| Hank Wangford | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Samuel Hutt |
| Born | 1940 |
| Genres | Country & Western |
| Occupations | Physician, Musician |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Labels | Cow Pie Records, Sincere Sounds, Charisma Records, Situation Two |
| Website | http://www.hankwangford.com |
Hank Wangford is a distinguished English country and western songwriter. Hank Wangford is the stage name of Dr. Samuel Hutt, (b.1940). His music is notable for its humour and cheerful irony, and occasional excursions into biting political undercurrent.
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A chance meeting with former Byrds member Gram Parsons,[2] who played him the song "You're Still on My Mind" (from the album Sweetheart of the Rodeo), led him to country music.
Although his first recordings in the Hank Wangford guise were made with a group of leading session musicians, he now works with a group - The Hank Wangford Band. There have been at least four incarnations of the band, and a significant feature of the various lineups has been the number of high quality musicians who have appeared with him.
A common feature of the early bands was the ever present stage humour, including frequent references to "our recent 1982 country and western tour of Nepal" along with mention of the shows being sponsored by Sincere Products "the makers of the only genuine reproduction Hank Wangford products". One of their standard lines to the audience (especially when selling band souvenirs from the stage) is "We urge you good people to patronise us the way we are going to go on patronising you."
In earlier years, the band usually closed the show with the theme song "Jogging with Jesus" which celebrated the delights of Clissold Park (and its pond).
The second incarnation of the Hank Wangford Band included Amos Avaczyk-Daley (bass) (aka Gary Taylor), Milton Keynes alias Billy Three-Knees, a genuine Prawnee Indian (drums) (aka Howard Tibble), Brad Breath (lead - pronounced as in the metal - guitar) (aka Andy Roberts), Irma Cetas (vocalist) (aka Melanie Harrold), and Manly Footwear (pedal steel guitar) (aka B. J. Cole). This lineup broke up in 1984 after appearing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe although Andy Roberts, B. J. Cole and Melanie Harrold have occasionally returned to play live dates with Hank. B.J. and Melanie most recently being featured in the 5th October 2007 show at the Half Moon, Putney.
Boeing Duveen, another one of Sam Hutt's alter egos, has recently uploaded two clips of video on YouTube showing this band at its best, appearing at the 1982 Cambridge Folk Festival.
A third version of the band took a more rock oriented approach to country music with a complete change in personnel. Joining the band were Cissy Footwear (vocals) (aka Kathy O'Donoghue), Bobby Valentino (fiddle and vocals), Jett Atkins (guitar) (aka Mick Dyche), George Hamilton VI (bass) (aka Richie Robertson) and Big Mac (drums) (aka Alan Coulter). After George Hamilton VI left the band, the role of bass player was taken over by Cherry Red Footwear (aka Clare Kenny).
Sam's family background is radical: his father Allen (a journalist and expert on the history of printing) was a lifelong Communist. During the NUM miners strike in 1984/85, the Hank Wangford Band toured extensively with Billy Bragg and the Frank Chickens as 'Hank, Frank and Billy' performing at trade union benefit and anti-racist gigs. It was during such a benefit for the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1984 that Hank and the band were attacked on stage by a group of right wing skinheads,[3] an event that has been immortalised in the song "On The Line".
The 1984 Edinburgh Festival Fringe saw the Hank and the Wangfords achieve fame (if not fortune) with their show being nominated for the Perrier Award. Fringe Sunday also saw the importation to Edinburgh of the sport of cow-pat flinging. Unfortunately, this required hard cow-pats as an essential part of the process. BBC Radio 1 DJ Andy Kershaw had to put out an appeal for cow-pats[4] which later had to be dried in a microwave oven for them to work successfully.[5]
Hank currently tours and plays as "Hank Wangford and The Lost Cowboys". This is a return to a more folk and country oriented approach and the current lineup is Hank with Reg Meuross (vocals, banjo and guitar), Martin Belmont (guitar and six stringed bass), Kevin Foster (bass) and Roy Dodds (drums). During 2008 B. J. Cole has appeared with the band on a number of occasions, due to the inadvertent clashing of dates of solo performances by Reg Meuross, and this arrangement looks likely to continue, although Reg will play with the band from time to time.
Recent set lists have contained a mixture of songs written by Hank or Reg along with a selection of cover versions of classic country songs.
In 2008 Hank completed a new album Whistling In The Dark with the Lost Cowboys and his old friend and colleague B.J. Cole who was "Manley Footwear" in the early '80s incarnation of the band and producer of Hank's first two albums. Cole is the UK's greatest pedal steel and dobro player and has added a new dimension to Hank's recorded work.
Hank has also toured with Reg Meuross on the 'No Hall Too Small' tour of village halls throughout the UK as part of the Arts Council funded National Rural Touring Forum.[6] Hank and Reg were involved in a major road accident following a short tour of village halls in Scotland at the beginning of September 2007 when Reg's car was clipped by a speeding motor cycle causing the car to lose control. It then hit rocks either side of the highway resulting in the car to roll over a number of times before eventually landing in a peat bog. Apart from severe shock neither musician suffered any injury, thanks to the car being filled with the PA system and equipment flight cases which kept the structural integrity of the car intact thus stopping Hank and Reg from being crushed. The motor cyclist managed to retain control after the collision and didn't stop.
By the middle of May 2009 Hank and Reg had played over 230 village hall shows. Hank is currently writing a book based on his experiences of the 'No Hall Too Small' tour.
In early 2010 Hank announced that 'Brad Breath' Andy Roberts would be joining him and replacing Reg on future village hall dates.
Dr. Hutt works as a family planning doctor for the NHS. After the fall and execution of Nicolae Ceauşescu, he has spent a lot of time in Romania helping to set up a family planning infrastructure, including training nurses and doctors in prescribing contraception. Ceauşescu had discouraged family planning in an attempt to increase the population of Romania. Many infants were abandoned in orphanages as a result of this policy.
Hank writes an occasional series of travel articles [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13][14] for The Guardian newspaper and is president of the 'Nude Mountaineering Society'.[15]
The name "Hank Wangford" is amusing to British ears since it suggests the English slang word wank. This was emphasised by the name the band some times gave themselves- 'Hank Wangford and the Hankerers - featuring The Jodrelles'. Jodrelles is from Jodrell Bank, Jodrell being rhyming slang for 'wank'.