The next recording we’re featuring at Lost Folk Tapes is Manchester-based singer Geoff Higginbottom’s first and only vinyl album, Flowers Tomorrow, released on the independent Dragon Records in 1987. This is a studio album, but it provides a representative snapshot of Geoff’s live performances at the time, featuring traditional and contemporary material alongside his own compositions. The selections we’ve put on the music player were chosen to reflect the broad scope of the album and of Geoff’s repertoire: we start with the traditional song A Week Before Easter, move onto Dominic Williams' Tommy's Lot, then the traditional Battle of Sowerby Bridge,  and finish with the title track, Geoff's own Flowers Tomorrow. Geoff tells the story of his formative years as a folk singer below.

I first went to a folk club at Christmas 1975 with my big sister Judith, who had been active on the local folk scene before going to University. We went to the Heaton Moor Rugby Club Folk Club, where the guests that night were the McCalmans. After this I became a regular visitor to the Deanwater Folk Club, which rose from the remains of the Rugby Club in 1976. In November 1978, when I’d been playing guitar for about a year, I decided to pluck up the courage to do a floor spot at the club. It was always a big club, and that night the guests were Telephone Bill and the Smooth Operators supported by Johnny Coppin. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end - there were about 250 people there! Anyway, several more floor spots followed at the Deanwater. 

One day at work, listening to the radio, I heard an advert for the Wellgreen Folk Club in Hale. That night the club featured a man I'd seen and enjoyed before called Nigel Mazlyn Jones. I decided to pay the club a visit and an interesting thought entered my head. If I took my guitar and offered to do a floor spot, I might get in for nowt! I was welcomed with open arms at the Wellgreen. Apart from the residents - The Cheshire Folk and Pete Wilmott - they were very short of floor singers. I began to visit and play at The Wellgreen virtually every week and was elected official club idiot. My first residency, I suppose. Sadly, the Wellgreen closed in 1982 but a few weeks later I found another club on my doorstep, The White Swan at Fallowfield. After a couple of visits, I was invited to become a resident and it was here that my folk education began in earnest. I got to see most of the folk greats at that time and saw them work at very close quarters. I was always particularly drawn to Vin Garbutt, who seemed to be able to perform a wide variety of material and keep the audience amused at the same time. 

In 1985, I entered a folk ‘talent’ competition organised by Warwick Folk festival. I won the Manchester heat and came third in the final at Warwick Festival, where so many people congratulated me on my performance, I began to believe that maybe I could make a career of it. In my case, the word ‘career’ seems to have meant hurtling out of control ever since! 1985 also saw the release of my debut album, Songs From The Levenshulme Triangle, a cassette produced by my old mate Dave Howard. It was also around this time that I became friends with the late great Johnny Collins. Many times we would start an impromptu session at the Poynton Easter Festival and I learned so much from him. On one occasion he said he really liked singing with me. When I asked him why, he said I was the only person he could sing at full tilt with without fear of drowning me out. To this day I've never been quite sure if this was a compliment!

Early in 1986 I embarked on my first tour. Ian Bembridge, who at the time was organising tours in the Hertfordshire area for the Unicorn group of folk clubs, arranged it for me. I took a week off work and enjoyed nearly every minute of it. The one dodgy bit was when a wheel fell off my van on the way to Leighton Buzzard, but Ian bailed me out and managed to get me to the club only a little bit late! 1986 also brought an invitation to the Sidmouth Folk Festival, a great honour for little me. Two things of note happened that week. Firstly, I realised that the day job, which had been getting on my nerves for some time, was actually driving me mental. With encouragement from many friends, it was decided that I would quit the day job and have a stab at being a full time musician. On returning from Sidmouth, I handed in my notice and joined the ranks of the self-unemployed. Secondly, I met up with John Heydon from Dragon Records, who expressed an interest in recording me. This duly came to fruition in 1987 with the release of Flowers Tomorrow, my only vinyl album. 

When I look at the cover of that album I can't believe that I used to be that young. My old mate Mike Billington took the photos. The front cover shows the remains of Openshaw Technical College in East Manchester. The shots of a wasteland seemed to fit in with the theme of the title track, which I had written the previous year. Most people have never realised that the window frame I sat in for the front cover had a thirty foot drop behind it - it took me all my time not to look terrified for the photo! The content of the album was a mixture of material because that's what I do live. I've always enjoyed music from the full spectrum of the folk genre and my live performances have always reflected this. I also wanted people who bought the album to find that it mirrored what they heard from the stage, so I tried to keep overdubs and guest musicians to a minimum. If they bought the album at a gig they should expect it to sound like me when they got it home. 

When it comes to choosing material, lyrics have always been important to me. I've always been drawn to the story telling aspect of folk music and when it comes to writing songs, I tell stories the way I see them. For centuries folk song has been the means of expression for the masses: an alternative history from that in the history books written by the intelligentsia of the day. I see my own songs as carrying on that tradition and believe that writing songs in that tradition is almost as important as the preservation of the old songs. And when I say preservation, I mean by usage – that is, by singing them - and not simply by locking them away, museum like, for people to look at. This is how I end up with such a mixture of material both ancient and modern.

 My career has continued ever since that fateful day in 1986 and I can honestly say I have lost count of the number of gigs I have done. Highlights include trips to Guernsey, Jersey, France, Belgium and Holland as well as the many folk clubs and festivals throughout the British Isles. As well as performing solo, I also work with a couple of bands. Three Sheets To The Wind comprise myself, Keith Kendrick and Derek Gifford, singing mainly maritime material. The Phatt-B’Stards are myself George Wilson and John Scott-Cree - we can be found at Broadstairs Folk Week every year for our annual get together.

As well as Flowers Tomorrow, Geoff has released a cassette-only album, Songs From The Levenshulme Triangle and numerous CDs: More Than Pounds and Pence; Island In The Sun; The Flowers Of Manchester; Peterloo; Live at Gregson Lane and Full Circular Pies (surely one of the best album titles ever!). He has also released All Tide Up with Three Sheets to the Wind and a live album with the Phatt B’Stards. You can contact Geoff or find out about his current activities via Facebook.