Artist Biography
The Mountain Ash Band produced yet another of those ‘old friends get it together’ albums, forming a UK folk rock band from Colin Cripps’ musical about an old tramp, Job Senior. The band comprised Cambridge University student Cripps (guitar), Geoff Brown (fiddle, recorder), Martin Carter (vocals), Alan Rose (vocals, whistle), Graham Jones (bass, vocals, recorder), Kevin Slingsby (drums), Lynda Hardcastle (vocals), and lyricist Ray King and Sean Mansley as narrator. They made the album (1975’s The Hermit) did the show, and then vanished. The music was very gritty, at times reminiscent of Bob Pegg, and mixed narrative lyrics with traditional material. The album was reissued by Vinyl Tap Records in 1996.
In the 80s Cripps wrote and published a book on the history of popular music. Hardcastle joined up with Rose and Jim Ellison in Mountain Ash Band II. In the 90s she formed Grace Notes with Maggie Boyle (vocals, flute, bodhran) and Helen Hockenhull (vocals, keyboard; ex-Muckram Wakes). In the 00s Rose worked with the band, Songs Of The Carter Family Show, alongside Hardcastle, Hockenhull, Mike Hockenhull, and Nigel Schofield.
Hometown
Genre
Metal