| Strawhead | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Northern England |
| Genres | Folk music |
| Years active | 1974—present |
| Website | http://www.strawhead.org.uk/ |
| Members | |
| Gregg Butler Malcolm Gibbons Chris Pollington |
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Strawhead is a northern England, Preston-based folk musical group founded in 1974,[1] that specializes in historical British music. Bolstering their national reputation for their accurate and powerful interpretation of the genre of social history of the 16th to 19th centuries,[2] the group's repertoire includes popular songs from the English Civil War era to the Victorian period performed on period and electronic instruments.[1]
The band members are:
The group have engaged in projects associated with disparate musical traditions in British history. In October 2005, Strawhead celebrated the 200th anniversary of 21 October 1805 Battle of Trafalgar through a performance at the 2005 Canalside Festival in the market town of Banbury.[4][5] Other projects have included music of the English Civil War and the Victorian period. The Fylde Folk Festival website lists "subjects such as the colonisation of America, the English Civil War, Marlborough’s Wars in the Low Countries, Monmouth’s Rebellion, and drinking songs."[6]
According to a BBC review, "Strawhead have enjoyed considerable success appearing at the top of the bill at most of the UK's major folk festivals, becoming firm favorites among folk fans."[1] In addition, Strawhead has achieved worldwide recognition for their distinctive sound and interpretation of songs.[7]
Strawhead fueled some controversy when it made a derivate work from an old ballad entitled "The Bold Fusilier".[8] The Bold Fusilier is a British song in which some argue predates the 1903 tune to Waltzing Matilda.[9][10] Waltzing Matilda is Australia's most widely known folk song, and has been referred to as 'the unofficial national anthem of Australia.[11] There are similarities between Waltzing Matilda and The Bold Fusilier, making for argument that one of the songs is based on the other song.[12] There is no evidence that The Bold Fusilier is older than Waltzing Matilda and Australia and most sources reject the idea that a British song serves as a parent work for the Australian Waltzing Matilda.[13]
In the 1970s, Strawhead wrote four more verses for The Bold Fusilier and called their resulting song, The Rochester Recruiting Sergeant.[8] The Rochester Recruiting Sergeant was adopted by a generation of folkies and battle re-enactors.[8] The four additional verses called to mind the Marlborough's Wars of 1702 to 1713.[8] In addition, the Strawhead creation sounded so like a relic of Marlborough's wars that many of the folkies and battle re-enactors came to believe that Strawhead's The Rochester Recruiting Sergeant was from the early 18th century.[8] As a result, folkies and battle re-enactors came to mistakenly believe that the 1903 tune of Waltzing Matilda was borrowed from the 1970s The Rochester Recruiting Sergeant, rather than the reverse, even though the sleeve notes to Strawhead's 1978 record features an explanation of how they developed The Rochester Recruiting Sergeant.[8]
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