Biography
The brief run of Lazy Farmer is chiefly recalled today through its association with guitarist-singer Wizz Jones, a fixture of the English folk circuit for decades. Formed in Cornwall, England, during 1973, the group initially comprised Jones, his wife Sandy Jones on banjo, multi-instrumentalist John Bidwell (previously a member of C.O.B. alongside Clive Palmer, once of the Incredible String Band), and Bidwell’s flatmate Jake Walton, another multi-instrumentalist. Following local performances in Cornwall, banjoist Don Coging was added to the lineup, after which the ensemble contributed to four selections on Wizz Jones’s solo album When I Leave Berlin, issued in 1973. At that moment Jones was frequently performing across Germany, and his German manager arranged a contract for Lazy Farmer with Songbird, the German EMI affiliate. The resulting self-titled LP was cut near Cologne in January 1975; while largely given over to traditional songs, it also contained one composition apiece from Wizz Jones, Ralph McTell, and Derroll Adams and stood as capable, if typical, British folk of the period. A German tour followed in 1975, after which the band dissolved, yet the recording returned to circulation through a 2005 CD reissue.
Albums