Biography
Bass player Ashley Hutchings, after departing Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, envisioned a group capable of delivering traditional British folk and Morris dance tunes charged with the drive and instrumental skill of rock & roll, an idea he advanced through the Albion Country Band. The original lineup, comprising Royston Wood, Sue Draheim, and Steve Ashley in addition to Hutchings, remained intact for under two years, yet the impact on British folk music has endured. Battle of the Field, the ensemble’s lone album, surfaced three years after the breakup and stands as a widely treasured classic. Resurrecting the project first as the Albion Dance Band in 1975 and later as the Albion Band enabled Hutchings to keep realizing his creative aims. He first gathered the musicians who became the Albion Country Band to support his then-wife Shirley Collins on her 1971 album No Roses. The results prompted the players to sustain their partnership under the Albion Country Band name. They supplied backing for Steve Ashley on Stroll On and for two tracks by Richard Thompson issued on the 1991 cassette-only Doom and Gloom From the Tomb, Vol. 2. Augmented by leading British folk figures John Kirkpatrick, Martin Carthy, and Simon Nicol, Hutchings and the Albion Country Band recorded their debut album in 1973. Financial pressures led Hutchings to dissolve the group before the album appeared. Without an active band to promote the recording, Island postponed its release until 1976.