Fairport Convention are often credited with being the first English electric folk band. Formed in April 1967, with Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings and Shaun Frater, Fairport rapidly developed from playing cover versions of American 'west coast' style music to an individual style which melded rock music with traditional English tunes and songs.
Bedevilled by numerous personnel changes throughout its first decade, Fairport Convention were temporarily disbanded in 1979 but played annual reunion concerts until they reformed in 1985. Since then, they have enjoyed stability and continue to tour and record regularly.
In part, the continuing success of Fairport Convention is due to the annual music festival the band organises. Cropredy Festival has been held every year since 1977 near Cropredy, a village five miles north of Banbury, Oxfordshire and attracts 20,000 fans. Now renamed Fairport's Cropredy Convention, it remains one of the key events in the UK folk festival calendar.
BBC Radio 2's Sold On Song TOP 100 songs as voted for by Radio 2 listeners put their early song "Meet On The Ledge" at Number 17. They had performed "Meet on the Ledge" on the 1969 launch of "From the Roundhouse" (a short-lived BBC-TV youth and arts programme about the London "underground scene"). In 2002 the band was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and in 2006, Liege & Lief was voted the most influential folk album of all time in a public ballot, also run by the BBC.

History: 1967–1979
The phrase folk rock sprang up in the 1960s to describe a genre which brought together electric instruments and folk songs and tunes. Bob Dylan set the trend when he 'went electric' at the Newport Folk Festival in July 1965 and on his album Bringing It All Back Home. Around the same time after their encounter with Bob Dylan, the Beatles began to feature acoustic guitars more prominently in their music, and started to focus more deeply on their lyrics, particularly John Lennon who was expressing more auto-biographical content with his lyrics. This was very evident on their Rubber Soul release, most notably on the song "Norwegian Wood". Bob Dylan's introduction of the Beatles to marijuana is commonly thought to be a factor to this exchange. The Byrds later developed the trend further with their covers of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and of Pete Seeger's "Turn, Turn, Turn" and incorporating Beatles-sounding jangling 12-string electric guitars.
Rock journalist Ritchie Unterberger writes in his book Eight Miles High:
"Prior to 1968, rather incredibly, there was not a single British rock group that played electric folk-rock consistently and well. It is thus not too surprising that the band to become roundly acclaimed as the best British folk-rock group, Fairport Convention, took its initial inspiration from American folk-rock, particularly the guitar-oriented California sort."
Although folk-rock was well-established in the USA by 1968, Fairport Convention was the first English band to concentrate on bringing rock instruments and rock arrangements to traditional songs. Initially, the British press (and Fairport Convention's members) titled this mixture electric folk but the term 'folk-rock' soon became the norm, although it is a broader category than electric folk. Therefore, although other bands in the UK were experimenting with the folk-rock genre (including Strawbs and Pentangle), Fairport Convention is widely credited with 'inventing' British folk-rock.
However, Fairport Convention was also developing in other ways. As as well as revivals of traditional material with modern instrumentation and rhythms, bandmembers were increasingly composing original material and Richard Thompson had developed into a talented and inventive guitarist. Fairport Convention even entered the singles charts with "Si Tu Dois Partir", a French-language version of Bob Dylan's "If You Gotta Go". The record just missed the top twenty but got the band (with guest triangulist, John Peel) a slot on Top Of The Pops, Britain's most popular television pop music programme at the time.

