Plainsong (band)

Plainsong
Origin	England
Genres	Country rock, Folk rock
Years active	1972 1992–2012 2014–2017 2020–2022
Past members	Iain Matthews Andy Roberts David Richards Bobby Ronga Mark Griffiths Julian Dawson Clive Gregson

Plainsong was originally a British country rock/folk rock band, formed in early 1972 by Iain Matthews, formerly of Fairport Convention and Matthews Southern Comfort, and Andy Roberts, previously a member of the bands The Liverpool Scene and Everyone. Plainsong's line-up consisted of Matthews, Roberts, piano and bass player David Richards who had played with Roberts in the band Everyone, and American guitarist and bass player Bobby Ronga, who Matthews and Roberts had first met in the summer of 1971 when they toured the US and Canada as an acoustic trio with former Fairport guitarist Richard Thompson.

Plainsong were managed by record producer Sandy Roberton whose music production and artist management company September Productions had signed The Liverpool Scene as their first artists in 1968. Roberton produced four albums in just under two years for The Liverpool Scene, plus Roberts’ 1970 solo album Home Grown and his 1971 Everyone album with Richards, in addition to producing Matthews’ first two solo albums in a three-album deal with Vertigo. He also produced and managed the folk rock band Steeleye Span amongst many others during that era.

Plainsong released just one album during their original existence, In Search of Amelia Earhart, before splitting up at the end of December 1972 in somewhat acrimonious circumstances. A second studio album was recorded before the split but remained unreleased until 2005.

Since the early 1990s, Matthews and Roberts have intermittently performed and recorded together as Plainsong, either as a duo, often as 'Plainsong Light', or with other musicians; Mark Griffiths, Julian Dawson, Clive Gregson. Their most recent performances were as a trio with Mark Griffiths in 2017 at the Cropredy Festival, and as a duo during a short UK tour in August 2021. They also released a live album under their own names in 2021, recorded at the Bonington Theatre in Nottingham in 1991.

Original band

Ian (later Iain) Matthews had been a member of Fairport Convention between 1967 and 1969, sharing vocals on the band's first two albums, the self-titled Fairport Convention and What We Did On Our Holidays, with Judy Dyble initially and then later Sandy Denny. By the time of the recording of band's third album Unhalfbricking, Fairport, under Denny's influence, had largely abandoned their original American singer-songwriter material and were moving towards what would become known as English folk rock. The genre was somewhat alien to Matthews' tastes, leading to a discontent within Fairport that saw him essentially fired from the band after a meeting with producer Joe Boyd in February 1969.

He then left to work solo, soon afterwards forming his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort whose greatest success was topping the UK Singles Chart with their version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" in late October 1970. After that band split up, he recorded two solo albums for the Vertigo label, If You Saw Thro' My Eyes and Tigers Will Survive in 1971, on both of which Andy Roberts had played guitar.

The beginnings of Plainsong stemmed from Iain Matthews' tour of the US in the summer of 1971 to promote his If You Saw Thro' My Eyes album released at the beginning of May that year. Matthews visited the US in June 1971 to meet with record industry contacts and to promote the album through a series of press conferences for Mercury Records, the distributor of the Vertigo label in America. That trip took in several US cities and laid the groundwork for a return at the end of July as an acoustic trio - joining him on the tour were Andy Roberts and his former colleague Richard Thompson, who by that time had recently left Fairport Convention. The tour would see them play residencies at The Bitter End in New York, the Poison Apple in Detroit and the legendary Troubador nightclub in Los Angeles. Their driver for the tour was New Yorker Bobby Ronga, who also happened to play bass and piano. Ronga was invited by Matthews to join them on bass during their mid-August Bitter End residency, where they were booked as the support act to the singer Dion (DiMucci), who at that time was reinventing himself as a folk singer some ten years after coming to fame with chart hits such as "Runaround Sue" and "Teenager In Love".

Following that tour, Andy Roberts was booked as the support act on an upcoming Steeleye Span tour and needed a bass player. His Everyone bandmate David Richards was his immediate choice but was unavailable as he was already out on tour with Sandy Denny. Roberts had liked Bobby Ronga's bass playing style on that summer tour and invited him to fill the vacant slot. Ronga duly moved to the UK for the tour, and also ended ended up playing alongside Roberts on the recording sessions for Matthews' second Vertigo album Tigers Will Survive, though in the event only Andy Roberts would be credited on the album's artwork.

Throughout that period, Matthews and Roberts frequently discussed the idea of playing together on a more formal basis. It came to fruition in late December 1971 after a meeting at Matthews' Highgate flat, where with Richards and Ronga they tried out the Tandyn Almer song "Along Comes Mary" and agreed that if it worked satisfactorily they would go ahead and form a band. The band's name was picked on a whim when later that evening they randomly opened a copy of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music to find Plainsong at pages 450-451.

