enriched I believe. At the time, the buzz amongst musicians was McCartney’s bass playing.
SD: You played sessions with Julie Felix, Young Tradition, AL Lloyd, on The Radio Ballads, among others in the ’60s. Did you ever play on any pop sessions or hits?
DS: Not that I know of !
SD: Do you have a favourite album or recording that you made with Martin Carthy? Can you sum up Martin’s contribution to music?
DS: ‘Prince Heathen’. Sometimes I think Martin invented folk music – he for sure invented a method of accompanying song, as well as a guitar tuning to enable him to do it. Long life to the man, he is the best.
SD: How did you end up contributing to and appearing in Far From The Madding Crowd in 1967?
DS: A friend by the name of Isla Cameron knew John Schlesinger and suggested I be involved.
SD: Have you seen the YouTube clip of Fairport (with Sandy) performing ‘White Dress’ on The London Weekend Show in ’75? Do you remember doing it?
DS: Yes I have, I don’t have any recollection of it though. I wrote the song specifically for Sandy, and a little bit of me too of course.
SD:Did you have any doubts about joining Fairport in ’69? Were rock musicians more open minded than folk musicians or were you more relieved at leaving the folk scene behind?
DS: Looking back now, I wasn’t like many of my contemporaries, who were tired of the parochial attitude that was “the folk scene”. I would have been happy to continue, I wasn’t in two minds at all, I was enthralled by the sound, by Richard, by drums, by the whole electric thing, still am really. The power available to make a point.
SD: Were you fond of any of the other folk-group groups of the period such as Pentangle, The Incredible String Band and Trees?
DS: I knew the members of course and socialised but no, I wasn’t a fan.
SD: Did you know Sandy Denny from the folk circuit before she joined Fairport? What set her apart from the other female singers at the time?
DS: I was an extremely reluctant lead singer and only took the job because I drew the short straw. Later though I kind of grew into it, and ended up loving it.
SD: A few years ago you said you found it hard to listen to Sandy, even 30 years after her death. How do you feel now about performing her songs on the forthcoming tribute tour? Which songs will you be performing?
DS: It’s still hard, and I still avoid listening to her, I have though very little problem in hearing her music covered by others, and I am delighted that it is. I shall be involved in ‘The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood’, ‘It Suits Me Well’ and ‘One Way Donkey Ride’.
SD: How do feel about the solo albums you recorded in the ’70s?
DS: I think I would like them if I heard them. They are simple and unassuming and involved, for me, evocative players.
SD: You teamed up with Martin Jenkins
SD: If you were forced at gunpoint to nominate one musician with whom collaborating have been the most satisfying for you musically, who would it be?
DS: You would have to shoot me!
SD:What was it like reading your own obituary in The Telegraph on April 20th 1999?
DS: Great fun! Who wouldn’t like to do that?
SD: You once said if you could do it all over again you would do the same but without the smoking. Should being a musician carry a health warning?
DS: Yes, but things are not the same now. Back then, roaring around with a brandy and a spliff and a girl in every port was par for the course. Nowadays musicians take a lunch box on tour – raw carrots. We drank battery acid!
With thanks to Richard Allen, Andrew Batt and Andy Morten.
27
DS: I knew Sandy a little pre-Fairport. As to what set her apart, how can you quantify a performer that stood and stands somewhere between Piaf and Jupiter?
SD: Liege & Lief is such a milestone recording. Does it overshadow the rest of Fairport’s work?
DS: All a matter of opinion I suppose. I don’t listen to any records I was involved in, same as most musicians I know – we binge on the latest and then get on with the next!
SD: Were you a reluctant lead singer? How did it feel assuming that role after Sandy left Fairport?
“I don’t listen to any records I was involved in, same as most musicians I know – we binge on the latest and then get on with the next!”
and Kevin Dempsey (of Dando Shaft) to form Whippersnapper in the early ’80s and it seemed to be a very enjoyable project. Do you have any particular memories of that time and when can we expect to see some CD reissues or even some unreleased material from the original line-up?
DS: Whippersnapper was a fun band beset with financial worries – we worked our cods off for a pittance, and it’s hard to keep things together when the public doesn’t want what you are selling. Sometimes the arrangements were too complicated and emotion got lost in a welter of notes.
SD: Playing solo, in a duo or a group, if you could only do one of these, which would it be?
DS: On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, solo, Tuesdays and Thursdays as a duo and I would save the group for the weekends!
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