The Wurzels

The Wurzels

The Wurzels are a scrumpy and western group from Somerset, active from 1966 to the present. They begin as Adge Cutler and The Wurzels, a backing group for singer-songwriter Adge Cutler, and continue under the shortened name after his death. The line-up includes Adge Cutler, Reg Quantrill, Tommy Banner, Tony Baylis and Pete Budd.

Style and name

The band takes its name from mangelwurzel, a type of fodder beet. Their music is closely associated with cider, farming, local villages, Cheddar cheese and other West Country subjects, often treated with a comic approach. The style becomes known as scrumpy and western, with “scrumpy” referring to traditional cider.

Early years and national recognition

Formed in 1966, the group builds a regional following in Somerset through songs with local themes and a thick Somerset accent. Early material includes folk songs and work songs, alongside songs about cider making and drinking, farming and village life. The single “Drink Up Thy Zider” brings national attention and reaches number 45 in the UK charts. The group also records live albums in pubs and clubs, featuring songs such as “Easton in Gordano”, “The Champion Dung Spreader” and “Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n, Hassn't?”

After Adge Cutler

Adge Cutler dies in May 1974 after a car crash in Chepstow following a concert in Hereford, and is buried in Nailsea. The surviving band records The Wurzels Are Scrumptious! in 1975, which includes favourites from the back catalogue and some previously unrecorded Cutler songs. After this, the group develops a formula built around reworked popular songs with new lyrics on familiar Wurzel themes.

Hit singles and later work

In 1976, the band releases “The Combine Harvester”, a new version of Melanie’s “Brand New Key”, and it reaches number one in the UK for two weeks. They follow it with novelty releases including “I Am A Cider Drinker”, based on “Una Paloma Blanca”, and “Farmer Bill's Cowman”. During the 1980s and 1990s, releases are more limited and include “I Hate JR”, “Sunny Weston-super-Mare” and “I Want To Be An Eddie Stobart Driver”. That last single appears on Loose Records.com in 1995, enters the UK Top 100 and is also issued as a limited-edition lorry-shaped disc.

Revival, collaborations and live activity

Interest in the band rises again in the late 1990s, giving them cult status among students and renewed popularity in the West Country. Under the management of Sil Willcox, who also manages The Stranglers, they release a number of CDs, mainly re-recordings of older material, as well as Never Mind The Bullocks, an album of covers of contemporary British rock songs. The album is recorded and produced by Louie Nicastro and George Allen, the manager of The Mission.

In 2005, The Wurzels release a limited-edition split single with British Sea Power, with each act covering one of the other’s songs. The band also supports British Sea Power at the London Forum in November. In 2007, a new version of “I Am a Cider Drinker” is announced with Tony Blackburn, with royalties going to the BUI Prostate Cancer Care Appeal in Bristol. The group continues to perform around the UK, plays the Shalbourne Festival for nearly 11 years, appears at the 2000 Glastonbury Festival, and is scheduled for the 2007 edition before pulling out. It also headlines the 2007 Bristol Community Festival.

Local reputation

The Wurzels remain strongly associated with Bristol City supporters. “One For The Bristol City” becomes the club anthem, and a newly recorded version reaches number 66 in the UK charts in September 2007. Many fans, however, continue to treat “Drink Up Thy Zider” as the main anthem, singing it alongside “I am a cider drinker” at Ashton Gate. The band is also referenced by Bill Bailey in live routines and named by Portishead as an influence.