British folk-rock group. Founded in London in 1969, it was named after a character in the Lincolnshire song Horkstow Grange, collected in 1906 by Percy Grainger. The initial concept was to make contemporary arrangements of traditional songs using rock music instrumentation. Its founding members were Ashley Hutchings (b London, 26 Jan 1945; bass, formerly with Fairport Convention) and two folk club duos, Maddy Prior (b Blackpool, 14 Aug 1947; vocals) and Tim Hart (b Lincoln, 9 Jan 1948; vocals and guitar) from England and Gay and Terry Woods from Ireland (vocals and concertina, and vocals, guitar and mandolin respectively). This quintet recorded the album Hark! The Village Wait (RCA, 1970) before the Woods left the group. Martin Carthy (b Hatfield, 21 May 1941; vocals and guitar) next joined the group, but after his and Hutchings’s departure the most renowned line-up was assembled, comprising Peter Knight (violin), Rick Kemp (bass), Bob Gibson (electric guitar) and Nigel Pegrum (drums) alongside Prior and Hart. During the mid-1970s, the heavy rock sound and Prior’s keening vocals successfully dramatized such ballads as Long Lankin and Little Sir Hugh for mass audiences in Europe and North America. For a while a version of the mumming plays was included in the stage act. The group recorded such hit albums as Now We Are Six (Chrysalis, 1974) and All Around My Hat (Chrysalis, 1975) and even had a hit single with an a cappella arrangement of the Latin carol Gaudete in 1973. After the dissolution of this version of the group, there were several reunions involving at various times Carthy, John Kirkpatrick (concertina) and Gay Woods who took on the role of lead vocalist after Prior left in 1996.
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