John Kirkpatrick

John in London

John Kirkpatrick was born in 1947 in Chiswick, West London. As a youngster he sang in the choir and played piano. In 1969 he joined the Hammersmith Morris Men, in the second week of their existence. After the dance practice he joined them for a sing-song in the pub afterwords. This brought him a love of folk music. In 1970 he became a regular at a folk club in the Roebuck pub in Tottenham Court Road. He led the resident group, Dingle's Chillybom Band. The club hosted a film show of morris dancing and Ashley Hutchings turned up. It was the beginning of a long musical relationship. In 1972 John recorded his first solo album "Dance At The Sun" which included Richard Thompson on acoustic guitar. For contractual reasons Thompson had to use a pseudonym.

John in Shropshire

In 1973 John Kirkpatrick moved to Shropshire and married Sue Harris. After seeing a dance team called "Gloucestershire Old Spot Morris Morris Dancers" he formed "Shropshire Bedlams" to perform local dances, in the so-called Border Morris style. In the early weeks some girls turned up. Rather than have a mixed morris team, Sue Harris took the girls aside and formed "Martha Rhoden's Tuppenny Dish". Both teams are still flourishing. By this time John Kirkpatrick was an expert player of melodeon, anglo concertina, and accordion. Ashley Hutching's project, "The Battle of the Field" floundered when the Albion Country Dance band broke up. They had recorded not quite enough material for an album. John had appeared on several of the tracks with Martin Carthy and offered to record two extra tracks with his wife in 1973. It was not released until 1976 but is highly regarded. Sue Harris sang and played oboe and hammer dulcimer, an unusual combination. In 1974 John Kirkpatrick and Ashley Hutchings produced a themed album "The Complete Dancing Master", a history of English country dancing. He 1976 he teamed up with Martin Carthy for "Plain Capers", a collection of morris dance tunes.

John and Steeleye Span

In 1977 Steeleye Span recruited both John Kirkpatrick and Martin Carthy, partly to replace fiddler Peter Knight. John appeared on "Storm Force Ten" and "Live At Last". In Steeleye's live shows John Kirkpatrick did some solo morris dances. In the same period, John released two albums as a duo with Sue Harris. John became part of Richard Thompson's backing band in 1978. This brought him such publicity that he was in heavy demand as a session musician. He recorded with Pere Ubu, Viv Stanshall, Gerry Rafferty, Maddy Prior an others. In 1980 he released his only single - "Jogging Along With My Reindeer". Two more albums with Sue Harris appeared in 1981, but the constant touring, as a duo and as part of other groups, was putting a strain on the marriage. They had four sons together, but parted in the mid eighties.

Brass Monkeys

In 1979 John Kirkpatrick had appeared in the stage show "Lark Rise To Candleford" together with Martin Carthy (guitar) and Howard Evans (trumpet). The use of brass instruments in English folk music was a rare event, but all three had found it thrilling. These musicians have busy schedules but have re-united in the form of "Brass Monkey" since 1999, together with Martin Brinsford from the Old Swan Band. The group is an occasional gathering rather than a fixed company. Roy Bailey, like Leon Rossenson has frequently recorded songs of social commentary, frequently on an anti-war theme. John has made several records with Roy Bailey, as well as in a group called "Band of Hope". He recorded with Frankie Armstrong in 1996 and 1997. They share a love of early English ballads.

John as soloist

Since 1993 John has recorded seven solo albums. He often unearths obscure English tunes and songs from folk ceremonies. Recently he has started to explore Balkan and Hungarian dance tunes. In 2003 he produced a book of tunes "English Choice" with two accompanying CDs. He is happily remarried. One of his sons, Benji Kirpatrick is a member of Magpie Lane and Dr Faustus, and has recorded as a solo guitarist. All four of John's sons do morris dancing. As a composer, choreographer and musical director John has contributed to over 60 plays in the theatre and on radio.

discography

solo albums