Oak

Oak consisted of Tony Engle on concertina (a small accordion), Danny Stradling on tambourine, Rod Stradling on melodeon (a small reed organ), and Peta Webb on fiddle. Formed as a quartet during the early 1970s, the group focused exclusively on traditional dance tunes. Their only release, the 1971 Topic album Welcome to Our Fair, served as the foundational model for nearly all subsequent traditional dance bands. As of 2003, that same record stood out as one of the scarcest artifacts from England’s 1970s folk revival. Tony Engle eventually took charge of Topic Records, Rod Stradling and Danny Stradling went on to establish the Old Swan Band, the English Country Blues Band, and Tiger Moth, while Peta Webb developed into a prominent solo performer and session musician who wove feminist perspectives through her folk and fiddle material.