Judy Dyble
Dyble inOxfordshire, 2009
Background information
Born	Judith Aileen Dyble (1949-02-13)13 February 1949 London, England
Died	12 July 2020(2020-07-12) (aged 71)
Instruments	Vocals autoharp piano recorder
Years active	1960s–2020
Website	Judy Dyble

Judith Aileen Dyble^[a][1] (13 February 1949 – 12 July 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, most notable for being a vocalist and a founding member ofFairport Convention andTrader Horne. In addition, she andIan McDonald joined and recorded several tracks withGiles, Giles and Fripp, who later becameKing Crimson. These tracks surfaced on theBrondesbury Tapes CD andMetaphormosis vinyl LP.

Dyble was born at theMiddlesex Hospital, central London. Her first band was Judy and The Folkmen (which existed between 1964 and 1966).^[2] They made homemade demo recordings, none of which were released, but some are included on a mooted anthology of Dyble's career. (Sanctuary Records set a release date in 2007 for this, but the release was cancelled when Sanctuary was taken over by Universal.) She then became the original vocalist withFairport Convention from 1967 to 1968.^[3]

In November 1966Ashley 'Tyger' Hutchings asked her to sing and play withRichard Thompson,Simon Nicol, and himself. This became the nucleus of Fairport Convention, initially with Shaun Frater as a drummer and laterMartin Lamble. The group recorded their first album with her, their repertoire at the time consisting of American singer-songwriter works, plus originals. The first single was a cover of a 1930s American song, "If I Had a Ribbon Bow". The band covered and re-worked numerous American recordings with the band members choosing some tracks to work with from managerJoe Boyd's record collection. The band also picked up on the works ofJoni Mitchell before she was known in the UK, and covered two of her songs on their first album,Fairport Convention.^[4]

Fairport's early live shows in London in the late 1960s saw Dyble share stages with acts such asJimi Hendrix, andSyd Barrett-eraPink Floyd. Famously, she sat on the front of the stage atthe Speakeasy Club knitting,^[2] while Hendrix and Richard Thompson jammed. Dyble guested onThe Incredible String Band's 1968 albumThe Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (on "The Minotaur's Song"),^[5] and on G. F. Fitz-Gerald's 1970 albumMouseproof (on "Ashes of an Empire").^[6] Writing on her own website, of her departure from the band, Dyble later said she had been "unceremoniously dumped".^[3]

After her stint with Fairport Convention, Dyble (along with her then-boyfriendIan McDonald) joined the English pop bandGiles, Giles and Fripp by advertising inMelody Maker.^[7] Dyble contributed to demo recordings for the group, but left after her relationship with McDonald ended. Giles, Giles, and Fripp – retaining McDonald – would later evolve into the foundationprogressive rock bandKing Crimson.

Dyble would go on to become one half of the duoTrader Horne, with ex-Them member Jackie McAuley.^[8]Pete Sears was originally the third member of the band, but flew to the United States before recording began. The group took its name fromJohn Peel's nanny Florence, called "Trader" Horne—a reference to explorerTrader Horn. The duo signed to Dawn (a subsidiary ofPye Records) releasing one album,^[9]Morning Way, in 1969, and two highly prized, collectible vinyl singles. Dyble wrote the title track, "Morning Way", and co-wrote "Velvet to Atone" withMartin Quittenton for the album. The pairing shared stages with acts such asHumble Pie,Yes, andGenesis. They split a few days before they were due to headline the Hollywood festival inNewcastle-under-Lyme^[10] that sawMungo Jerry first come to public attention. In 2008, Trader Horne was featured in Kingsley Abbott's book,500 Lost Gems of the 60s; to coincide with this,Stuart Maconie did a one-hour biopic radio special on Dyble's career on hisBBC6 radio programme theFreak Zone, as well as a piece inRecord Collector.^[11]

She also worked withLol Coxhill,Phil Miller and his brother Steve in a group called DC & the MBs (Dyble, Coxhill and the Miller Brothers) or Penguin Dust.^[12]

In 1973, Dyble left the music business to work with her husband, DJ andscenester Simon Stable (who had played bongos on albums byBridget St John andTen Years After under his real name, Count Simon de la Bédoyère).^[13] Later on, Dyble (by now a mother) worked as a librarian.^{[citation needed]}

At the 1981Fairport Convention Annual Reunion (held that year atBroughton Castle), Dyble appeared on stage as a surprise guest: backed by Fairport'sFull House lineup, she sang Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now" andthe Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved".^[9]: 103 She also appeared as a guest in 1982 (A Week-End in The Country), 1997 (30th anniversary), 2002 (35th anniversary) and 2007 (40th anniversary).^{[citation needed]}

