Tim Hughes meets musician who was instrumental in band’s fame 

Twelve years ago, folk musicians John Spiers and Jon Boden were invited to come up with a band to headline the Oxford Folk Festival.

The pair were familiar figures playing in the city’s pubs and had a good network of friends on whom to call.

The band of mates they assembled for their show at Oxford Town hall brought the house down.

That should have been it, but it wasn’t. The 11-piece band enjoyed the experience so much they decided to stick around.

Calling themselves Bellowhead – a cheeky nod at Oxonians Radiohead – they went on to redefine English folk music – helping to turn a genre that had become backward-looking and deeply unfashionable into something fresh, unpredictable and sexy.

Now, after 12 years, and with singer Jon Boden announcing his intention to go it alone, they have decided to call it a day, but not before signing off with a two-part tour that ends next year where it began – at Oxford Town Hall.

On Saturday, they also return to the scene of earlier shenanigans, with their final festival date at Towersey Festival at Thame Showground. “We are going to give it our absolute all,” says Spiers, who lives in Wootton, near Abingdon. “It’s going to be extra special to us as we started as a festival band.

“Towersey is a local festival and I’ve been going there right from when I first started playing music.

“It’s slightly emotional, but more fun than sad.”

From their first self-released EP, Bellowhead have recorded five studio albums, selling more than 250,000 copies. Their third album, Hedonism, was recorded at the famous Abbey Road studios and is the highest-selling independently released folk album of all time.

They have received two silver discs, picked up eight BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, recorded theme tunes for The Archers and The Simpsons, and twice brewed their own beer. Last year they signed to the major Island Records label and released Revival, which charted at number 12.

The self-confessed ‘prog-folk’ act have also played everywhere from Glastonbury and Truck festivals to the Royal Albert Hall.

At Towersey this weekend, they will join a bill that will also include Joan Armatrading, Show of Hands, John Smith, Sally Barker and Cowley folk-pop band Stornoway, among scores of artists, over four days.

“I’m pretty sad about it coming to an end, but it’s the right decision, says Spiers, who is the son of the legendary local Morris dancer and fellow squeeze box player and Morris man David ‘Stan’ Spiers.

“It’s not acrimonious,” add Spiers.

“Jon announced to the band he was going to be leaving, and we had a discussion between us and realised we couldn’t carry on.

“It would have been possible to limp on, but not in any recognisable form. We have had people leave in the past, but that hasn’t had such big implications.

“Still, it’s a bit unfair to blame Jon for being the person who sings the songs. It’s just the nature of the beast.”

The amicable split follows a decision to also shelve the Spiers & Boden project. “I’m already working on solo stuff,” says Spiers. “So I’ll be exploring that more. I’m also working on an album of mainly instrumental stuff and will have a little tour before Bellowhead’s farewell tour.”

He adds: “It’s quite exciting. When you’re in a band, you have to find your own place within it – even when I was in the duo with Jon.

“This is more interesting. It’s just a man and a squeeze box, with stuff I’ve written myself rather than traditional songs.”

But for now he’s looking forward to giving his band a rousing send-off. “We are probably the most successful folk band in the country,” he says.

“And I’m really proud of how we’ve taken the English folk tradition and made it acceptable to people who would have never given it a second look. That’s the biggest achievement we’ve made, because being an 11-piece band is never going to be a financial success.

“I am quite happy now to have a chance to do something new – but I have learned so much from Bellowhead.”

Towersey Festival runs from Friday to Monday.

For more information and tickets, see towerseyfestival.com