Barry Dransfield

Barry Dransfield (* 1947 in Harrogate , Yorkshire ) is a British folk singer and fiddler who is known for holding his violin in front of his chest instead of under his chin to be able to sing and play at the same time.

Life

Dransfield began performing in Yorkshire pubs at the age of fourteen . In the early 1960s he played for three years in a bluegrass trio called The Crimple Mountain Boys, in which he first shared the stage with his brother Robin , three years older than him . The Crimple Mountain Boys split when Robin decided to become a teacher and moved to Worcester , where he soon started a folk club. Barry initially found employment with a harp maker in London , but returned to Harrogate after a nervous breakdown. Since Robin had also given up his wish to become a teacher, the two brothers were finally able to form a duo in the summer of 1969. They soon played in various folk clubs with British folk greats such as Ewan MacColl , Martin Carthy and the Watersons .

In 1970 the brothers released their first album on Bill Leaders label Trailer Records . The Rout of the Blues was named Folk Album of the Year by Melody Maker . The 1971 album Lord of All I Behold also received positive press. Ashley Hutchings even tried to get Robin and Barry Dransfield to join his relatively young band Steeleye Span , which they refused. Instead, the two hired Jo Lustig as a manager, who tried to move the duo in a more commercial direction. Barry didn't like that. He ended the musical collaboration with his brother without further ado and instead recorded his first solo album Barry Dransfield for Polydor in 1972 , on which Barry took over all the instruments and the vocals himself. In the same year he took part in the first album of the English folk supergroup Morris On .

In the summer of 1974, Barry then reunited with Robin. The two wanted to open up folk rock for themselves, incorporate more electric instruments and play their own compositions instead of working through traditional folk songs. Together with Brian Harrison , who had previously played in various projects with Dave Stewart , they formed a folk-rock trio and now called themselves "The Dransfields". After a John Peel session at the end of 1975 and the addition of drummer Charlie Smith, the concept album The Fiddler's Dream was released in July 1976 under the name "Dransfield" on Transatlantic Records , which, among other things, did not sell well because of poor promotion. Nevertheless, the Dransfields were invited by Steeleye Span to a tour of France, where they apparently overshadowed the main band. Fairport Convention then canceled a planned tour together and the brothers toured instead with Tom Paxton , whose regular audience they could not convince with their modern sound. As a result, the Dransfields decided to put their folk-rock experiment on hold and make music again as a traditional duo.

So in 1977, Popular to Contrary Belief , their last album was released, then the brothers went their separate ways and dedicated themselves to their solo careers. In 1978 Barry Dransfield's second solo album Bowin '& Scrapin' appeared on Topic Records , after which he withdrew from the music scene. However, he wrote some film music in the 1980s and also appeared as a supporting actor, for example as a blind fiddler in The Bounty . In 1986 he opened a violin and cellos repair shop in Hastings .

In 1994 Dransfield made a comeback with the release of Be Your Own Man . Wings of the Sphinx followed in 1996 and Unruly in 2005 .

Web links

• Artist's website
• Barry Dransfield in the Internet Movie Database (English)