Lost Folk Tapes caught up with traditional singer and musician Steve Turner on his return from a tour of New Zealand, which including an appearance at the Auckland Folk Festival. Back in the 70s, Steve  was part of Canny Fettle, a Manchester based folk group that recorded two albums. The second of these, The Trip to Harrogate, is still available from Fellside Records, but the first, Varry Canny (Tradition Records, 1975), from which the sound files embedded in this article are taken, is long since out of print. We began by asking Steve what attracted him to folk music.

ST: I have no folk music background, so I was drawn in by osmosis. I was lent a Bob Dylan LP and others by singers like Caroline Hester and Leadbelly and got a guitar at about sixteen after standing in front of the mirror with a tennis racquet and harmonica holder!  Then I heard the Spinners and the Dransfields and so on and got the traditional music bug. I don’t think anyone really helped or encouraged me - I didn’t really know anyone involved with folk music - so I was always self motivated.

The traditional thing grew as I started to go to folk clubs and hear people like Harry Boardman, Nic Jones and the Dransfields, which established my musical direction and started me doing research at libraries to find my own trad songs and establish my little niche. I also started to sing with concertina - though not while I was in Canny Fettle. My grandfather had played the instrument and left it when he died, which was long before I was born.

LFT: When did Canny Fettle get together and what prompted it?

ST: I wasn’t in the group from the beginning, which I think probably started in the late 60‘s by Gerry Murphy and Bob Diehl when they were at university in Manchester. They were joined by John Williamson on vocals and Anthony Robb guitar and small pipes. Gerry and Anthony were from the North East so that heralded the name and style of music. I joined in 1970 when John and Anthony both left. Bob Morton, another Geordie,  joined after me. What happened was that I was playing a floor spot at a folk club in Manchester and Bob Diehl came over and asked me if I wanted to join the band.

LFT: Can you tell us a bit more about the other band members?

ST: Bob Diehl was originally from London and was one of the founders of Canny Fettle. He was really the leader of the band. He was a fantastic and innovative fiddle player, who was influenced a lot by American and Bluegrass music and by Irish, Shetland and Northumbrian tunes, a lot of which we played. He wrote the many variations to the Billy Pigg tune Gypsies Lullaby on the Varry Canny LP, which I think was a pretty avant-garde thing to do in those days.
 
Gerry Murphy co-founded the band and was the then English Northumbrian piping champion. He was also a concertina virtuoso. Gerry was a quieter but equally strong influence on the direction the group took. He too was a brilliant musician and, with Bob, the reason we chose the tunes from the Jackson collection to play on the Trip to Harrogate LP. It was probably Gerry who inspired me to start playing the concertina.  Bob Morton played guitar and sang songs from his native North East and had also studied in Manchester. I played guitar and sang songs - sometimes from other areas - and also played tunes on tenor banjo and mandolin.

LFT: Where does the name Canny Fettle come from?

ST: It’s Geordie for “good form” or “doing okay.” That led to the trademark North East flavour of our music. I suppose we were a sort of Manchester version of the High Level Ranters! We were all Manchester based due to university connections, but I was the only who actually came from Manchester. So obviously we did plenty of bookings in the North West region.

LFT: Was the folk club scene your bread and butter, then?

ST: We did play primarily in folk clubs - mainly ones we could get to and from and still be in work the next day, so Birmingham was about the limit!  We did a few tours to Scotland, London and South East area, assisted by Ewan McColl, who was always our big fan. He helped us along by always booking us at the singers club and we often stayed with him and Peggy Seeger.
 
The Manchester folk scene was full of people like Harry Boardman, at whose club  we were residents for many years, and  Jim Carroll, Dave Hillary, Tony and Arthur, Rosie Hardman, Mike Harding and so on. We played festivals too, but mostly foreign ones. We did several tours of Holland and Germany and played festivals there. I don’t remember doing a lot of British ones – I don’t think there were that many back then.  Maybe Whitby and a few northern ones.

LFT: Can you tell us about your albums? 

ST: Apart from the Varry Canny and Trip to Harrogate LPs, we were also involved in another early compilation album of Roy Palmer’s Midlands collection called “Room for Company,” along with people like Frankie Armstrong. That came out in 1972. I think these LPs established us as a force to be reckoned with, to a certain extent, and we got a lot of the European work as a result of them.  Bear in mind that not many people recorded in those days, so to have been involved in three albums was, I suppose, quite a thing.

LFT: Did you or any of the others also perform on your own during the time the group was together?

ST: I think I was the only one who performed solo, as I always had done. Bob Diehl played in various bluegrass combinations and with all sorts of other musicians - including PJ Proby the night he split his trousers! I also did an occasional duo gig with Gerry.

LFT: So when did Canny Fettle call it a day? And did any of the band continue to make music after the band folded?

ST: The band folded about 1977. I left and it gradually came to a natural conclusion. I was the only one who wanted to turn pro. The others all had high-powered jobs, which they didn’t want to leave. So in 1979 I turned professional. I performed solo for twelve years until 1991. During this time I recorded four solo LPs. After this, I moved into retail business with violin shops and had thirteen years away from the folk scene. I’m now back in a part-time way and made my first CD in 2008 – a gap of 22 years since my fourth and last LP!  The CD was long listed for the BBC Folk Awards and widely acclaimed.
 
I’ve hardly seen the other band members since we split, but I’m told that Bob Diehl’s still active on the music scene. He is also responsible, I believe, for the violin-playing prowess of Emily and Sophie Ball via family connections. Gerry Murphy moved to Switzerland and again I believe he’s playing in sessions and so on over there. I’ve no idea what Bob Morton is doing, I’m afraid.

These days I’m doing around 50-60 bookings a year. I’ve just come back from a tour of New Zealand, where I headlined the Auckland folk festival. I’m basically doing as much as I can fit in with a full time job.  My sixth album is now underway. It’s being produced by Oliver Knight and should be out later this year.

You can find out more about Steve’s current musical activities by visiting http://www.steve-turner.co.uk/. His 2008 album, Whirligig of Time (Tradition Bearers) is available from his website, as are two of his earlier solo albums, Braiding and Eclogue (Fellside). Canny Fettle’s The Trip to Harrogate is also available from Fellside.