The Etchingham Steam Band were a folk group formed by

Ashley Hutchings Ashley Stephen Hutchings (born 26 January 1945), MBE, sometimes known in early years as "Tyger" Hutchings, is an English bassist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founding member of three noteworthy Engli ...

and

Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the British Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1974 after the Albion Country Band had disbanded in late 1973. They were named after the village of

Etchingham Etchingham is a village and civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district of East Sussex in southern England. The village is located approximately southeast of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent and northwest of Hastings, on the A265 road ...

in Sussex where Hutchings and Shirley Collins, his then wife, were living. The band's name was a reference to their acoustic nature, formed during a time of power cuts in the mid-1970s that caused problems for any band using electrical instruments or amplification.

History

In 1973 Ashley Hutchings produced Shirley Collins' Adieu To Old England album. On this album, several musicians appeared who became members of the Etchingham Steam Band the next year.

Mouth organ A mouth organ is any free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed. Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, ...

ist Terry Potter accompanied Collins on ''The Chiner's Song''; both Terry Potter and accordionist Ian Holder also performed the instrumental dance tune ''Portsmouth'' on this album. The complete five-piece lineup of the Etchingham Steam Band toured Europe in 1974 and 1975, including gigs at

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

Folk Festival,

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Folk Festival, the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

Lenzburg Lenzburg is a town in the central region of the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Aargau and is the capital of the Lenzburg District. The town, founded in the Middle Ages, lies in the Seetal, Seetal valley, about 3 kilometres south of the Aare river. L ...

Folk Festival and in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Guest performers were former

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

musicians

Dave Mattacks David James Mattacks (born 13 March 1948) is an English rock and folk drummer, best known for his work with British folk rock band Fairport Convention. Fairport Convention He replaced Martin Lamble, who had died on 12 May 1969 in a road ac ...

and Simon Nicol, then

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, ...

member Peter Knight, dance caller Eddie Upton and concertina players Will Duke and Mel Dean. The band dissolved in late 1975 when Hutchings formed the Albion Dance Band. Two medleys including dance tunes and harvest-home toasts, ''Sheep-Shearing/Buttered Peas'' and ''Mistress's Health/Lumps Of Plum Pudding/Sherborne Jig/Spaniard's Cry'', were recorded in 1974 in

Sound Techniques Sound Techniques was a recording studio in Chelsea, London that was operational between 1965 and 1976. Housed in a former dairy, it was founded by recording engineers Geoff Frost and John Wood. The studio became well known as the place where ma ...

Studios, London. The studio recording of ''Mistress's Health/Lumps Of Plum Pudding/Sherborne Jig/Spaniard's Cry'' was released on Shirley Collins' 1974 compilation LP A Favourite Garland. However, the band never released a complete album during its existence. Various recordings, mostly audience recording of live concerts, were compiled and released on CD in 1995 by Fledg'ling Records; this CD also includes the studio recording of ''Sheep-Shearing/Buttered Peas''.

Line-up

–

acoustic bass guitar The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than, a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar ...

, vocals,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

– vocals,

hobby horse In folklore, a hobby horse is a costumed character that features in some traditional seasonal customs, processions and similar observances around the world. In England, they are particularly associated with May Day celebrations, mummers' plays a ...

*Ian Holder –

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

*Vic Gammon – vocals,

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

melodeon Melodeon may refer to: *Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion *Melodeon (organ) The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reed aerophone, free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

*Terry Potter –

mouth organ A mouth organ is any free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed. Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, ...

Documented repertoire

Adderbury Adderbury is a winding linear village and rural Civil parishes in England, civil parish about south of Banbury in northern Oxfordshire, England. The settlement has five sections: the new Milton Road housing Development and West Adderbury, towar ...

Wassail Wassail (, ) is a beverage made from hot mulled cider, ale, or wine and spices, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, an ancient English Christmastide and Yuletide drinking ritual and salutation either involved in door-to ...

Song * Atholl Highlanders *Black Joker *Bonny Kate *Buttered Peas * Coast of High Barbaree *Come All You Little Streamers *The Devil And The Farmer *Fair Maid Of

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

(The London Vintner Overreached) *Gaol Song *Grandfather's Dance *Grandmother's Dance *

Greensleeves "Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song. A broadside ballad by the name "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves" was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationers' Company in September 1580,Frank Kidson, ''English F ...

*Hard Times Of Old England * Horn Fair *Jovial Tinker *Leapfrog *The Little Gipsy Girl (The Gipsy's Wedding Day) *Lumps of Plum Pudding *Mistress's Health *The New Rigged Ship *Orange in Bloom *Sheep-Shearing *Shepherd O Shepherd *

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo (South Somerset), River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish include ...

Jig *Shooting *Some Tyrant Has Stolen My True Love Away *Spaniards Cry * Sussex Carol *Up To The Rigs Of London Town *We Poor Labouring Men *Young Collins

Discography

*''The Etchingham Steam Band'' (recorded 1974–1975, published in 1995 by Fledg'ling Records)

References

Ashley Hutchings English folk musical groups Musical groups established in 1974 Steam Band {{UK-band-stub