Tragedy
Despite the triumph of Liege & Lief, founding member Ashley Hutchings, who was to become the reigning intellectual of the folk-rock movement, quit to form Steeleye Span. To compound Fairport's problems, Sandy Denny also left the band. Dave Pegg took over on bass guitar and has been in the band ever since, an unbroken stint of 34 years. Sandy Denny was essentially irreplaceable, so the band decided to continue without a female singer.
All the band members and their families moved in to The Angel, a former pub in Hertfordshire. There was nearly another tragedy when a runaway lorry crashed into the building. Dave Swarbrick was rudely awakened as the truck demolished his bedroom, leaving him unhurt but covered in rubble.
The next Fairport album was Full House; soon after its release Richard Thompson left the band. Simon Nicol was now the only original member. Dave Swarbrick developed a folk-rock opera called Babbacombe Lee and life in the ex-pub inspired the LP Angel Delight. The two albums were the first time the same Fairport line-up had recorded consecutively: every other release had seen changes in personnel from its predecessor. Babbacombe Lee was a success, and received good air play in the United States.
Simon Nicol left Fairport early in 1972, followed by Dave Mattacks, although both would rejoin later. That left the two Daves, Pegg and Swarbrick, holding the band together. The following few years were dubbed 'Fairport Confusion' as a bewildering sequence of band members came and went, but by 1973 Mattacks had returned and two former members of Sandy Denny's Fotheringay had joined the band, Denny's Australian husband Trevor Lucas (vocals/guitar) and American Jerry Donahue (lead guitar). The next two studio albums were Rosie (1973) and Fairport Nine (1974).
Denny rejoined Fairport Convention in 1974 and there were considerable expectations, including commercial expectations, about this lineup. Denny was featured on the album Rising For The Moon, but left again in 1976, as did Lucas and Donahue. During the Rising sessions, Mattacks was replaced by Bruce Rowland. Rowland, Pegg and Swarbrick fulfilled their remaining contractual obligation to Island Records by recording the album Gottle O'Geer as Fairport (as opposed to Fairport Convention) with various session players and production by Simon Nicol, who subsequently rejoined the band. Having come to the end of the contract with Island Records, Fairport signed up with Vertigo. By now, the line-up had stabilised with Nicol, Swarbrick, Pegg and Rowland, but after two of four contracted albums, Vertigo wanted out: in fact, the label ended up paying Fairport Convention not to make albums.
Sandy Denny died aged 31, in 1978, of a cerebral haemorrhage after falling down a flight of stairs.

1970s - major changes
In 1979 the band had no record deal and Dave Swarbrick's hearing was deteriorating rapidly. Fairport decided to call it a day. The band did a farewell tour and played a final outdoor concert on 4 August in Cropredy, the Oxfordshire village where Dave and Christine Pegg lived. No record company wanted to release the live recordings of the tour and concert so the Peggs started Woodworm Records and released it themselves.
After a year, Fairport Convention staged a reunion concert in Cropredy and the annual Cropredy Festival was born. Over the next few years, it grew rapidly. Soon Fairport was staging New Year gigs and playing in Scandinavia. The Peggs continued to record and release the Cropredy concerts as 'official bootlegs'. Meanwhile, Dave Pegg had joined Jethro Tull which gave him a well-paying steady gig, and was the first of several Convention players who played in both folk rock preceptors.
Simon Nicol had teamed up with Dave Swarbrick in an acoustic duo. In 1985 both Pegg and Nicol had some spare time. Dave Mattacks was free too. They decided to record an album of new material in the Peggs' studio.

1979 - "Aww, mama, can this really be the end?"
Dave Swarbrick declined to join the new band, so violin virtuoso Ric Sanders, formerly of Soft Machine, was invited to participate. Multi-instrumentalist Maartin Allcock was also recruited and the five-piece recorded Fairport's only all-instrumental album Expletive Delighted.
With its mix of old stagers and new blood, this proved to be Fairport Convention's longest-lasting line-up - eleven years.
In the early nineties, a four-piece acoustic line-up emerged, the two versions of Fairport running in parallel. Woodworm continued to record and release the band's studio albums and live 'boots'. Maartin Allcock left in the mid-1990s and was replaced by Chris Leslie on mandolin and fiddle. Chris proved to be a talented songwriter and has made a significant contribution to the band's repertoire.
In 1998, Dave Mattacks moved to the USA and Gerry Conway, who had travelled a parallel musical road to Fairport for 30 years, took over on drums and percussion.

History: post-1985
The new century found Fairport in fine form. Concert halls were full and records were selling surprisingly well. The year 2000 was marked by the very successful 'Y2K' tour and a new studio album, The Wood And The Wire. In 2002, Fairport Convention celebrated 35 years as a band and released a new album, titled XXXV. They also commissioned Fairport-branded 'Anniversary Ale', a bottled beer from Wadworth Brewery (the band was always known for a willingness to hoist a few). The band undertook a gruelling schedule, touring the UK, Europe, Australasia, Europe, the USA and Canada.
Fairport Convention won the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their seminal album Liege & Lief was voted 'Best Folk Album Ever' by Radio 2 listeners. Free Reed Records, an independent label, released Fairport Unconventional, a four-CD boxed set of rare and unreleased recordings from the band's 35-year career in 2002. The band had achieved legendary status, "outliving" scores of similar musical aggregations.
Fairport Convention is still one of the busiest bands on the folk-rock scene in the UK. The current line-up of Simon Nicol (lead vocal, rhythm and electric guitars), Dave Pegg (backing vocals, bass guitar, mandolin), Ric Sanders (violin), Chris Leslie (lead vocal, fiddle, bouzouki, mandolin) and Gerry Conway (percussion and drums) still packs venues on its frequent tours.
In 2004, the band staged a major fundraiser at Birmingham Symphony Hall for Dave Swarbrick — who received a lung transplant — and played summer dates at home and abroad.
In August 2004, the band's new own-brand label, Matty Grooves Records (the name is a pun on an old murder ballad sung memorably by Sandy Denny on Liege & Lief, "Matty Groves"), released the album Over The Next Hill and Free Reed Records released a four-CD boxed set, Cropredy Capers. In October, Fairport toured the USA and Canada and the year would end with tours by the four-piece acoustic line-up and spin-off band The Dylan Project.
In February 2007, Matty Grooves Records released the band's new album Sense of Occasion to celebrate their 40 years of music.
On 10 August 2007, to great acclaim, the band performed the whole of the [[Liege & Lief]] album live at Cropredy in the 1969 line-up of Dave Swarbrick, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Mattacks, Simon Nicol and Richard Thompson, with Chris While taking the place of Sandy Denny.

