Gay and Terry Woods

In 1969 the husband-and-wife partnership of Gay and Terry Woods first took form while Terry was still active in Sweeney's Men. At the same moment, discussions were under way for Sweeney's Men and Gay Woods to link up with Fairport Convention bassist Ashley Hutchings in a new project that would be called Steeleye Span. When Irvine and Moynihan of Sweeney's Men chose not to take part, the English pair Tim Hart and Maddy Prior stepped in alongside the Woods and Hutchings instead. After contributing to only one album with that lineup, Gay and Terry left to launch the Woods Band on their own and issued an eponymous debut in 1971 that combined traditional pieces with newly written songs. Prolonged European touring followed before the group disbanded, sending Gay and Terry back to Ireland. Once resettled they signed to Polydor and delivered Backwoods in 1975. As with all their later records, the album consisted chiefly of original material, yet their two 1976 releases, The Time Is Right and Renowned, moved further into experimental territory. Their narrow audience brought the major-label chapter to a close, so their final joint effort, Tenderhooks, surfaced on Dublin's independent Mulligan label as an Irish folky roots-rock farewell. Material drawn from those last years can be heard on the live set Gay and Terry Woods in Concert. Gay subsequently joined the progressive group Auto Da Fe while Terry briefly reassembled the Woods Band before withdrawing from music for several years. He returned in 1986 as a member of the Pogues, whose approach directly continued the path he had opened with Sweeney's Men. Although Gay had also stepped away from performing, she reentered the public eye in the late 1990s when she rejoined Steeleye Span and assumed the role of sole vocalist following Maddy Prior's departure.