We’ve hopped it down to Kent to catch up with Fairport Convention and their guest Jenn Butterworth as the band’s Spring Tour 2026 continues to weave its way around the country. And, as the spring sun makes an appearance, thoughts of Cropredy start to germinate…

SUMMER IS A-COMING IN…

Regular readers will almost certainly be aware that, this year, Fairport Convention have transmuted their annual Winter Tour into a Spring event. There are a couple of reasons why the chaps have opted for this change, the most obvious of which is that Fairport’s music always seems to develop an extra ‘spring’ in the Spring, when the warmer days and the lighter evenings start to remind us all that the countdown to Cropredy is now well underway. Yes, folks – in just 18 weeks’ time, we’ll all be settled in our favourite field, enjoying the magnificent fare that Fairport have arranged for us all.

More of that later but, for the moment, let’s turn our thoughts back to the present. The Spring Tour is now well underway. It kicked off in Milton Keynes on 17th March; this Canterbury show is the 15th of the tour and Fairport (and Jenn) will performing a further nine concerts before the tour winds up in Leamington Spa on Sunday 12th April. If you haven’t yet managed to get along to a show, there are still a few tickets left for the gigs in Harrogate, Sunderland, Lythm, Kidderminster and Leamington and you can buy them here. But hurry – they’re selling quickly and it would be such a shame for you to miss out.

At The Barrier popped along to the Manchester Folk Festival show at Manchester’s New Century Hall on 20th March and we followed that visit with another plateful of Buttered Fairport by hopping down to Kent on 2nd April for the show at the Colyer-Fergusson Hall in Canterbury.

ANOTHER INSPIRED OPENER

The quality of the act that Fairport choose to open for them on their annual jaunt is a source of constant pleasure and amazement. As I’ve often commented, my record collection is stacked with wonderful albums from acts that have supported Fairport over the years, from Huw and Tony Williams, Kieran Halpin and Julian Dawson to more recent guests like Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, Plumhall and Danny Bradley. Fairport’s show-openers never fail to please and this tour is no exception to that trend. Jenn Butterworth is an At The Barrier favourite and her appearances on this tour have been very special.

It isn’t too many weeks since my esteemed colleague, the redoubtable Seurus Og, described Jenn as ‘…a folk giant hiding in plain sight’ in his review of her magnificent debut album, Her By Design. Such a description may have been true then, but it’s becoming less sustainable by the day as Jenn leaves a trail of dropped-jaw admirers as she makes her way around our island on the Fairport bus. Jenn Butterworth is a formidable talent.

CASTING DOWN THE GAUNTLET

I mean, who else but someone intent upon casting down a gauntlet would consider opening her set with a version of Sandy Denny’s orchestral, balletic tour-de-force, All Our Days, performed with just voice and acoustic guitar? And Jenn pulled it off mightily, too, with an awesome guitar run paving the way for that crystalline voice of hers and her amplified left foot beating the rhythm. The production of Her By Design is rich and lush, with contributions from a host of Jenn’s pals on strings, keyboards, percussion and more. She isn’t blessed with such support for her solo shows, but the quality of the songs shines through regardless, thanks to that voice and those instrumental chops.

Robin Dransfield’s Fair Maids of February is a song that Jenn grew up with – in her programme notes for the tour she comments that “…it was played on repeat in the house.” Like many of Jenn’s songs, it deals with issues faced by women historically and currently – in this case “…in the imagery of snowdrops pushing through the snow” and Jenn performed it beautifully, with power and tenderness.

ONE IN TEN

And, sticking with the subject of issues that affect women, Jenn turns her attention to the debilitating condition of endometrosis for the equally powerful One In Ten. Jenn chose the song’s title because the condition affects 10% of all women and she dedicated her performance of the song to sufferers. Her delivery was heartfelt and she sang her words clearly and with palpable empathy, punctuated with more deliciously fluid guitar runs. And she left us with a devastating message: “One in ten women, but none in ten men; and medical research not equal for them.”

Most of the songs in Jenn’s short set are taken from the Her By Design album. The single exception is her interpretation of Bert Jansch’s Rosemary Lane – a song that she’s earmarked for album #2. In another great performance, she creates a BIG sound and her guitar mastery would, no doubt, have made the great Jansch himself sit up and take notice.

