root salad f20 Ian Stephenson
The in-demand multi-instrumentalist finally got around to the solo album. Tim Chipping hears the story so far.
S
ir Paul McCartney has always stated the reason he joined a band was to get money and girls. Traditional English folk musicians
can probably forget about the money but, according to Newcastle’s foremost go-to accompanist Ian Stephenson, the latter are as impressed by a set of reels as they were by Twist And Shout.
“At 14, girls happened to me,” says Ian, explaining his route into the music he’s prodigiously excelled at for over a decade. “And there were lots of girls at the folk festivals I’d been dragged to by my parents. And then I started attending the Folkworks summer schools and realised you look cooler in front of girls if you’re better at playing your instrument. And 15 years later I’m now marrying one of those girls. So it works!”
Ian may not be a folk household name just yet, but the chances are you own albums which feature his talents. As a gui- tarist, melodeon player, composer and arranger, he’s performed and recorded with the likes of Kathryn Tickell, Liz Carrol, Gerry Holland, Brian Finnegan, Alistair Anderson, Malinky, Bella Hardy… and the list goes on. His name has become some- thing of a mark of quality, though this isn’t a reputation he’s aware of.
“I don’t think I was aware of being known, except occasionally when new stu- dents would come onto the folk degree here in Newcastle and say: “I know who you are!” That was really strange.”
Ah yes, we forgot to say he teaches too. Spare time is overrated. Fellow musician Jim
Moray describes Ian as “annoyingly good at every instrument he plays”. The result of tireless practice, we naïvely presume? “No, but that was one of the advantages of growing up in a place with no buses.”
Sounds like a recipe for a life of petty crime and onanism… “I probably took to those too, but not as much as folk music. Until the age of 17, I was practising like crazy. And I think that gives you a good start because teenagers are a lot faster at learning than people my age.”
Who did you want to be when you grew up? “My first folk record was Swåp by
Swåp. To see someone as creative as Ian Carr, on stage, making his guitar as much a focus as the other instruments was amaz- ing. And that was the start of a love affair with his guitar playing; so much so that when I was 18, someone once described me as ‘Ian rein-Carr-nation’ because I played so much like him.”
Stephenson’s folk life began, along- side Bella Hardy and many other future bright lights, in the legendary 12-piece youth band The Pack, a group formed with the sole purpose of getting into festivals for free.
“The amazing thing was that our par- ents let us do it. I was 14 when Whitby booked us for our first festival gig. At that point we had 25 members – it was like the unpopular kids at school finally got their own gang.”
Similarly myopic ambitions led to the formation of his next group, 422.
“S
am Pirt and I had heard about the Radio 2 Young Folk Award, and that there was a great party all paid for
by the BBC. It was like some holy land where we thought we could play in some of the best youth sessions in the country. It was the only reason we started a band, and that was 422. Our first gig together was the semi-final, and we won the competition!”
Before you embark on a course of hate mail, rest assured Ian’s career has taken a far more serious and dedicated direction since those carefree ’90s. In 2004, having studied at The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he assembled a group of Danish, Finnish and British instrumentalists to form Baltic Crossing, playing a thrilling mix of Scandinavian polskas and Northumbri- an pipe tunes. And he recently contributed to former Flook flautist (that’s easier to write than say) Brian Finnegan’s solo album, and the pair have now teamed up with Lau’s fiddler extraordinaire Aidan O’Rourke, to form the trio Kan.
All of which barely leaves us room to mention that Ian Stephenson has just released his own debut solo album; a virtu- osic and sparkling set of tunes and song, called Line Up. What took him so long?
“I’ve no idea. But I’m pleased I waited this long because I think, especially as a multi-instrumentalist, you’ve got to limit the amount of ‘you’ that goes on a record, otherwise it’s too samey. So there are four different ensembles playing on it. And there’s people like Sarah Hayes, who I entered the Young Folk Award with, in 2002 (and didn’t win!). And Alistair Ander- son, who’s been an amazing influence on me. And my best friend, the piper and pianist Andy May.”
Since Ms Hayes takes lead vocals on a stark arrangement of Snow It Melts The Soonest, can we assume that the one instrument Ian hasn’t mastered is his voice? “Well… I’m not good at it yet. We started a band once but had to stop because we realised we couldn’t sing. I was only doing backing vocals but our first gig was so dreadful we never did another.”
Nobody’s perfect. But having spent half a lifetime at the side of the stage, how does it feel to now be in the spotlight?
“The thing about being an accom - panist is, because of the people and bands you play with you get a kind of impersonal fame. One of the great things about releasing my solo record is that finally the review is about what I’ve done! And I’m really proud of it.”
www.ianstephenson.me F
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