45 f

direction.’ That’s when I came down here and started doing the musical instruments. I sell, repair and restore violins, cellos, bows, double basses – all the instruments of the violin family. It’s ironic really, as my brother’s the fiddle player! But I got into it through Barry – he started doing it in the late ’70s when he opened his violin workshop in Muswell Hill.”

Barry had recorded on Popular To Contrary Belief) and Spencer The Rover (the Coppersong from his early solo repertoire that he famously taught to John Martyn), like he’d never been away.

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“When I came down here I always swore that I wouldn’t be a part-timer again, so I just kept out of it. It wasn’t some heavyweight, personal choice to be a hermit, but that’s how it ended up. Since the Bob Copper celebration turned-up I’ve now got the opportunity, having dipped my toe back in the water and liked it, to sing again, if I want to. As you get older I think that as long as your voice doesn’t physically go, you’re going to be a better singer. There are a few of the older singers still working whose voices have gone, and I think they should go home and watch Countdown, but luckily for me, when I did the Bobstock thing, I found that my voice was just as strong as it ever was – I just had to learn to play the guitar again!”

“Ian Anderson talked me into playing the gig and I suppose it was just as big a surprise to the people there as it was to me that I was doing it. My sons Luie and Christian played guitar and fiddle with me. Neither of them had played with me before but we had a few rehearsals and did a floor spot at Bodmin Folk Club, and it was great. But Christian is busy working as a postman and Luie’s living in London and playing as a drummer, so the decision I’ve got to make now is do I want to play solo gigs again?”

“I’ve always thought of myself principally as a singer who can play

the guitar. The thing that puts me off is all the travel. I drove Barry and me millions of miles all over Europe and still like driving now, but I start losing the will to live once I get past Exeter these days! At my age it’s not as easy as when you’re young and don’t mind dossing down on sofas and airbeds and rooms with no curtains and all that. But if the accommodation was alright, I reckon I could go for it…”

You heard the man, folks… Robin & Barry Dransfield in 1977 F

hat might well have been that, but on 24th January this year, our editor introduced Robin Dransfield on stage at Cecil Sharp House as part of Ten Thousand Times Adieu – the event celebrating the centenary of Bob Copper. He sang The Banks Of The Sweet Dundee (which he and