Steve Ashley | |
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 Steve Ashley performing atUnion Chapel, Islington, London in 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Steve Frank Ashley (1946-03-09)9 March 1946 (age 79) Perivale, London, England |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Folk |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1971–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | steveashley |
Steve Frank Ashley (born 9 March 1946) is an English singer-songwriter, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, writer andgraphic designer. Ashley is best known as a songwriter and first gained public recognition for his work with his debut solo album,Stroll On (Gull, 1974). Taking his inspiration from Englishtraditional songs, Ashley has developed a songwriting style which is contemporary in content while reflecting traditional influences in his melodies, poetry and vocal delivery.[citation needed]
Ashley was born inPerivale, London, England and grew up inNortholt,Middlesex (now in theLondon Borough of Ealing). In his early teens, he immersed himself inrock 'n' roll, blues and American folk music. He sawBuddy Holly,Gene Vincent andLonnie Donegan perform live during his first years at secondary school. In 1960, he learned to play themouth organ and developed a blues style influenced bySonny Terry andSonny Boy Williamson I.
After secondary school, he enrolled atEaling Art College for the two-year Groundcourse under the tuition ofRoy Ascott. Among Ashley's contemporaries at the college were many musicians, including (in the year ahead)Pete Townshend,[1]Ronnie Wood[2] andRoger Ruskin Spear.[citation needed] By 1962, Ashley was singing and playingblues harmonica in various bands. He also became seriously interested in British traditional music, performing unaccompanied songs in West London folk clubs. In 1964, he moved toMaidstone, Kent to study graphic design atMaidstone College of Art. There he metPeter Bellamy and joined him as a fellow resident singer in folk clubs in Maidstone andRochester. Ashley led the art college blues band, The Tea Set, on vocals and blues harmonica.It was during this period however that his interest became increasingly focussed on English traditional folksong, which he heard and performed in the folk clubs, notably at the "Wig and Gown" club in Maidstone.
In 1967, Ashley qualified with aBA Hons and returned to London to start his first job as a graphic designer atThe Observer, working with record producerAustin John Marshall. In 1968, now as a folk songwriter, Ashley formed a duo with guitar player Dave Menday called The Tinderbox. Managed by Marshall, The Tinderbox recorded a single forPolydor and a session forJohn Peel on hisBBC Radio 1Nightride show. The A side, "Farewell Britannia" was about the planned removal of the image ofBritannia from theBritish penny. Just before the release of the record the image was saved on the50 pence piece and the single was scrapped. Shortly after, The Tinderbox disbanded.
In 1971, Marshall landed a production and publishing deal for Ashley with Harbrook Music which gave Ashley free access to recording time at London'sOlympic Studios, to record his first album. At this time Marshall also played the early demo tapes to the folk criticKarl Dallas, who interviewed Ashley forMelody Maker.[3]
Acting as producer for Harbrook Productions, Marshall hiredRobert Kirby to create string arrangements for many of Ashley's songs. He also hired a number of musicians to back Ashley, including members ofFairport Convention andPentangle, plus a section of theLondon Symphony Orchestra, directed by Kirby. By the late summer of 1971, the first version of Ashley's debut album was completed and offered to a number of major and independent labels.
By the spring of 1972 however, the album was still unplaced with a label, and then Ashley was invited byAshley Hutchings to join the first touring ensemble ofThe Albion Country Band. This line-up included ex-Fairport members, Hutchings,Simon Nicol andDave Mattacks, plus American fiddlerSue Draheim and ex-Young Tradition singer,Royston Wood. Sharing the lead vocal role with Wood, Ashley performed a few of his own songs plus a number of folk songs, including a 17-verseballad, "Lord Bateman". The Albion Country Band was signed toIsland Records but the band broke up before recording, after just nine months together.
