17 January

7-30pm for 8pm start

Ashley’s son Blair Dunlop joins his father for this very special evening. A BBC Folk Award-winning singer-songwriter in his own right, the pair will reflect on a very special musical relationship in chat, music and song.

Ashley Hutchings ‘The Guvnor’ formed Fairport Convention in 1967, a group that went on to invent British folk-rock with the album Liege & Lief – an album that was voted the ‘Most Important Folk Album of All Time’ by BBC Radio 2 listeners in 2002, and at the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards it won the award for Most influential Folk Album of all time.

He subsequently formed Steeleye Span who also had enormous success and then the first of many Albion Bands.
By 1977 the Albions became virtually the house band at the National Theatre with Ashley as Music Director. The band provided music and acted in many plays including the much-loved Lark Rise. In recent years “The Guvnor” has concentrated on songwriting, spoken word and groundbreaking shows and albums and has released one hundred albums.

‘My friend Ashley is the Godfather of Folk Rock. He made us a genre we couldn’t refuse.’ Bob Dylan
[20/10/2025, 19:02:08] Blair Dunlop: ‘Dunlop is by far one of the finest singer songwriters to appear from these shore in the 21st century. If that wasn’t enough, he is also one of the finest guitar players’ Americana UK