Martyn Wyndham-Read

Martyn Wyndham-Read has been involved with folk music for over forty years. In his late teens he left his mother?s farm in Sussex and headed off, with his guitar, to Australia where he worked on a sheep station Emu Springs in South Australia. It was while he was there that he heard, first hand, the old songs sung by some of the station hands at Emu Springs and he became captivated by these songs and the need to know more of them and where they came from grew. Back to England in 1967 where he met up with the renowned singer and song collector Bert Lloyd, who himself had spent time in Australia. Martyn was asked by Bert Lloyd to be part of the album ?Leviathan? on the Topic label and soon after he started recording for Bill Leader and touring extensively worldwide. In the early 1970?s Martyn started the ?Maypoles to Mistletoe? concerts which portray the seasons of the year through song, music, dance and verse and illustration. Martyn is also the instigator of the well known Song Links Project, Martyn has worked with many others in the folk world and tonight is joined by renowned concertina player Iris Bishop.