Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span ranks among Britain’s most pivotal ensembles, one that propelled folk-rock into wider public view during the mid-1970s. Over a long span at the forefront of the nation’s traditional-music scene, the group continually refreshed centuries-old songs while steadily enlarging the repertoire with fresh compositions of their own. Together with Fairport Convention—whose parallel trajectory they closely mirror—they remain the most visible and longest-lived act to emerge from the British folk-rock surge of the late 1960s. Early in the 1970s the band struggled through several unstable line-ups before reaching full stride on the inventive Parcel of Rogues (1973) and Now We Are Six (1974); the following year they scored their first substantial U.K. chart breakthrough with the single “All Around My Hat” and its parent album. Although mainstream visibility declined toward the decade’s close, the musicians sustained an active touring schedule for many years afterward, repeatedly reshaping their sound and occasionally scaling new artistic heights on such later releases as Tempted & Tried (1989), Bloody Men (2006), and Wintersmith (2013), the last of which returned them to the British album charts after a lengthy absence. Despite repeated personnel changes, Steeleye Span have maintained a strikingly steady creative output across their career, with founding vocalist Maddy Prior remaining the central figure for nearly its entire duration. Marking their fiftieth anniversary in 2019, the ensemble issued the new studio set Est’d 1969 and embarked on an extensive British tour. Two years later the expansive anthology Good Times of Old England gathered material recorded between 1972 and 1983, spotlighting among its contents the long-sought concert document Live at the Rainbow Theatre 1974.

Bassist Ashley Hutchings left the ascendant Fairport Convention at the end of 1969, shortly after that band had issued the landmark Liege & Lief. Seeking a fresh vehicle for traditional material, he joined forces with the established London folk duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The first incarnation of Steeleye Span was completed by Irish musician Terry Woods—previously of Sweeney's Men and later a member of the Pogues—and his wife, vocalist Gay Woods. Their debut album, Hark! The Village Wait (1970), captured a fleeting but distinctive early chapter, employing two session drummers and showcasing four contrasting vocalists. Although the quintet dissolved soon after the record appeared, its robust acoustic-electric textures and tightly woven a cappella passages established several enduring traits of the group’s initial style. Without ever sharing a stage, Terry and Gay Woods departed in the mid-1970s; guitarist Martin Carthy and fiddler Peter Knight, both seasoned figures on the folk circuit, stepped in. Their contributions to 1971’s Please to See the King steered the music toward a denser, percussion-free approach that incorporated numerous instrumentals and placed Prior and Hart at the forefront vocally. The same orientation persisted on Ten Man Mop, Or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again, issued in December of that year.

Early in 1972 both Hutchings and Carthy exited, prompting yet another overhaul. Having secured a multi-album deal with Chrysalis, the remaining trio recruited bassist Rick Kemp and guitarist Bob Johnson, thereby forming the configuration many devotees regard as the classic Steeleye Span lineup and the source of the band’s most commercially successful phase. Still without a drummer, the quartet delivered Below the Salt, an album that fused Renaissance imagery with a propulsive, rhythmically driven rock sensibility and unexpectedly yielded a seasonal hit in the luminous a cappella arrangement of the medieval choral work “Gaudete.” Building on that momentum, Parcel of Rogues matched its predecessor’s quality, entered the U.K. Top 30, and confirmed the group’s rising profile.

Intent on broader appeal, Steeleye Span embraced a full folk-rock sound by adding drummer Nigel Pegrum for 1974’s Now We Are Six. Produced by Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson and featuring a saxophone appearance by David Bowie, the record pushed the ensemble deeper into rock and pop territory even while most of its material remained traditional. Commoner’s Crown, released early the next year, followed a similar path and included a cameo by actor Peter Sellers; however, it was All Around My Hat (1975) that brought the band its greatest commercial success. Overseen by Mike Batt, creator of the Wombles, and anchored by the harmony-laden title track, the album climbed to a career-best number seven on the British charts while its single reached number five. As punk reshaped British tastes, interest in folk-rock waned, and Rocket Cottage (1976)—despite sonic affinities with its predecessor—failed to register commercially.

