Biography
Born on 18 April 1949 in Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire, England, Cronshaw launched his performing career while studying at Edinburgh University. There he earned a psychology degree and helped manage the University Folksong Society. He eventually abandoned vocals to concentrate on guitar, tin whistle, zither, concertina, and dulcimer. His first album, A Is For Andrew, Z Is For Zither, appeared in 1974 on Transatlantic Records’ Xtra imprint and revealed his early promise.
Moving into production, Cronshaw oversaw Suzie Adams’s single ‘Casey’s Last Ride’/‘Nostradamus’, then handled June Tabor’s Abyssinians and Aqaba, as well as the second Silly Sisters album, No More To The Dance, by Tabor and Maddy Prior. Additional credits include Wolf At Your Door and Blazing Fiddles for Zumzeaux, The Wild West Show, and Bill Caddick’s Urban Legend. While issuing his own recordings on several labels, he developed a sound that merged new age and folk elements. He also contributes frequent pieces to the international roots magazine fROOTS and assorted British music publications.
In 1991 Cronshaw mounted the Splendid Venues Tour, presenting two series of concerts inside carefully chosen English village churches in an effort to dispel the notion that folk music belonged solely in the cramped back rooms of pubs. Over the years he has shared stages, both solo and in duos or ensembles, with numerous folk-scene figures including Tabor, Ric Sanders, and Martin Simpson.
Cronshaw’s deep engagement with Finnish traditional music informed The Language Of Snakes and On The Shoulders Of The Great Bear. Recorded in Finland with local players, the albums blended Finnish and Ural melodies into a strikingly contemporary fusion of Finno-Ugrian and Celtic folk approaches.
Moving into production, Cronshaw oversaw Suzie Adams’s single ‘Casey’s Last Ride’/‘Nostradamus’, then handled June Tabor’s Abyssinians and Aqaba, as well as the second Silly Sisters album, No More To The Dance, by Tabor and Maddy Prior. Additional credits include Wolf At Your Door and Blazing Fiddles for Zumzeaux, The Wild West Show, and Bill Caddick’s Urban Legend. While issuing his own recordings on several labels, he developed a sound that merged new age and folk elements. He also contributes frequent pieces to the international roots magazine fROOTS and assorted British music publications.
In 1991 Cronshaw mounted the Splendid Venues Tour, presenting two series of concerts inside carefully chosen English village churches in an effort to dispel the notion that folk music belonged solely in the cramped back rooms of pubs. Over the years he has shared stages, both solo and in duos or ensembles, with numerous folk-scene figures including Tabor, Ric Sanders, and Martin Simpson.
Cronshaw’s deep engagement with Finnish traditional music informed The Language Of Snakes and On The Shoulders Of The Great Bear. Recorded in Finland with local players, the albums blended Finnish and Ural melodies into a strikingly contemporary fusion of Finno-Ugrian and Celtic folk approaches.
Albums
