Meic Stevens

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Meic Stevens is a Welsh singer-songwriter who is often referred to as "the Welsh Dylan" and has been compared favourably with fellow astral-travellers like Syd Barrett. Stevens's songs have a mystical, faintly psychedelic flavour, and are mostly sung in his native Welsh language. Still largely unknown outside Wales (where he is now a national hero), he was discovered by DJ Jimmy Savile, who saw him (from on the west coast of Wales) performing in a Manchester folk club in 1965. This led to Stevens recording his first single - with arranger John Paul Jones (later of Led Zeppelin) - for Decca Records that same year, though it sold very badly.

In 1967 he suffered a nervous breakdown and retreated to his home village of Solva (in Pembrokeshire) to recuperate, and started to write songs in Welsh in a concerted effort to create a distinctive national pop music. From 1967-69 he recorded a series of now rare Welsh-language picture sleeve EPs (Mike Stevens, Rhif 2 ('Number 2'), Mwg ('Smoke'), Y Brawd Houdini ('The Brother Houdini'), Mike Stevens, Diolch Yn Fawr ('Many Thanks'), Byw Yn Y Wlad ('Living In The Country')). These were made for local labels like Sain and Wren, for whom he was one of the first artistes to record. He also performed around Britain during the '60s, playing on recording sessions (notably for his friend Gary Farr's debut album on the Marmalade label). He made a one-off English language LP, Outlander, for Warner Bros. in 1970, but they wanted to turn him into the "Welsh Van Morrison" and the contract was abandoned by mutual consent. Today, like his other LPs of the period, Gwymon ('Seaweed') and Gog ('Cuckoo'), it is very rare and highly sought-after.

Today Stevens' psych-folk influence can be heard in contemporary Welsh groups such as Super Furry Animals and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, and his song Cwm y Pren Helyg was recently covered by Alun Tan Lan. Several CDs of his are available from the Sain label in Caernarfon, and a collection of his classic 1960s EPs appeared on the Sunbeam label in July 2006.