By 1973, Ashley formed his own short-lived folk-rock outfitRagged Robin, with Richard Byers, Brian Diprose and John Thompson. They performed in clubs and colleges, and atCambridge Folk Festival, and also held a residency atRoy Guest's Howff in London'sPrimrose Hill.[4]
After this band folded, Ashley initiated the formation of a contemporary folk club at The New Merlin's Cave nearKing's Cross, London. With help from Anthea Joseph and Heather Wood "Merlins" was host to many of the folk scene's leading players, includingSandy Denny andA L Lloyd. The club's resident performers with Ashley wereRichard Thompson,Linda Peters,Simon Nicol,Robin andBarry Dransfield, Lea Nicholson, and Ragged Robin's Byers.[5]
Writing inMelody Maker in 1973, Dallas described Ashley as "one of the finest singer-songwriters in Britain, if not the entire English-speaking world".[6]
In November, Ashley signed a solo recording deal with Gull Records, and with a few track changes, his long-delayed first album was finally released in April 1974 entitledStroll On.
After a three-year wait to find a deal,Stroll On was met with widespread critical acclaim in the UK. InThe Daily Telegraph, Maurice Rosenbaum declared: "Ashley's own songs are the product of an extraordinary gift for creating material of true folk quality"[7] and inMelody Maker,Karl Dallas hailed it as "the finest album since folk became contemporary". By the year's end it was awarded "Contemporary Folk album of the Year" in the leading monthly folk magazine,Folk Review.[8] During this period, Karl Dallas frequently linked Ashley's name withRichard Thompson, as being in the vanguard of a new approach to folk song writing.[9]
In 1975, Gull Records licensed the album toMotown in the United States and Ashley's first American tour was underwritten by that company. In spring 1975 Ashley undertook a six-week solo tour of the US and Canada, opening shows for many artists includingLeon Redbone,Tracy Nelson,Gene Clark,Chris Hillman andJonathan Edwards. In a review of his performance in New York'sGreenwich Village,Variety magazine said: "Steve Ashley... is a delightful surprise... The performer not only sings his originals well, but has one of the funniest of dry stage raps. His voice is good. His originals are sensitive, ex-of the Albion Country Band, Ashley can hold an audience."[10][11]
Back in the UK he recorded the follow-up,Speedy Return, and undertook a series of solo tour supports for a variety of headline bands, includingSupertramp,Planxty, Isotope, Gong andFruup. However, by the end of 1975, Gull's deal with Motown fell through and Ashley was without a record company. His planned third album,Rare Old Men, was never released and it was not until 1979 that Fairport'sDave Pegg recorded, produced and eventually released what was his third album,Steve Ashley's Family Album, on Pegg's own Woodworm label. In 1978, Ashley formed the Steve Ashley Band, an electric folk band that performed sporadically for 12 years, including appearances at the Rotterdam Folk Festival (1978), theGlastonbury Festival (1985) and the Cambridge Folk Festival (1990).
In 1978, at the Rotterdam Folk Festival, Ashley met the Australian folk-rock band,The Bushwackers, whose leader,Dobe Newton, asked Ashley to write some musical settings of poems by the deceased bush poet,Henry Lawson. As a result, The Bushwackers recorded three of Ashley's settings, and published four in theirAustralian Song Books.[12]
In 1981, Ashley became active inCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)'s campaign to banTrident and remove USCruise missiles from the UK.[13] He recorded and released two cassette albums of peace songs. Around this time he began a part-time involvement inOxfam's publicity and campaigning work as a graphic designer and copywriter. During the CND campaign of the 1980s he performed from the main stage at the Glastonbury Festival (withBruce Rowland andChris Leslie) and also solo to 250,000 peace protesters inHyde Park, London. He recorded a single with CND'sBruce Kent and the Labour peer,Lord Noel-Baker. Later, he took part in the blockade of the nuclear weapons factory atBurghfield and was eventually arrested for obstruction in the mass sit-in at theUSAF base atUpper Heyford, Oxfordshire. This event was recorded in the song "Sweet Affinity" on his next studio releaseMysterious Ways (Line Records, 1990). In 1992, Ashley retired from the music industry to concentrate on his design and copywriting work for various UK charities.