For a long time,^{[citation needed]} the only Dyble recordings available in the retail trade had been the first Fairport Convention album butMorning Way was reissued on CD in November 2000.^[14] In 2003, almost a decade after the death of Stable, Dyble began writing and performing again. She released the first of several new works –Enchanted Garden – in 2004,^[15] followed bySpindle^[16] andThe Whorl in 2006.^[17] The last two albums received only limited releases with little if any distribution. Occasional live appearances saw her appear at Cropredy (alongside what was virtually the original Fairport line up) in 2007.^[18]

Dyble released a single on 3 March 2008 with northern indie/folk bandThe Conspirators^[19] through independent label Transcend Media Group. It was a double A-side featuring Dyble's vocals on a remake of Fairport Convention's song "One Sure Thing" and The Conspirators song "Take Me To Your Leader". It reached No.7 in the officialUK Indie Singles Chart, spending 3 weeks in the top 10. The promotion for this single saw Dyble make a couple of rare live appearances, at the Harrogate International Conference Centre, and at an in-store live gig at HMV's superstore in Leeds city centre on 3 March 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Her next album,Talking with Strangers, was recorded throughout 2008 withTim Bowness (No-Man) and Alistair Murphy co-writing and producing. Collaborators includeRobert Fripp,Simon Nicol,Pat Mastelotto, Ian McDonald,Julianne Regan,Celia Humphris,Jacqui McShee, Laurie A'Court and Mark Fletcher.^[20] During work on the album, she played a rare outdoor show at the Llama festival in North Devon, in June 2008.^[21]

Dyble took her place at the head of Fairport Convention's initial line up, at Witchseason's 40th anniversary celebration show at theBarbican Theatre on 18 July 2009, for the first time in nearly 40 years, excluding very brief occasional outings at Cropredy.^{[citation needed]}Talking With Strangers was released in August 2009 becoming the recommended choice on the bbc.co.uk homepage, and receiving favourable reviews from, among others, theMail on Sunday,Record Collector,^[22]Shindig!,R2 (Rock'n'Reel), and All About Jazz,^[23] and was described as a "sophisticated triumph" on the BBC music website. A number of radio stations aired the near 20-minute track "Harpsong" in full, and Dyble undertook a run of BBC local radio interviews, including BBC Radio Oxford, Solent, Suffolk, Devon, Cornwall, Lancashire, and Manchester.^[24]

In May 2009, early review copies of the new album with Robert Fripp were sent out. Dyble's Myspace showed samplers of some of the album tracks, and directly from her, and from Tim Bowness's Burning Shed, signed numbered early release copies sold out very quickly. 27 August 2009 saw an intimate gig by Dyble at the100 Club in London, supported by Tim Bowness, Alistair Murphy, and Simon Nicol, her first solo gig in London in over 40 years. Dutch label Tonefloat released a vinyl version of the album in 2010, and Dyble added additional vocals to the 2 November 2009 single release "Every Sentimental Moment" by UK rock band Kings Cross. Termo records in Norway announced a Scandinavian release in February 2010, with revised artwork by noted artist and children's illustratorJackie Morris, and a bonus track from the album sessions "Fragile". This release was supported by promotional television appearances in Norway, notably on the breakfast showGod morgen, Norge!. Two tracks were performed live, "Jazzbirds", and "Grey October Day". Dyble, Bowness, and Murphy also recorded an as yet unseen clip for the programmeLydverket.^{[citation needed]}

Harpsong won the award for Best Original Song voted for by the online community Talkawhile in January 2010,^[25] and the album featured in the Best of 2009 lists inClassic Rock magazine by noted writers Jo Kendall, and Sid Smith. The album was also promoted by UK music storeHMV as one of its best specialist sector albums.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2009, producer/arrangerLee Fletcher announced via online networks that he and touch guitaristMarkus Reuter would be collaborating (along with a number of other musicians including Robert Fripp) with Dyble on new work. The project was subsequently revealed by Dyble to be titledNewborn Creatures and as of 11 February 2011^[update] the album was said to be complete. Mastering duties were undertaken by Simon Heyworth, who produced, mixed and masteredTubular Bells as well as mastering work byNick Drake,Simple Minds and others. Subsequent to this announcement, Dyble announced via her own website that the project had run into difficulties and would not be released in the form she had intended, and that she had been removed from the project altogether.^[26]

She stated:

I am very sorry to have to say seemingly my album,Newborn Creatures will now not be released in its current incarnation. Lee Fletcher and Markus Reuter have decided to remove my songwords and my vocals and artwork and anything to do with me from the recording. I do not know what they intend to do with what is left, but they have stated that they intend to release my album without me in some form and at some point in the future.