BREATHTAKING

As always for a Fairport tour, the guest is joined by the band for the final song of the support slot and the combined forces have selected Little Sparrow – Jenn’s version of the traditional folk song, Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies, for the handover number. Eyes are mainly on Jenn for the subdued first verse, but Fairport soon make their subtle presence felt, especially when Ric chips in with his weepy violin solo. Chris’s mandolin sparkles and DM’s drumbeat is as marvellously understated as ever. Jenn Butterworth took my breath away and I’m so looking forward to hearing from her again, soon.

ON TOP FORM…

And, so, to Fairport…

For last year’s Winter Tour, Fairport surprised us all by resurrecting (and redrafting) Come All Ye as their set opener. They’ve played a similar game this time around by dusting down another old favourite – Ye Mariners All from the oft-overlooked 1978 Tipplers’ Tales album. A sharp count of one-two got the tune off the ground and, right from the off it’s clear that Fairport are on top form. Peggy’s bass rumbles and DM is as perceptive as ever. “The last song was from 1978. This one’s from much earlier,” said Simon, as he introduced Crazy Man Michael. He’s made the song his very own by now and Chris’s whistle has become a key feature of the current version.

Peggy recalls the difficulties that Sandy Denny would face as the sole female in the Fairport lads’ club of the mid 1970s, in his intro to Sandy’s Rising For the Moon – a song that she wrote during the band’s arduous 1974 world tour. Peggy dedicated the song to his nephew Tony and Annie, his partner (they were sat next to me and I can confirm that the dedication made them blush…). Chris delivered a great vocal and Ric recalled the spirit of Swarbrick with his soaring violin solo.

COMEDY CUTS AND OLD FAVOURITES

Dave Mattacks comes to the mic to introduce I’m Already There, an outstanding song from Chris’s compendium of Banbury stories. It is performed impeccably as always, before Ric takes his turn in the spotlight for his much-anticipated stand-up slot. There were a few newies (“Artificial Intelligence? – I’ve always depended on natural stupidity” and “Have you ever used Spotify? – No, I always use Clearasil…”) in amongst the familiar chestnuts. Each gag is celebrated by DM with a Michael Miles keyboard flourish. It was all done by way of working up an introduction to Peggy’s Bankruptured, a tune that allows each member of the band to play a full role. Simon plays some lovely ragtime guitar on this one, Chris and Ric drive the melody along, Peggy’s bass runs are sublime and DM rounds everything off with some lovely drum licks.

There’s never a bad time to throw in a product plug or two and, whilst Simon swapped instruments, Peggy took the opportunity to plug Richard Houghton’s Cropredy Capers book – “…on sale in the foyer alongside Jenn Butterworth’s album.” Simon’s change saw him swapping his guitar for an electric dulcimer or “electric test cricket bat” as it’s long been known in Fairport circles – and we all knew what was coming next. It’s truly wonderful to be able to welcome Flowers Of The Forest, a track from 1970’s seminal Full House album, back into the Fairport live repertoire. The band performed it with passion and anyone wishing to see effective, economical drumming performed by a true master, should watch DM on this one.

NEW LIFE

A lovely figure by Chris on his mandocello provides a fine prelude for Sloth, a song that seems to taken on new life since it was shaken up for the performance of the entire Full House album at Cropredy 2022. Simon kicks off the solo slots with a peaceful, evocative piece before Peggy stepped in to astound us all, once again, with his (seemingly, but don’t be fooled) effortless bass mastery. A brief pause for breath during the “She’s run away” interlude is broken as Ric and DM combined to make the sparks fly, before Ric barked and howled into his violin and challenged us to make sense of it all – and we did! And we needed some time to get our thoughts back together after such a aural onslaught…

CELEBRATING SPRING

It was another pleasant – and wholly appropriate Fairport surprise that got the second half of the show underway. Spring Song, from Fairport’s 2007 Sense Of Occasion album is a song that hasn’t seen light of day for many years. It’s one of Chris’s – a tale of the spirits that inhabit the Tinner’s Way, near Morvah in West Penwith, Cornwall – with reassuring lyrics that express hope and celebrate rebirth: “We’ll raise up a glass, and be grateful at last, that Spring is now here.” And, to drive the message home, Fairport end the song with a warming rendition of the morris tune, Princess Royal.

