The Albion Band

The Albion Band is an English folk group founded by Ashley Hutchings, formerly of Fairport Convention. It is based in the United Kingdom and is active from 1971 to 2014. The group is closely associated with folk and folk rock, and its history is marked by frequent changes in line-up and name.

History and name changes

The band first appears as Albion Country Band and later uses names including The Albion Dance Band and The Albion Christmas Band. Material and personnel also overlap with related projects such as Ridgeriders, creating a shifting network of shared members, tunes and recordings. Ashley Hutchings remains the central figure throughout, and the group’s releases are often difficult to separate cleanly by name alone.

Recording phases and notable releases

The band’s career is often divided into an early period, roughly from 1971 to 1979, and everything that follows. Key recordings from the early years include No Roses, Morris On, Battle of the Field, The Compleat Dancing Master, Son of Morris On, Kickin' up the Sawdust, The Prospect Before Us, Rise Up Like the Sun and Lark Rise to Candleford: a Country Tapestry. Among these, No Roses, Battle of the Field and Lark Rise are notable for presenting an English folk world that combines traditional material with electric guitars and fiddle, while The Prospect Before Us and Rise Up Like the Sun are significant as folk rock recordings. Rattlebone and Ploughjack is also singled out as an unusually uncompromising major-label release.

Membership and collaborators

Over the years the band includes a large and changing cast of musicians. Early and notable contributors include Mike and Lal Waterson, Tim Renwick, Maddy Prior, Shirley Collins, Dolly Collins, Richard Thompson, John Kirkpatrick, Barry Dransfield, Simon Nicol and Martin Carthy. Later contributors include John Tams, Phil Pickett, Graeme Taylor, Eddie Upton, Phil Beer and Rick Sanders. The verified membership associated with the group also includes Sue Draheim, Sue Harris, Roger Swallow, John Sothcott, Cathy Lesurf, John-Pierre Rasle, Dave Whetstone, Simon Care, Jean Shepard, Julie Matthews, Keith Hinchliffe, Chris While, Chris Leslie, Ken Nicol, Pete Zorn, Blair Dunlop and Ashley Hutchings, among others.

2011 revival

In 2011 Hutchings announces a new version of the band without himself in the line-up, passing leadership to his son Blair Dunlop. That line-up also includes Katriona Gilmore on fiddle and vocals, Gavin Davenport on vocals, concertina and guitar, drummer Tom Wright, Tim Yates on bass, and lead guitarist Benjamin Trott. This incarnation releases the EP Fighting Room and the studio album Vice of the People.