She completed an album with Alistair Murphy, titledFlow and Change, which was released by Gonzo Multimedia on 1 July 2013. Mostly co-written with Murphy, who also engineered and produced the album, others are co-written with Julianne Regan,Simon House and Dean Frances-Hawksley/Andy Suttie. Guest collaborators were Matt Malley (exCounting Crows) Mike Mooney (Spiritualized), Julianne Regan (All About Eve) and Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson).^[27]

During 2013, Dyble collaborated with Oliver Kersbergen ofSleepyard in co-writing three songs, one of which "Blue Barracuda" was released on theFüxa albumDirty D in August 2013^[28] and two more, "Rainy Day Vibration" and "Satellite Calling" were released on Sleepyard's albumBlack Sails, on USA label Global Recording Artists in January 2014.^[29] She sang "1000 Year Vacation (reprise)" on the same album. Having completed a 3CD anthology of, in most cases, the lesser known music she has been involved with over the last 50 years,Gathering the Threads (Fifty Years of Stuff), was released in March 2015.^[30]

In October 2015, Earth Recordings re-released the Trader Horne albumMorning Way on sunset red vinyl and CD in time for the Trader Horne reunion concert at Bush Hall in London on 29 November 2015.^[31] In November 2015, Earth recordings released the first part of theGathering the Threads Anthology asAnthology Part One on vinyl and CD.^[32]

In November 2015, Dyble and Jackie McAuley re-united as Trader Horne to perform the whole of theMorning Way album live at Bush Hall in London. They were accompanied by Jackie's brother Brendan McAuley and members of Dyble's own Band of Perfect Strangers—Alistair Murphy, Mark Fletcher, Phil Toms and Ian Burrage with Steve Bingham.^[33]

Dyble spent most of 2015 and the early part of 2016 writing her autobiography with the assistance ofDave Thompson.An Accidental Musician was published in April 2016 by Soundcheck Books.^[34] During 2016–17, Dyble concentrated on finishing a new album of her work—Summer Dancing — with various collaborators, and a new collection of songs recorded withAndy Lewis which was released in August 2017.^[35] She recorded a duet withDavid Longdon on "The Ivy Gate" withBig Big Train for the albumGrimspound, which was released in April 2017.^[36]

Dyble performed at Fairport's Cropredy Convention Festival with her own Band of Perfect Strangers; and she also appeared with the surviving original members of Fairport Convention, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the band in 2017.^[37] The songs sung by the "early years" line-up were "Time Will Show The Wiser", "I Don't Know Where I Stand" and "Reno Nevada". All three songs were often performed in the first year of the band's live performances in 1967–68.^{[citation needed]}

In 2018, she released the albumEarth is Sleeping on Acid Jazz Records whose final track was titled "Newborn Creatures"; it is not clear how this album related to the aborted 2009 album.^[38] It featured collaborations withThe Fierce and the Dead'sMatt Stevens andKing Crimson'sPat Mastelotto.^[39]

A new album in collaboration with David Longdon,Between A Breath and a Breath, containing seven new songs with lyrics written by Dyble and music by Longdon, was released in September 2020.^[40]

Dyble died on 12 July 2020 at the age of 71.^[41] She had lung cancer in the years leading up to her death, and revealed the diagnosis in November 2019 when she beganchemotherapy.^[42][43]

Note: the eight tracks included onLive at the BBC were recorded forJohn Peel'sTop Gear programme. Four –Let's Get Together,One Sure Thing,Lay Down Your Weary Tune andChelsea Morning – date from the period prior to Ian Matthews joining Fairport, and were broadcast 10 December 1967; the other four –Violets of Dawn,If (Stomp),Time Will Show the Wiser andIf I Had a Ribbon Bow – were broadcast 3 March 1968, a week after the release of the debut single. All eight come from "off air" recordings, not original BBC tapes.^[44]

• Unterberger, Richie (September 2007). Lewis, Alan (ed.). "Fairport's First Lady".Record Collector (340). London: Diamond Publishing, Ltd:44–47.ISSN 0261-250X.

• Judy Dyble – Official website
• Judy Dyble @ Myspace.com
• Interview with Judy Dyble
• TRADER HORNE at Bush Hall 29th November 2015 Live Reviews
• Judy Dyble discography atDiscogs
• Judy Dyble atIMDb

• 1949 births
• 2020 deaths
• English folk rock musicians
• English women singers
• English autobiographers
• Fairport Convention members
• People from Wood Green
• British autoharp players

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