Background
He was born in Somerset, a county in the west country of England.
He was born in Somerset, a county in the west country of England.
lieutenant is there that he first heard and started singing traditional songs. He trained as an artist at the Norwich, and Chelsea Schools of Artist His professional "break" came in the early 1970s when a music agent spotted him singing at Dingles Folk Club in London.
This led to eight years as a professional solo folk singer/guitarist.
He recorded two, highly regarded albums in the late 1970s: "Layers" (1977) and "All Things in Common" (1979). Both featured mainly traditional songs with often complex fingerstyle accompaniments (some in open tunings) on a Fylde acoustic guitar.
He stopped full-time touring in the 1980s to work on various arts-based projects including appearing in several "mixed media" shows. Since September 1999 he has been the Company-ordinator of the Baring-Gould Heritage Project.
However, he has continued to produce solo albums, tour (both in the United Kingdom and abroad), and collaborate with other artists, including his current partner, the Icelandic Folk singer Bára Grímsdóttir.