Sandy wrote the beautiful Fotheringay whilst still a teenager and it’s another Fairport song that continues to take on maturity. Simon’s acoustic guitar is sandwiched between the twin violins of Chris and Ric, with DM on keys. The mellow mood continues (despite another brief outburst of comedy from Ric) with The Rose Hip. It’s a tune of Ric’s that never fails to conjure images of comfortable, happy moments, particularly when the sound of those twin violins combine.

TWENTIES AND SEVENTIES

Simon’s introduction to Claudy Banks gets lengthier and more detailed as the years pass. He first recalls the ‘proto’ version of the song that Shirley Collins took along to one of the early recording sessions for the landmark 1971 No Roses album, before going on to tell the story of the song. “I don’t want that sort of bloke sniffing around MY granddaughter,” he said with disdain, before going on to suggest that there was little point in singing the song, now that he’d given all the details. But there was a point in performing it; Claudy Banks is always a rousing number, made special by Simon’s jangly 12-string guitar, Ric’s glorious violin parts and Peggy’s fluent bass.

Simon concedes that Farewell Farewell wasn’t a traditional song when Richard Thompson wrote it, but suggests that it might be considered as such now. He also made note of the symmetry that: “When I started playing this, I was in my twenties and it was the 70s. Now, I’m in my seventies and it’s the 20s.” It’s yet another song that Fairport have successfully renovated, with excellent harmony vocals and a delightful descant from Chris on his whistle. And it’s Chris that steps forward to introduce Banbury Fair, another song from that growing compendium of his. What I hadn’t realised (although, perhaps I should have…) is that Chris’s lyrical reference in the song to “The loveliest girl at the fair” is a not-so-veiled reference to his first meeting with future wife Linda!

MEET ON THE LEDGE!

Of all the happy changes to the Fairport setlist, perhaps the return of John Condon is the most welcome. It’s a song that tells a sad, touching, story and Simon’s delivery of the lyrics is always thoroughly respectful and passionate. Chris’s evocative harmonica and Ric’s fatalistic fiddle add to the mood – it’s a song that’s just about perfect in every respect. And, from the trenches of Picardy we’re transported to a mineshaft in the Shetlands –“The place with the highest fiddle to human being ratio in the world,” as Chris puts it. John Gaudie is a song that never fails to stimulate an audience; the Canterbury audience clap along and we are reminded, once more, of triumphal scenes, late on an August Saturday evening, in a certain Oxfordshire field.

“Thankyou for sharing some of your lives with us,” said Simon before Fairport launched into the“19 verses, 2 chords, 1 banjo” of Matty Groves – Fairport’s traditional not-quite-closing number. DM’s drum salvos add extra fury as Matty, once more, is caught in flagrante delicto. You’d think he’d have learned by now… And then it was (almost over). Fairport didn’t leave the stage – they had an on-stage “committee meeting” instead, before Jenn returned for the final singalong. And sing along we did, happily and lustily. And, in 18 weeks’ time, we’ll be singing along again – in that hallowed field. Meet on the Ledge!

LAST CHANCE FOR CROPREDY TICKETS!

And – a final reminder. Fairport’s Cropredy Convention 2026 takes place on 13th-15th August. It’s another great lineup with lots of fantastic music in store from a bill that, alongside Fairport, includes the likes of Richard Thompson, Le Vent Du Nord, Turin Brakes, Spooky Men’s Chorale, as well as At The Barrier faves like Barbara, Banter, The Celtic Social Club, Breabach and, of course, Will Pound & Jenn Butterworth. Do not miss it; tickets on the cusp of selling out. If you haven’t got yours yet, now is the time to make that purchase – tickets are available here.

Watch Fairport perform Flowers Of The Forest on a 1976 television appearance – with Simon on ‘electric test cricket bat’ – below:

Fairport Convention: Website

At The Barrier: Facebook / X / Instagram