Fairport Chatter

[Adam]

Indeed; I’d prefer all the info in one message!

[wayne stote]

Jenn Butterworth, from Kinnaris Quintet, has just posted that she'll be supporting Fairport on next year's spring tour.

[davidmjs]

Jenn Butterworth, from Kinnaris Quintet, has just posted that she'll be supporting Fairport on next year's spring tour.

Get yourself organised, chaps...!

[Dan O.]

Remembering the marvellous Judy Dyble today, on the 5th anniversary of her passing...

Somehow she became everybody's favourite auntie, a voice of common sense with a wicked sense of humour, and a total sweetheart who is much-missed...

[Jules Gray]

Remembering the marvellous Judy Dyble today, on the 5th anniversary of her passing...

Somehow she became everybody's favourite auntie, a voice of common sense with a wicked sense of humour, and a total sweetheart who is much-missed...

Amen! It was such a joy to have her here as part of our community.

Jules

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

Jude… always loved, forever missed ❤️

[ColinB]

One of the messages I got from Jude from when I first got involved with local radio. She and Simon were very supportive. I was finding my feet in the radio world and was yet to discover promoters who would send me promo CDs. It was one thing to get mp3s from friends on the local music scene but to receive music from those two felt really quite special.

[Shane (Skirky)]

Here's a nice thing from LouderSound - as usual Broughton Castle slips under the radar, but not bad for a summary.
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/judy-dyble-remembered

[Dan O.]

Here's a nice thing from LouderSound - as usual Broughton Castle slips under the radar, but not bad for a summary.
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/judy-dyble-remembered

In addition to Broughton Castle slipping under the radar, this article unfortunately repeats the long-debunked canard about "her removal from the band to make way for Sandy Denny".

As Nigel Schofield says (interview quote sourced from the very pages of this forum) :

"One example : the brief period between Judy's departure and Sandy's joining is often forgotten: people regularly have written about Sandy replacing Judy - it's even been suggested that she was ousted to make way for her. Very wrong. The band tried to continue - and even recorded - without a female singer, but in the end bowed to outside pressure and started looking for a new female vocalist."

[davidmjs]

Here's a nice thing from LouderSound - as usual Broughton Castle slips under the radar, but not bad for a summary.
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/judy-dyble-remembered

In addition to Broughton Castle slipping under the radar, this article unfortunately repeats the long-debunked canard about "her removal from the band to make way for Sandy Denny".

As Nigel Schofield says (interview quote sourced from the very pages of this forum) :

"One example : the brief period between Judy's departure and Sandy's joining is often forgotten: people regularly have written about Sandy replacing Judy - it's even been suggested that she was ousted to make way for her. Very wrong. The band tried to continue - and even recorded - without a female singer, but in the end bowed to outside pressure and started looking for a new female vocalist."

I'm not sure that Schofield (who I'm far from convinced is the band historian par excellence he is often suggested as being) quote is as myth-debunking as perhaps it might first appear.  The fact is that Jude was asked to leave (just maybe not to directly be replaced by Denny).  Several of the books written by band members have quotes that validate this.  The main question is whether this came from within the band or externally, and I think most of the evidence (including from other books written by or including quotes from original band members) I've seen seems to suggest this came from pressure being put on them by Boyd, and possibly others in the record company?

[Yorkshire Chris]

I remember reading this last year from an interview with Judy in 2011

https://www.loudersound.com/features/judy-dyble-life-and-times

The young band were going places. Sadly, it would be without Judy. “The album was finished, but so were Richard and I.” She remembers a strain beginning to show. Boyd had encouraged the band to recruit new boy Iain Matthews to “beef up the sound,” but Judy recalls: “My voice contrasted with Iain’s; they said I was out of tune. I was told to leave.”

It was a terrible blow – Fairport were more than a band; they had been Judy’s good friends for years, and now she was out of the gang. There would be no animosity between Judy and her replacement – “I met Sandy Denny just the once, at her flat. We were a bit wary but we did like each other; that wasn’t a problem”

[John From Austin]

Here's a nice thing from LouderSound - as usual Broughton Castle slips under the radar, but not bad for a summary.
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/judy-dyble-remembered

I met Jude in 2007 before Cropredy, and innocently asked her if she had re-recorded her Broughton Castle vocal in the studio (because it sounded studio-ish to my ears). She smiled sheepishly and nodded without saying "yes."

[Swamp Donkey (Keith)]

The beginning of the end, at least... And they're not even playing anywhere near us on the autumn tour.   I guess I should feel happy that I have had the opportunity to see them a couple of times since last Cropredy down here (Launceston and Exeter).

Interesting that there are a number of Scottish dates - I don't think they have often gone across the border recently, so another reason to suspect a kind of 'farewell'?

EDIT: A little research shows that there are some dates on sale already, under the title 'the Spring Tour', such as Exeter (26th March) and Bath (27th March). So is this just a case of them winding us up by moving the tour a little later and renaming it?!

I spotted Fairport on at The Stables Milton Keynes 17 March 2026, which is normally around the end dates of Wintour. Contacted Fairport towers to make sure this wasn’t an error. The reply was this is the Spring tour with DM on drums. So the Will was correct, moved the tour dates to a little later and renamed it. Good spot Will.