Mr. Fox
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Mr. Fox were a band, part of the British "electric folk" or "folk rock" movement, circa 1970.
Members:
- Bob Pegg
- Carole Pegg
- Alan Eden - drums
- Barry Lyons (musician) - electric bass
- Andrew Massey - cello
- John Myatt (musician) - woodwinds
Mr Fox were an iconoclastic folk/rock band, formed in 1970 by Bob and Carole Pegg. The Peggs were already well-established singers and musicians on the British folk scene. They came together around 1960, when they were in their mid-teens, performing primarily at the Nottingham Folk Workshop, in the City's Co-op Educational Centre. Both had gone to school in the city. A tape recorded at home by Bob's father got them a gig on the local TV magazine programme Midlands at Six and, by the time they went to University - Carole to Southampton and Bob to Leeds - they were well on the way to making their first commercial recording. This was three tracks on the Transatlantic folk sampler The Second Wave. However a disagreement about sleeve design blew out a multi-LP deal with Tranny, and it was only in 1969 that the couple ventured into a studio again, to make the album that would be released in 1972 as He Came from the Mountains (re-released in 2006 by Vinyl Japan).
Carole joined Bob at Leeds in 1963 and, over the next six years, they became well-established figures on the Yorkshire folk scene, touring further afield, especially to the southern counties, during vacations. Around 1966, when Bob had begun work in the University's Institute of Dialect and Folk Life Studies, recording music and song in the Yorkshire Dales, the Peggs fell under the influence of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, who at the time were holding workshops around the country which encouraged young folk revivalists to abandon American (and other) influences and base their performances on British "traditional" singing, spiced up with vocal techniques from foreign cultures like Azerbaijan(!). MacColl had recently propounded these ideas on a series for Radio Midlands called The Song Carriers. Bob and Carole enthusiastically abandoned their guitars for the concertina, penny whistle, and the fiddle, which Carole had learnt at school and picked up again, influenced by recordings Bob had made of Dales dance players.
In 1969 the Peggs headed south. Bob had found a job teaching English at Stevenage College, and the couple were ready to use this proximity to the metropolis to further their musical ambitions. One evening, when they were performing in a London club, they were approached by Bill Leader, producer of Bert Jansch, Ewan MacColl, Bert Lloyd and many other key folk performers. Bill asked if they would record for his Trailer label. The Peggs were overwhelmed, saying that they would like to make a traditional album, but Bill Leader was intrigued by some of the songs Bob had been writing recently, and suggested instead a collection of new material. Gradually the album came together, with basic tracks - mostly vocals and guitar - recorded in Bill's kitchen in Camden Town, then overdubbed in Livingstone studios during evening "down time" generously donated by the late Nick Kinsey, who was Livingstone's engineer.
Instead of issuing the album, Bill took the recording to Nat Joseph of Transatlantic Records, being careful not to reveal the identity of the performers (remembering that Bob and Carole had clashed with the label some years before). Nat was greatly impressed by what he heard. When Bill revealed that it was Bob and Carole Pegg singing and playing, Nat exclaimed "Oh no! Not those aggro merchants!", but he went and signed them. Bob and Carole joined forces with Stevenage bass player Barry Lyons, drummer Alan Eden, multi-instrumentalist wind player John Myatt, and cellist Andrew Massey. And so Mr Fox was born. Bob peggs son Finn is also in an alternative ambient physcadellic band called Emenate
Carole Pegg is now a distinguished ethno-musicologist who lectures at Cambridge University. (Inner Asian Music). Bob Pegg is the author of a book "Folk: A Portrait of English Traditional Music, Musicians and Customs" (1976).
[edit] Discogrpahy
Albums.
- Mr Fox (1970)
- The Gipsy (1971)
Multi-volume Albums.
- The Complete Mr Fox (1975)
Consists of "Mr Fox" and "The Gipsy"
Compilations.
- Join Us in our Game (2004)
Consists of Selected tracks from "Mr Fox" and from "The Gipsy"
Solo albums.
- Bob Pegg and Nick Strutt (1973)
- Shipbuilder (1974)
- Ancient Maps (1975)
Bob and Carolanne Pegg.
- He Came From the Mountain (1972)
Caroleann Pegg.
- Caroleann Pegg (1973)
Compilations.
- Keeper of the Fire (2006)
