Oak was an

English folk The folk music of England is a tradition-based music which has existed since the later medieval period. It is often contrasted with courtly, classical and later commercial music. Folk music traditionally was preserved and passed on orally with ...

band formed in the early 1970s.

History

The members of Oak, Tony Engle, Danny Stradling, Rod Stradling, and Peta Webb met in the 1960s in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

, where Rod Stradling ran a

folk club A folk club is a regular event, permanent venue, or section of a venue devoted to folk music and traditional music. Folk clubs were primarily an urban phenomenon of 1960s and 1970s Great Britain and Ireland, and vital to the second British folk r ...

. The Stradlings moved to

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

in 1968 and became involved in running another folk club in

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 ...

. In 1970, Rod Stradling formered a duo with Tony Engle. They were asked by

Bill Leader Bill Leader (born 26 December 1929) is an English recording engineer and record producer. He is particularly associated with the British folk music revival of the 1960s and 1970s, producing records by Paddy Tunney, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, ...

to make an LP for his Trailer label, but because Engle worked for

Topic Records Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken ...

, he felt obliged to offer to record for them first. ''Welcome to Our Fair'' was recorded on

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

, 1971. The record created interest and the band played 163 gigs between the record's release and their final performance on 19 December 1972.

Later work

Rod and Danny Stradling went on to form The Cotswold Liberation Front, which later became the Old Swan Band. After a few years, they left the Old Swan Band, and Stradling recorded with the English Country Blues Band, the English Country Dance Band,

Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...

, and Edward II and the Red Hot Polkas. He is currently the editor of ''Musical Traditions''. Peta Webb, whose individual vocal style was influenced by Irish traditional singers (especially

Margaret Barry Margaret Barry (1917–1989) was an Irish Traveller, traditional singer and banjo player. Biography Born Margaret Cleary in Cork into a family of Travellers and street singers, she taught herself how to play the zither banjo and the fiddle ...

Sarah Makem Sarah Makem (18 October 1900 – 20 April 1983) a native of Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, was a traditional Irish singer. She was the wife of fiddler Peter Makem, mother of musicians Tommy Makem and Jack Makem, as well as daughte ...

, and Sarah and Rita Keane), released a solo album, ''I have wandered in Exile'', in 1973. She recorded with Scottish singer Alison McMorland in 1980. In the early 1980s, she and Tony Engle were members of Alan Ward's

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (derived from the words ''Texas'' and ''Mexico'') is a regional American cuisine that originates from the culinary creations of Tejanos, Tejano people. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern ...

band The Armadillos. Webb recorded with

the Watersons The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. They have been called the "most famous f ...

, was part of Sisters Unlimited in the 1980s and 90s, and formed her own band, Webb's Wonders. Tony Engle produced classic folk recordings for Topic Records and played on several of them as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

. As of 2011 he was managing director of Topic Records.Topic Records; contact; accessed 2015-11-27
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Personnel

* Tony Engle (voice,

Anglo concertina The Anglo or Anglo-German concertina is a member of the concertina family of free-reed instruments. History The Anglo originated as a hybrid between the English and German concertinas. The button layouts are generally the same as the original ...

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

) * Danny Stradling (voice,

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 ...

) * Rod Stradling (voice,

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 ...

s) * Peta Webb (voice, fiddle)

Discography

* ''Welcome to Our Fair'', Topic Records, 12TS212 (1971) * ''Country Songs and Music'', Musical Traditions, MTCD327-8 (2003) (includes tracks from ''Welcome to Our Fair'' and other archive recordings)

References

External links

A history of "Oak", with track listings and full lyrics of the traditional songs they recorded

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oak (Band) English folk musical groups