Hank Wangford

Hank Wangford is the stage name of Dr Samuel Hutt, an English country and western songwriter born in 1940 in the United Kingdom. His work is marked by humour and cheerful irony, with occasional political undercurrents. A chance meeting with Gram Parsons, who played him “You’re Still on My Mind” from Sweetheart of the Rodeo, is said to have led him towards country music.

Recording and touring career

Wangford first records under that name with a group of leading session musicians, but he later works with a touring band. He performs under two main group names: the Hank Wangford Band and Hank Wangford & The Lost Cowboys. There are at least four versions of the Hank Wangford Band, and a notable feature of the changing line-ups is the number of well-known musicians who play with him.

One important Hank Wangford Band line-up includes Amos Avaczyk-Daley on bass, Milton Keynes alias Billy Three-Knees on drums, Brad Breath, pronounced like the metal, on lead guitar, Irma Cetas on vocals, and Manly Footwear on pedal steel guitar. These are aliases for Gary Taylor, Howard Tibble, Andy Roberts, Melanie Harrold and B. J. Cole respectively. That line-up breaks up in 1984 after appearing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, although Andy Roberts, B. J. Cole and Melanie Harrold later return for occasional live dates.

Hank Wangford & The Lost Cowboys

He also tours as Hank Wangford & The Lost Cowboys, a more folk and country-oriented project. The line-up includes Reg Meuross on vocals, banjo and guitar, Martin Belmont on guitar and six-string bass, Kevin Foster on bass, and Roy Dodds on drums. B. J. Cole appears with the band on a number of occasions in 2008.

Other work

Outside music, Dr Hutt works as a family planning doctor for the British National Health Service. After the fall and execution of Nicolae Ceauşescu, he spends time in Romania helping to establish family planning services, including training nurses and doctors in prescribing contraception. He also writes occasional travel articles for The Guardian and is president of the Nude Mountaineering Society.