After an eight-year break from music, Ashley was encouraged to return by Peter Muir of the newMarket Square Records label. First they released an anthology of Ashley's work,The Test of Time (1999) and, shortly after, an upgraded version of his debut album, entitledStroll on Revisited. This album met with many welcoming reviews and the original album was celebrated inMojo magazine in one its regular "Buried Treasure" features. Then, in 2001, Ashley signed a two-album deal withTopic Records, and in April they releasedEveryday Lives, his first studio album for ten years. Back on the road, Ashley performed as a solo artist and in duos with Al Fenn andDik Cadbury, as well as making occasional guest appearances withFairport Convention.
In 2006, Ashley celebrated his 60th birthday with a special concert with Robert Kirby conducting his arrangements for a six-piece chamber orchestra. Also taking part were Ashley's friends from Fairport:Dave Pegg,Chris Leslie,Simon Nicol andMartin Allcock, plusShow of Hands’Phil Beer,Planxty'sJohnny Moynihan,Brass Monkey's Martin Brinsford and many other friends, including his old partners from The Tinderbox, Ragged Robin and the Steve Ashley Band. The event was recorded and released six months later asLive in Concert on Dusk Fire Records. Then in 2007 Ashley released his second album for Topic,Time and Tide, with three new string arrangements by Robert Kirby. From this collection one song "Best Wishes" was recorded by Fairport Convention and the female trio Grace Notes.
In 2015, Market Square released Ashley's first stripped back solo album,This Little Game, which was included in bothThe Telegraph andFolk Radio UK's lists of "The Best Folk Albums of 2015". In a four-starred review forThe Telegraph, its Culture Editor Martin Chilton said that the album "shows a craftsman at work...In Your Heart shows he still has a power to move with his songwriting".[14] Paul Woodgate, reviewing the album for Folk Radio UK, said: "This Little Game may just be one of his best".[15]
Ashley's 2017 solo albumAnother Day was described byColin Irwin, writing inMojo, as "an understated album of sharp observations, lithe melodies and wry asides".[16] It received five-starred reviews inR2 (Rock'n'Reel),FolkWales Online Magazine and theMorning Star.
One More Thing, his solo album released in 2018, received five-starred reviews from theMorning Star[17] andFolkWales Online Magazine.[18] Reviewing the album forFolk Radio UK, David Kidman said: "Steve’s unafraid to name and shame, and as always he does so with a potent combination of lyrical poetry, delicious wit and darkly puckish humour...The album has an intimate, sharing quality, having been recorded simply at Steve’s own home in Cheltenham... Despite Steve’s insistence that One More Thing will be his final album release, the overall feel is far from valedictory."[19]
His 1983 album,Steve Ashley's Family Album, was re-released in 2021 as a CD on the Talking Elephant label, with the titleSteve Ashley's Family Album Revisited. It includes two additional tracks ("Somewhere In A Song" from the sessions for the original album, and "For Bruce", a memorial to drummer and percussionistBruce Rowland, who appeared on the original album).[20]
Aside from his own albums, and the bands of which he has officially been a member, Steve Ashley has also performed on stage, TV, radio and recording sessions with a number other musicians. In 1968, with Tinderbox, Ashley recorded a live radio session with folk singerShirley Collins forJohn Peel'sNight Ride programme onBBC Radio 1. In 1973, at the request of folk singerAnne Briggs, Ragged Robin collaborated with her on arrangements and recording sessions for her albumSing a Song for You. In 1974 Ashley recorded a live session of his songs forCapital Radio's "Sarah and Friends" withSimon Nicol (guitar),Dave Pegg (bass),Dave Mattacks (drums) and Lea Nicholson (concertina). In the same year he recorded a single, "Old Rock ‘n’ Roll" (forGull Records) with backing from Fairport Convention. In 1975 he recorded his songs "Old John England" and "Fire and Wine" forBBC Two's showThe People's Echo in a band with Dave Pegg (bass), Richard Byers (guitar) and Bob Critchley (drums). In 1978, Ashley formed the first line-up of The Steve Ashley Band for a one-off show at Rotterdam Folk Festival, with ex-Decameron members,Dik Cadbury (bass), Bob Critchley (drums), Al Fenn (guitar) and Chris Leslie (fiddle). For some ten years after this show, Ashley and Leslie performed together intermittently in an acoustic duo.
