Tim Laycock

Born on 20 February 1952 in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England, Laycock relocated with his family at the age of four to Fontwell Magna in Dorset. There he first encountered folk music after school friends taught him basic guitar chords. After finishing school in 1970 he enrolled at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, where regular visits to local folk clubs introduced him to performers who turned his attention toward British traditional song. From 1971 onward he performed steadily in a university-based folk ensemble that also featured Terry Fisher and Dave Bordeway, the latter of whom would later join the Crows. Following his move to London in 1974 he became a resident musician at both Dingle’s Folk Club and the Engineer Folk Club. In 1976 he accompanied Magic Lantern on their Christmas tour and accepted a permanent position once Mike Frost, known as Major Mustard, departed to marry. Laycock produced Lydlinch Bells, a robust anthology of William Barnes’s dialect verse delivered by himself alongside David Strawbridge, Ethel Gumbleton, Charlie Andrews and Frank Hilliar. Thereafter he maintained an unbroken career as singer, concertina player and actor, working for three years beginning in 1979 alongside Peter Bond and Bill Caddick. Balancing commitments among theatre productions, folk clubs and festivals, he has also collaborated from time to time with Taffy Thomas and performs with the Hambledon Hopstep Band in Dorset.