Biography
The Rockingbirds stood out as a rarity: a British country-rock outfit signed to the trendsetting Heavenly imprint, with their strongest years falling squarely in the quiet stretch after the 1980s roots-rock wave and before the mid-'90s "No Depression" revival. The London-based group came together in 1990 under the leadership of singer/songwriter Alan Tyler, singer/tambourine player Sean Reed, guitarist Andy Hackett, pedal steel guitarist Patrick Arbuthnot, bassist Dave Goulding, and Dave Morgan, previously the drummer for the Weather Prophets. Strong early showings from the debut singles "A Good Day for You" and "Jonathan, Jonathan"—the latter a tribute to Jonathan Richman—paved the way for a self-titled 1992 debut album that drew favorable notices yet failed to connect commercially. An EP of Right Said Fred covers that included the band's version of "Deeply Dippy," cut alongside Heavenly labelmates Saint Etienne and Flowered Up, earned modest radio exposure, though the follow-up EP Rockingbirds R Us met the same lack of success. The 1995 release Whatever Happened to the Rockingbirds, long held up yet widely praised, suffered an identical outcome, after which the band called it quits.