Into the 21st century
The 2007 line up of Fairport Convention is:
The following musicians have been members of Fairport Convention:

Simon Nicol (guitar, lead vocal): 1967 - 1971, 1976 - present
Dave Pegg (bass guitar, mandolin, backing vocal): 1970 - present
Ric Sanders (fiddles, occasional keyboards): 1985 - present
Chris Leslie (fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki, lead vocal): 1997 - present
Gerry Conway (drums and percussion): 1998 - present
Ashley Hutchings (bass guitar) 1967 - 1969
Bob Brady (piano) 1976
Bruce Rowland (drums) 1975 - 1984
Dan Ar Braz (guitar) 1976
Dave Mattacks (drums, keyboards) 1969 - 1972, 1973 - 1975, 1985 - 1997
David Rea (guitar) 1972
David Swarbrick (fiddle, mandolin, vocals) 1969 - 1984
Iain Matthews (vocal) 1967 - 1968
Jerry Donahue (guitar) 1972 - 1975
Judy Dyble (vocal, autoharp, recorder) 1967 - 1968
Maartin Allcock (guitar, mandolin, keyboard, vocal) 1985 - 1996
Martin Lamble (drums) 1967 - 1969
Paul Warren (drums) 1972
Richard Thompson (guitar, vocal) 1967 - 1971
Roger Burridge (fiddle) 1976
Roger Hill (guitar) 1972
Sandy Denny (vocal, piano) 1968 - 1969, 1974 - 1975
Tom Farnell (drums) 1972
Trevor Lucas (guitar, vocal) 1972 - 1975 Band members

Fairport Convention 1968
What We Did on Our Holidays January 1969
Unhalfbricking July 1969
Liege & Lief December 1969
Full House July 1970
Angel Delight 1971
Babbacombe Lee 1971
Rosie 1973
Nine 1973
Rising for the Moon 1975
Gottle O'Geer 1976
The Bonny Bunch of Roses 1977
Tipplers Tales 1978
Gladys Leap 1985
Expletive Delighted 1986
In Real Time 1987
Heyday 1987
Red And Gold 1989
The Five Seasons 1990
Jewel in the Crown (album) 1995
Old New Borrowed Blue 1996 (Fairport Acoustic Convention)
Who Knows Where the Time Goes (album) 1997
The Cropredy Box 1998
Cropredy 98 1999
The Wood and the Wire 1999
XXXV 2001
Over the Next Hill 2004
Sense of Occasion 2007 Discography

Fairport Live Convention 1974 aka A Moveable Feast
Live at the L.A. Troubadour January 1977 (Recorded Sept 1970)
Farewell Farewell 1979 aka Encore Encore
Moat On The Ledge - Live At Broughton Castle 1982
House Full (live) June 1986 (Recorded Sept 1970)
25th Anniversary Concert 1992
The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood 2004
Journeyman's Grace 2005
Live at the BBC 2007 Live Albums

History of Fairport Convention 1972 compilation
Tour Sampler 1975 (UK Only issue)
The Woodworm Years 1991 compilation
Rhythm Of The Times 2003 Pickwick compilation from 1985-1990 Compilation Albums

Cropredy Festival
Music of the United Kingdom
Ashley Hutchings
folk-rock
Nick Drake
Albion Country Band Interviews

Expletive Delighted fansite .
Fiddlestix: Australian Friends of Fairport
Another extensive fan site (Daniel Walton)