After a month of rehearsals at a studio in London called The Cabin, Plainsong began their first UK tour at the end of January 1972, beginning at Leeds University on 29 January 1972 and ending at The Roundhouse in London on 19 March; they then embarked on a 10-date tour of Holland on 24 March. The band signed to Elektra Records and in June and July of that year recorded their debut album, In Search of Amelia Earhart, at the Sound Techniques studio in Chelsea favoured by producer Sandy Roberton for his stable of artists. The album was released on Friday 6 October 1972 and mixed songs by both Matthews and Roberts with several covers, including versions of 'Red River Dave' McEnery's song "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight", Paul Siebel's "Louise" and Jerry Yester and Judy Henske's "Raider". The album also included "True Story Of Amelia Earhart's Last Flight", a Matthews song based on research that suggests that Amelia Earhart on her round-the-world flight in 1937 may have been spying on Japanese bases in the Pacific islands; and "Even the Guiding Light", a response to Richard Thompson's "Meet on the Ledge".

In Search Of Amelia Earhart was critically well-received on its release - Record Mirror called it "The Contemporary Folk Record of the Year"; and rock journalist Charles Shaar Murray, reviewing the album in New Musical Express, described it as “one of the classic albums of 1972” - but despite the acclaim it did not sell in particularly big numbers and was thus not a commercial success. The group continued to tour throughout the last three months of 1972 (with the addition of drummer Roger Swallow for a short time during October) and recorded a second album at Sound Techniques during December. The album was initially known during the recording sessions by two alternate titles: Plainsong III and Now We Are 3, to reflect the fact that they were by now a trio, Bobby Ronga having been asked to leave the band in November due to a drinking problem. However, relationships between the remaining band members deteriorated considerably towards the end of 1972 and Plainsong broke up at the end of December after Matthews accepted an offer from Elektra Records boss Jac Holzman to move to California to record as a solo artist working with ex-Monkee now turned record producer Michael Nesmith. With the band no longer in existence to promote the album, it remained officially unreleased, though a white-label promo copy by Elektra designated Plainsong III (K43126) did make it into existence, as did a bootleg cassette and then CD version circulated widely amongst Plainsong fans. Several songs from the intended follow-up album would subsequently appear on various Roberts and Matthews solo albums - "Urban Cowboy" for instance became the title song of Roberts' 1973 solo album, and "Keep On Sailing" and "Save Your Sorrows" would appear on Matthews' 1973 solo album Valley Hi.

In Search of Amelia Earhart in its original form was unavailable on CD for many years, being issued as a Japanese-only CD by Warner-Elektra in 1991 and then reissued by Matthews' own label Perfect Pitch in 2001, and more recently by Man In The Moon Records in 2016. The unissued Plainsong III, now under the Now We Are 3 title, finally saw the light of day in 2005 as the second disc of a 2CD re-issue by Water Records just entitled Plainsong, where both Plainsong albums featured along with radio recordings, demos and singles, including "Along Comes Mary".

Three albums of archive recordings by Plainsong have also been released on CD since the 1990s, including And That's That - The Demos, comprising recordings made for the band's unreleased second album, and two versions of On Air containing tracks recorded at the BBC studios in several sessions throughout 1972. Plainsong also recorded two television sessions for the BBC2 music programme The Old Grey Whistle Test, appearing on 7 March and 17 October respectively. Introduced by presenter Bob Harris, Plainsong's performance of "Even The Guiding Light" from the October OGWT show can be viewed on YouTube.

Revival

In March 1990, some eighteen years after the original band disbanded, Andy Roberts encountered Iain Matthews again when he was performing in a pub, The Richmond, in Brighton whilst touring the UK as a duo with American musician Mark Hallman who had produced his solo albums Walking A Changing Line and Pure & Crooked. After playing together on Matthews’ booking at the Cambridge Folk Festival in July 1990 and on his European tour later that same year, and with all previous issues now swept aside, the two decided to revive Plainsong once more.

Adding former Matthews Southern Comfort guitarist Mark Griffiths and singer/songwriter Julian Dawson, they reformed the band in 1992 and recorded three albums of new music - Dark Side of the Room (1992), Voices Electric (1994), and Sister Flute (1996) - before Dawson left to pursue his solo career. His replacement was Clive Gregson, once of Any Trouble and later Gregson & Collister. The new line-up recorded another new Plainsong album New Place Now in 1999, before Matthews and Roberts recorded a 6-track mini-album in 2001, A To B, as a duo under the Plainsong name. For the next Plainsong album, Pangolins in 2003, Dawson rejoined the band replacing Gregson.

In its various line-ups, Plainsong performed and toured throughout the 1990s and 2000s. What was planned to be their final album, Fat Lady Singing (recorded live in the studio during their last tour in 2004) was released in 2012, that year marking the 40th anniversary of the formation of the original band. Plainsong promoted the album by undertaking a 40th Anniversary Farewell tour of Europe covering Germany, Austria, Holland, Denmark and the UK before disbanding as a quartet. Their performance at Norderstedt in Germany on 4 September 2012 was recorded live and broadcast on NDR Radio. The 'final tour' culminated with two dates in Japan in October 2012.

