Photo: Judith Burrows

had a light bulb moment at the age of around 15 when I wandered into a school classroom in my home town of Weston-super-Mare to discover a Muddy Waters EP being played. I pestered its owner, and as a result discovered a town coffee bar full of people who enjoyed a wide range of diverse non-pop artists like Big Joe Williams, Bob Dylan, Mose Allison, Miriam Makeba, Charlie Parker, Jesse Fuller, Jelly Roll Morton, Lord Buckley, Davey Graham and Spider John

Koerner. So I became a weekend beatnik, bought a guitar and taught myself to play.

As soon as I left school I moved to Bristol, started playing in folk and blues clubs like the Bristol Trouba- dour — and soon London’s Les Cousins — and metamorphosed into a 65 year old Mississippi bluesperson. I’ve been getting younger and more English ever since: I was in my fifties before I discovered that my great

grandmother had traditional songs collected from her by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1904, and only found out more recently still that some great great aunts were morris dancers in the 1890s and another more distant relative on my father’s side was collected from by Cecil Sharp in 1909.

made my first EP record in 1967 as part of the trio Anderson, Jones, Jackson [left] — Bristol’s answer to Koerner, Ray & Glover — and then a solo one soon after. Still full of teenage folly, I somehow managed to become a full-time musician and promptly got caught up in the tail end of the late ’60s blues boom, included on the seminal UK country blues compilation Blues Like Showers Of Rain. A selection of lo-fi tracks from that era can be found on the compilation Almost The Country Blues [right].

atalysed by that, and with the help and encouragement of people like the late great Alexis Korner and an early session for the BBC’s John Peel, I moved briefly to London. An exhausting year followed during which I did hundreds of gigs all over the UK including a tour with Mississippi Fred McDowell. I recorded my first LP, Stereo Death Breakdown, which came out on Liberty/UA as Ian Anderson’s Country Blues Band, re-issued on CD in 2009.

“Nowadays, this stuff seems to be called ‘psych folk’ or ‘acid folk’

ack to Bristol, I took a musical left swerve and released 4 subsequent solo albums (as Ian A. Anderson) [left] in quick succession — mostly my own songs and guitar instrumentals, three for the Village Thing label (Royal York Crescent, A Vulture Is Not A Bird You Can Trust and Singer Sleeps On As Blaze Rages). During that period I was booked at the very first Glastonbury festival [below] .

Nowadays, this stuff seems to be called ‘psych folk’ or ‘acid folk’ and those Village Thing solo albums began going for silly eBay prices. To mark the 40th anniversary of Village Thing in 2010, a ‘best of’ CD from my Village Thing years, Time Is Ripe, was released on Weekend Beatnik, alongside Ghosts From The Basement, a ‘best of’ the Village Thing label itself.

fter that I returned to a general mix of roots music and in 1973, by then relocated to Farnham in Surrey, I formed the duo Hot Vultures with Maggie Holland. We split our time throughout much of the mid-1970s between mostly college gigs in the UK and touring extensively in Europe, particularly Belgium, where we lived for a while.

We couldn’t get arrested on the mainstream UK folk club scene for some years, possibly because we played everything rather fast and loud — speed folk! — though I was very proud when I found out that people from the later punk era like Joe Strummer used to come to our pub gigs.

We released 3 albums: Carrion On, The East Street Shakes and Up The Line with lots of interesting guests including Martin Simpson, Pete & Chris Coe, Al Jones, Simon Mayor, Dave Peabody and more. Up The Line was one of the few 1970s albums by UK folk performers to get released in the USA. There’s a best of CD titled Vulturama on Weekend Beatnik. Hot Vultures briefly re-formed for dates in summer 2016 before probably vanishing forever.

Photo: Dave Peabody

“People like Joe Strummer used to come to our pub gigs.”

omewhere around 1978 the folk constabulary decided that fast and loud was just what the British folk clubs needed after all. Doing the rounds of even the most traditional clubs and festivals, we first teamed up with Martin Simpson as The Scrub Jay Orchestra

and then with English melodeon guru Rod Stradling, hammered dulcimer players Sue Harris and later Chris Coe and others to mix English & US-derived traditional musics as The English Country Blues Band, [above] releasing two albums, No Rules and Home & Deranged, now compiled on the ‘best of’ CD Unruly.

“The folk constabulary decided we were what the clubs needed.”

round then I also made a duo album with my old 1960s blues pal Mike Cooper for the Italian label Appaloosa, titled The Continuous Preaching Blues.

Eventually the English Country Blues Band evolved into the noisy, all-star English/ world roots ceilidh band Tiger Moth, making two albums: Tiger Moth and Howling Moth (now on the ‘best of’ CD Mothballs Plus).

The Moth years culminated in the late ’80s world roots ensemble Orchestre Super Moth, recording with Flaco Jimenez, Dembo Konte & Kausu Kuyateh and Abdul Tee-Jay.

Then I took a long break from playing in public.

Tiger Moth re-formed in summer 2004 to celebrate its 20th anniversary — gigs included the first ever ceilidh at WOMAD, and the 50th anniversary Sidmouth Festival, doing WOMAD again in 2006 plus The Big Chill, Towersey and more before going back into probably permanent hibernation.

Photo: Jak Kilby

“These latter ventures might best be described as old time English psych folk blues world twangery.”

n more recent times I played a small role in the Imagined Village project including the first album and debut gig at WOMAD 2007, and resurfaced with Maggie Holland & Ben Mandelson as the Hot Vultures 3 as part of Shirley Collins’ Folk Roots New Routes season at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in Feb 2008. I was then involved in some twanging & banging (the CD Stubble, festivals, a tour) with old pals Ben Mandelson & PiL’s Lu Edmonds as the Blue Blokes 3 in 2008/9.

Since 2012,the Anderson/Mandelson duo has been out there as The False Beards [above]. Our first album Ankle came out in June 2013. These latter ventures might best be described as old time English psych folk blues world twangery …

Photo: Elly Lucas

nd finally, as mentioned earlier, Maggie Holland and I briefly re-united as Hot Vultures in summer 2016 for a few club dates and festivals including Priddy, Shrewsbury and Sidmouth – at the latter of which we shared a bill with our old friend Tymon Dogg from back in the 1970s.

Photo: Carmen Hunt