In 1979, a band was formed to perform the songs fromSteve Ashley's Family Album in a number of venues with a special "Family Show". Joining Ashley on stage were Fairport members, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Bruce Rowland, plus Chris Leslie and the melodeon player, Martin Brinsford. In 1980, Ashley opened a fundraising concert for Friends of the Earth with the classical guitaristsJohn Williams andGerald Garcia headlining at London's Roundhouse. In an encore, all three performed in a trio, Ashley's song, "Candlemas Carol". In 1981, he performed in a one-off trio with Chris Leslie and Bruce Rowland on the main Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival. In 1985, he performed with Fred Piek and Rens van der Zalm, two former members of the Dutch band, Fungus in Rotterdam.
Ashley was a close friend and creative associate of the naturalist author and filmmaker,Roger Deakin.[21] Together they worked on two of Deakin's TV documentary films,The Ballad of the Ten Rod Plot andStable Lads, with Ashley writing and recording music for both. Deakin also recorded a radio interview with Ashley about his forthcoming release,Everyday Lives, for theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation.
Ashley recorded harmonica for Richard Thompson's soundtrack for the movie,Sweet Talker (1991).
In 1981, Ashley and Leslie were joined by Dave Pegg, Simon Nicol and Bruce Rowland to perform songs from Ashley's anti-nuclear Demo Tapes songs atCropredy Festival. Then in 1999, after Ashley's eight-year break from music he got up with Fairport at the Cropredy Festival to perform his song "Fire and Wine". In August 2007, Ashley also performed his song, "Best Wishes" with Fairport at the Cropredy Festival, and again atBirmingham Town Hall – as part of Dave Pegg's 60th birthday celebrations in November 2007. Also in November 2007, the arranger Harvey Brough invited Ashley to sing his song, "The Rough with the Smooth" to a specially written string quartet arrangement as part of Brough's 50th birthday celebrations atUnion Chapel, Islington.
In 2023 Penguin Books published Patrick Barkham's bookThe Swimmer: The Wild Life of Roger Deakin – a compilation of interviews with many of Roger Deakin's friends, including Steve Ashley.[22]
As an acoustic guitar player, Ashley's technique is unusual. He plays a right-handed guitar, left-handed, without changing the strings, in the manner ofElizabeth Cotten. So, effectively, the instrument is played upside-down. As well as using standard tuning he utilises a number of guitar tunings. He also plays a custom-built electric four-stringbouzouki. This unique instrument was designed to include a left-hand cutaway, and giving left-hand access to controls, but is once again strung as a right-handed instrument.
Artists who have recorded or performed Ashley's songs include: The Arizona Smoke Review,Phil Beer,Anne Briggs,Maggie Boyle,The Bushwackers, Fil Campbell,Paul Downes,Fairport Convention, Jo Freya, Grace Notes, Green Diesel,Wizz Jones, Tom McFarland,Ralph McTell, Steph Miller and The Winter Station,Johnny Moynihan,Dobe Newton,O'Hooley and Tidow,The Owl Service, St Agnes Fountain,Show of Hands,Martin Simpson, Sproatly Smith, Christine Wheeler andBill Zorn.
Ashley lives inCheltenham,Gloucestershire.[19]
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