The Chieftains, they are the masters *coat*

[mikemush]

The year 1981.....That year my elder brother went to Cropredy for the first time

I did that too....only to find that 'Cropredy' was happening at Broughton Castle that year.....

   Good year,that one........after the castle,spent a few days camping at the Rollright Stones........magical 

[cathy]

when i was at school and a friend lent me the History of...double album,i heard Sandy Denny's voice and was hooked....and have been ever since

[Curt]

We had a 60s psychadelic hippy party (early 1980s) at school and for some reason (which now escapes me) Fairport Convention and Jefferson Airplane were the two bands that the collective memory of 80s teenagers in Hertfordshire associated with .  We bought the first album, unhalfbricking and the vinyl version of Heyday (iirc) from the 2nd hand record shop for the party and that was it, most kids never wanted to hear them again but I took the records home - yee ha .

[Sian]

Decided the summer of 2000 to go to a festival, decided on Cropredy as it is near to Wantage (ish) My sister in law and I had no idea what we were doing never been before.  I knew of Fairport Convention but couldn't say i was a big fan.  I was more of a fan of Chris Leslie through Albion Band.  Any road up, Cropredy totally blew us away we had the time of our lives. Sheer Magic. A Fairport Conversion   Have been Fairport fan eversince.  We now have a party of 7 that go to Cropredy.  Seeing FC at Nettlebed 16th May.

[Bryan]

Hi All,
At Jude's suggestion, as I've just joined the board today I'll introduce myself by a post to this topic.

I was Ok until someone played me Unhalfbricking in 1969 and I've been on a downward spiral of
addiction ever since and it's getting worse as the years go by.

I was convinced that I heard Unhalfbricking while on a 4 month works training course which ran from
Jan-April 69 but that can't be true so senility is setting in I'm afraid. I do remember taking my Dylan
record collection and playing them to colleagues on the course, so someone must have loaned me
Unhalfbricking later in the year and when I heard that gear change in 'A Sailors Life' I was hooked.
I was a folk rocker.

I didn't mind buying their earlier albums, trouble was no-one explained that this band would split and
then I'd be buying records by Span, Albion Band, Morris on, Mathews Southern Comfort, Fotheringay,
Sandy, Richard Thompson, etc. etc. etc.
I'm afraid I can't remember when I first saw Fairport live, I suspect it may not have been till after
Steeleye Span were formed as the first concert I remember going to was one of their early concerts
in Cecil Sharp House.

I realised just the other day when Jude made her correction that I'm exactly the same age as
Richard Thompson,  difference is he can play guitar and I can't.

I took up walking/camping some years ago and suddenly realised in 1998 that I was fully equipped to walk
to Cropredy ( only from Banbury station) and pitch my tent on the cricket field and now I make that
wonderful annual pilgrimage. I got very emotional as I expect we all did when we were singing MOTL
last year, just in case it was the last time, but all is well, Richard is coming and I've got my waterproofs ready.

Bryan

[Alezed (Aleks)]

I blame the two men in my life..... dad and himself. Dad for getting me into annother great band and english folk and himself for teaching me about fairport while I taught him about Steeleye Span. Suppose I should blame Ashley Hutchings.... It's all his a fault we have so much in common!

[kindle]

A certain friend of mine was insistent in her opinion that folk music wasn't entirely populated by people in arran jumpers and finally persuaded me to listen to Fairport. I was impressed!  She took me to SwarbAid, and I was hooked! Why did nobody tell me about folk music and Fairport before? Think of all the time I've wasted!

[Kris]

Newbie alert........... 

I was at a Gary Numan gig at Fairfield Halls in Croydon in 2001 - I saw a leaflet for Fairport's upcoming winter tour and thought I'd impress my new girlfriend (who I knew was into Fairport, although I'd never heard of them) by buying a pair of tickets.  I went along expecting to have to endure rather than enjoy!!  Hey, I liked  a couple of All About Eve tracks, so it wouldn't be too bad....

Anyway, cutting a long story short, instantly hooked !  Went out and bought a mandolin the following day, and several Cropredies and countless gigs later, I have bought a ridiculous amount of mandolins and other folk instruments (which the missus has blamed Chris Leslie for - a fact he was quite proud of...).  Most of the music I play and record has Fairport influences, we've had the pleasure of meeting the guys on several occasions and I even recorded some tracks with one of them recently. 

Am I glad that I didn't decide to send her to the gig with a friend that night!!!!!

Kris

[jude]

hallo Kris

Welcome to here. Come and join the rest of theidiots wonderful people here


Jude

[Jack O Diamonds]

hallo Kris

Welcome to here. Come and join the rest of theidiots wonderful people here


Jude

Don't go crossing the word out, Jude... I rejoice in my idiothood!

[jude]

hallo Kris

Welcome to here. Come and join the rest of theidiots wonderful people here


Jude

Don't go crossing the word out, Jude... I rejoice in my idiothood!

Sorry J.O'D, of course you do. Lovely! have you found Sycophants Corner yet? It's wonderful

Jude

[Suzanne]

Of course I'd heard of Fairport Convention when growing up - you do when you live in Oxfordshire and you hear all about the Cropredy festival in every local paper and on the local news every year.  But it was proving impossible to get to any of their gigs for reasons I won't go into here. 

Anyway, last year some friends who are long-time FC fans had tickets for High Wycombe and invited me along too. I felt a bit guilty actually about having a second row seat with them because it was my first time seeing Fairport in concert and I couldn't help thinking that the longer-term fans were more entitled to that seat than a newbie like me.

I loved the songs, I loved the music, I loved the banter (Gerry's story of Morris Bloom had me in hysterical giggles for weeks afterwards).  I was amazed that the band mingled with the audience in the bar during the interval and after the show - this was totally unheard of in my mind and it reinforced my interest further.  You can tell a lot about an act by the way they treat their fans.  I got to meet them all and discovered that Chris Leslie and I had a mutual friend in Eynsham which is where I live.    Ric Saunders managed to charm me (this was Valentine's Day 2004) by telling me I must have had hundreds of Valentine's cards.  I told him the truth - I'd had none!  His response was to give me two great big kisses and a big hug "to make up for it" .  It's a daft anecdote but, to be treated like an old friend at my first ever FC gig did mean a lot to me. 

And I've been coming to shows ever since - even went to Cropredy last year and loved it.  I'm coming again this year - you have been warned.

What else have Fairport done for me?  Well, they cost me a fortune on gigs and things.  I've located "Talkawhile", I've been to gigs that I'd never have normally gone to, I've started to drive 25 miles some Wednesday evenings to go to the Folk Club in Banbury (not every Wednesday though - it's a long way in the dark on my own). Oh, and I keep threatening to buy a violin but my parents won't let me until I learn how to play it.

[JonHirst]

We went to our first Cropredy in 1986 and haven't missed one since  .  But the reason for going to that first one was not Fairport, but the one and only Richard Thompson - who, if my memory serves me, headlined the Friday night with his band of the time.  I was aware of Fairport and had heard some of their albums - I had also seen them once years before at the short-lived Chorley Folk Festival when Swarb took his jeans off on stage!  But having experienced one Cropredy I was hooked    We have seen Fairport and various offshoots many many times since and depleted the bank balance buying much of their back catalogue and other Merch.

Roll on August

Jon