Sustained touring and recording pressures took their toll during the latter half of the 1970s, prompting further departures and side projects. Maddy Prior, now married to Rick Kemp, collaborated with June Tabor on an album under the name Silly Sisters, while Johnson and Knight recorded the concept project The King of Elfland’s Daughter. For 1977’s Storm Force Ten the band welcomed Martin Carthy’s return and accordionist John Kirkpatrick, who assumed Knight’s instrumental duties. This short-lived configuration was documented on the 1978 live album Live at Last; afterward Prior launched a solo career and the group effectively disbanded. Still obligated to Chrysalis for one final album, the classic mid-1970s lineup reassembled in 1980 to record Sails of Silver, a collection largely of original songs, before entering an extended hiatus that saw Tim Hart withdraw from music altogether.

Although occasional live appearances continued, the 1980s were dominated by individual pursuits, and no new Steeleye Span studio album appeared until Back in Line (1986). A transitional effort, it marked the first release without founder Tim Hart and the last for some time with Rick Kemp. With Tim Harries now on bass, 1989’s Tempted & Tried offered a stronger, more cohesive set of predominantly traditional songs that evoked the band’s mid-1970s peak. Irish drummer Liam Genockey replaced Pegrum shortly after the album’s completion and became the rhythmic foundation for subsequent years. Nearly every past and present member convened for a twenty-fifth-anniversary concert in London in 1995, later issued as The Journey. When Maddy Prior encountered vocal difficulties, founding vocalist Gay Woods rejoined full-time, and the resulting lineup recorded 1996’s Time—the first occasion since the debut that the two singers had worked together again. Within a year Prior stepped away to concentrate on solo work. With both Prior and Genockey absent, the configuration of Woods, Johnson, Knight, and Harries produced the more acoustic Horkstow Grange (1998), aided on several tracks by Fairport Convention’s Dave Mattacks; the same personnel then shifted direction for the heavier, rock-oriented Bedlam Born (2000).

Prompted by a fan survey on Knight’s website, 2003’s Present: The Very Best of Steeleye Span reunited Prior, Knight, Kemp, Johnson, and Genockey to re-record two discs of earlier material, although Johnson’s health prevented his participation in the ensuing tour. Ken Nicol, formerly of the Albion Band, took his place and helped revitalize the ensemble over the following years. Amid a series of releases that included the well-received They Called Her Babylon (2004) and Bloody Men (2006), the group delivered a headline performance at Fairport’s Cropredy Festival and concluded the decade with the all-traditional Cogs, Wheels and Lovers (2009). That same year brought news of founding member Tim Hart’s death following his struggle with cancer.

Nicol’s departure in 2010 cleared the way for guitarist Julian Littman and multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn. With their first six-piece roster in years, Steeleye Span revisited the 1974 album Now We Are Six in full on the double-live set Now We Are Six Again. In 2013, after a thirty-six-year chart hiatus, the band returned to the U.K. albums listing with Wintersmith, a distinctive collaboration with fantasy author Terry Pratchett. Renewed interest prompted the 2016 release Dodgy Bastards, which introduced fiddler Jessie May Smart in place of longtime member Peter Knight. Celebrating fifty years together in 2019, the group issued its twenty-fourth studio album, Est’d 1969, and mounted a comprehensive anniversary tour across Britain; a four-disc concert package documenting the shows appeared later that year.

In 2022 the label issued the expansive box set Good Times of Old England, covering the band’s entire 1972–1983 Chrysalis period and including extensive archival material, most notably the previously unreleased Live at the Rainbow Theatre 1974. Long a collector’s favorite among bootleg recordings, the concert was also released separately toward the end of the year.