However, final album and tour it turned out not to be. In 2014, Matthews and Roberts decided to record some of the songs of Richard Fariña, to mark the approaching 50th anniversary of his death. With Mark Griffiths back on board playing guitar and bass, the decision to use the Plainsong name made sense, and the group was again re-activated. The album Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Fariña was released in 2015. In July 2016, the trio played a handful of UK shows to promote the album, beginning at Whitstable in Kent, with US and European dates following later in September and October.

The same Plainsong line-up came back together again for the Cropredy Festival in August 2017, celebrating Fairport Convention's 50th anniversary. The reformed band played a 12-song set featuring mostly songs from the Reinventing Richard and Amelia Earhart albums. Iain Matthews also rejoined Fairport Convention later that evening during their headlining set, singing vocals on several songs including "Reno Nevada" and "Meet On The Ledge". The concert was later released as the Fairport Convention 2CD What We Did On Our Saturday.

Nearly fifty years on from the formation of the band, Matthews and Roberts revived Plainsong yet again in 2021, playing a short tour of the UK including gigs at two of their favourite music venues, The Greys in Brighton and the Half Moon in Putney. Like their Cropredy performance in 2017, their set list featured several Richard Fariña songs plus cuts from the Amelia Earhart album.

Discography

Original line-up

• In Search of Amelia Earhart (1972 vinyl) UK and US Elektra Records
  • First issued on CD in Japan, 1991, Elektra / Warner-Pioneer Corporation
  • Reissued on CD, 2001, Perfect Pitch
  • Reissued on CD, 2016, Man In The Moon
• On Air - Original BBC Recordings (recorded 1972, released 1992, Band Of Joy Records)
  • Plainsong On Air (expanded version with two extra tracks released 1997, Strange Fruit Records)
• And That's That - The Demos (recorded 1972, released 1992, Taxim Records)
• Plainsong 2CD (2005) Water Records
  • CD1 features In Search Of Amelia Earhart, plus seven tracks of radio sessions and one demo
  • CD2 features Now We Are 3 (previously unreleased second album), plus seven live tracks and two singles

Revival

• Dark Side Of The Room (1992) Line Records
• Voices Electric (1994) Line Records
• Sister Flute (1996) Line Records
• New Place Now (1999) Spinalong Records UK / Blue Rose Records Europe
• Live In Austria (1999) Plainsong (Four-track mini-CD, live in Thalgäu)
• A To B (2001) Spinalong Records (Six-track mini-CD)
• Pangolins (2003) Blue Rose Records
• Fat Lady Singing (2012) Blue Rose Records
• Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Fariña (2015) Fledg’ling Records

Blue Rose Records compilations

Plainsong tracks appear on various Blue Rose compilation CDs:

• Blue Rose Collection Vol.6 (1999)  : Plainsong "Following Amelia"
• Blue Rose Collection Vol.10 (2003)  : Plainsong "Barbed Wire Fence"
• Blue Rose Nuggets 3 (2003)  : Plainsong "Needle In The Hay".
• Blue Rose Nuggets 11 (2005)  : Plainsong "Even The Guiding Light" recorded live at the Hospitalkirche in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany, 8 May 2003
• Blue Rose Nuggets 27 (2007)  : Plainsong "Footsteps Fall".
• Blue Rose Nuggets 46 (2010)  : Plainsong "Here Comes The Rain".
• Blue Rose Nuggets 57 (2012)  : Plainsong "Sloth".
• Various Artists – 20 Years Blue Rose Records – Best Of Americana Rock Music Vol. 2 Past and Present (2CD) (2015) :

Plainsong "Barbed Wire Fence"

• Blue Rose Nuggets 95 (2019)  : Plainsong "I Can't Let Go".

Other compilation albums

Plainsong tracks can also be found on two compilation albums released under Iain Matthews' name.

• The Soul Of Many Places - The Elektra Years 1972-1974 (1993) Elektra Records
• Orphans And Outcasts (2019) Cherry Red Records
  • 4CD box set containing remastered versions of Orphans And Outcasts Volumes 1-3, plus a fourth CD of newly-curated outtakes and demo recordings.
    • Newest Overview *** 6CD boxset - Following Amelia: The 1972 Recordings & More Box Set [Lemon Records UK] Amazon.com

Plainsong tracks from both the original band and the revival bands can also be found on numerous other compilation albums. A listing can be found on the Discogs website.

Recommended reading

• Ian Clayton: In Search Of Plainsong, Route Publishing, 2022; ISBN 978-1901927-87-0
• Iain Matthews with Ian Clayton: Thro' My Eyes: A Memoir, Route Publishing, 2018; ISBN 978-1901927-75-7