Spiers and Boden search for local folk

AS the frontmen of bombastic folk collective Bellowhead, they have played to crowds of thousands at festivals from Glastonbury to Cropredy, packed-out the Southbank Centre and Royal Albert Hall and have scooped armful of awards. So what are John Spiers and Jon Boden doing playing to a handful of people in a village hall in southern Oxfordshire?

On Tuesday the duo will head to Uffington, in the shadow of the enigmatic White Horse hill figure, for a celebration of local folk song.

The gig, at the tiny Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall, is one of 30 dates in village halls, pubs, arts centres and a miner’s welfare institute, at which they are asking the audience to contribute their local knowledge by suggesting, and even performing, songs from their own backyards.

Called, naturally, Backyard Songs, the shows also present a rare opportunity for village folk to see two giants of new-folk.

“There are traditional songs from every part of the country,” says Boden, who plays fiddle and guitar, to ‘Squeezy John’ Spiers’s melodeon.

“British traditional songs are a treasure trove and I urge people to explore them.

“It is all enriching and worthwhile and knowing these songs make you feel differently about a place.”

The songs, he said, could be from the village, surrounding area, or just mention the village. “They can be dance tunes or even stories or plays,” he adds.

The pair are also searching for contributions by local acts willing to showcase local music, dance and folk-art.

The Uffington gig follows Bellowhead’s sold-out show at the New Theatre in Oxford, in February, and is the only Oxfordshire date on the current tour. It is also closest to being a hometown show; John lives in the Vale of White Horse (Wootton, near Abingdon, to be precise), and first met Jon while playing at the former Elm Tree pub in East Oxford more than a decade ago. Indeed, the first Bellowhead line-up was convened for the Oxford Folk Festival. And with a wealth of legends surrounding the White Horse, the Neolithic burial chamber of Wayland Smithy, and Dragon Hill – alleged to be the site where St George slew the serpent – there should be no shortage of material.

So why are they doing it? Is there, I suggest, some high-minded mission to save English folk music from obscurity? Not exactly. “We are doing it for fun,” says Jon. “We are not being too worthy, evangelical or pompous.

“There is no rhyme nor reason to where we are going either. We’ve just chosen places and put them into a generally logical order, so that we are not playing Bristol one night and Cumbria the next. It’s all about doing different venues on each tour.”

Jon is already having a good year. As well as the Bellowhead tour and a forthcoming summer of festivals, including Cornbury, Bellowhead’s latest album Broadside received the award for Best Album at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. They have previously won the Best Live Band accolade a record five times.

“It’s been great,” he says. “It was really nice getting the Best Album award. We are very happy with the record. Last year was all the work, and this year we are sitting back and seeing how it all goes. It has been a learning process in how to translate what is in essence a live band onto CD. And it’s harder than you’d think – certainly harder than making a solo album.”

And how is he enjoying touring as a duo? “When it’s just John and I we can do it in a car, instead of a tour bus.” he says. “It’s pretty low-fi. In fact, we used to do it in an old Metro.”

“It’s nice, but also hard work as we do it all ourselves, even down to the driving and loading. But it means there’s less time sitting around getting bored, which is the downside of a Bellowhead tour.”

And he loves the back-to-basics sense of running the tour like a cottage industry. He says: “That’s the way the folk scene works, and it’s nice not to lose touch with that as it’s where we came from – though it is quite a culture shock.”

And ideas are rolling in from fans. “We are getting lots of interesting suggestions,” he says. “People have been coming up and saying ‘I’ve got a song’, and handing me pieces of paper or actual books.

“We are coming across music we don’t know and there seems to be material coming in from every town and village.”

While they are still awaiting suggestions, they have enrolled some local support for the night, in the shape of the Icknield Way Morris side. The signing is appropriate: many of the pair’s foot-stomping songs have roots in Morris tunes; indeed, John was initiated into the world of folk by his Morris dancing father David ‘Stan’ Spiers – a hugely respected stalwart of Morris dancing in Oxford and Abingdon, and an accomplished squeezebox player himself.

And villagers don’t have to worry about deadlines. “People have still got time,” he says. “We’ll decide on the day, so the songs won’t be terrifically polished but, hopefully, that’ll be part of the fun.

“One of the strengths of these shows is we don’t use set lists.

“The whole process of getting a set together means everything gets polished and formulaic. We want to improvise – and live on the edge a bit!”

Spiers and Boden play the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall in Uffington on Tuesday.
Call 01367 820282. Doors open at 7.30pm
To submit a song suggestion, go to backyardsongs.com