Biography
Although he never attained the recognition enjoyed by fellow musicians such as Bert Jansch or Martin Carthy, academics identify Steve Benbow as Britain’s first folk guitarist and the individual most responsible for elevating the instrument within the U.K. roots-music resurgence. Born in London on November 29, 1931, Benbow passed much of his youth in Surrey. Command of French, German, and Arabic initially steered him toward animal husbandry, prompting him to enlist in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps in 1950. Posted to Egypt as a rough rider, he also served as an Arabic interpreter until boredom led him to buy a guitar; by 1953 his abilities had advanced enough for a Forces Radio broadcast of Latin American instrumentals. Following his discharge in 1955, he settled in London and joined Dave Kier’s Jazz Band, the first of several traditional-jazz engagements that brought him to the attention of local music insiders. He soon formed a friendship with playwright and singer Ewan MacColl, who included the guitarist on the 1957 album Bold Sportsmen All; performances of numbers such as “Gaelic Football” helped define the emerging sound and technique of British folk guitar. That same year he appeared at Moscow’s International Youth Festival, and after returning to London he assembled the Steve Benbow Folk Four, a quartet that became a regular attraction at the Greek Street venue known as the Cellar. By the close of 1957 he had issued two albums—Steve Benbow Sings American Folk Songs and Steve Benbow Sings English Folk Songs—while maintaining a demanding schedule that featured regular appearances alongside MacColl and Bert Lloyd at the Ballads and Blues club. Playwright and folksinger Dominic Behan became another important associate, with Benbow providing accompaniment on the landmark 1960 release The Irish Rover. In the early 1960s Benbow became a familiar voice on British radio programs including Guitar Club and Saturday Skiffle Club; he also hosted the Scottish television series Plectrum and served as resident guitarist on comedian Spike Milligan’s Muses with Milligan. The 1966 album Songs of Ireland linked him to a younger generation of British folk musicians when he recorded it with the Strawberry Hill Boys, later known as the Strawbs. Contemporaries and successors alike paid tribute to his influence, as evidenced by Davy Graham’s liner-note remark on the 1967 album After Hours that Benbow “taught me some of my earliest chords.” Collaboration with Behan resumed in 1969 during sessions for Christy Moore’s debut album, Paddy on the Road. Benbow maintained a steady pattern of recording and touring until 1977, when, following the release of Steve Benbow Sings Irish and Other Songs, he scaled back his musical activities to spend more time on his Hanwell farm. Occasional performances continued, however, and in 1988 he began a twice-weekly residency at Brentford’s Brewery Tap that lasted nearly two decades. Renewed interest in the folk music of his era brought fresh attention to his earlier recordings; in 2000 he contributed “Love Is Teasing” to People on the Highway, a Bert Jansch tribute album that also featured fellow British folk figures Wizz Jones and Ralph McTell. His own well-received return to the studio arrived in 2003 with the album Don’t Monkey with My Gun. He died of a heart attack on November 17, 2006, less than two weeks before his seventy-fifth birthday.
Albums
