Nottingham acoustic roots band 1984 onwards.

Extract from the Fieldwork Soundcloud page about ‘Sharpen The Sickle’:
“An early Fieldwork song, written by Dave Walker & Patrick Gray. Adapted from extracts of ‘The Forward March’ by Ernest Jones, and from a pamphlet posted to a parish notice board during the farm labourers’ strike of 1923. Both appear in Reg Groves’ book ‘Sharpen The Sickle published in 1949. This version of the song first appeared on the compilation album ‘English Rebels’, produced by John Tams and Joe King in 1988, and then on Fieldwork’s CD ‘From Humdrum To Tongue Drum – A Young Person’s Guide To Fieldwork’ (Sunfishing: 1999)“.

Listen to Fieldwork on Soundcloud.

Dave Walker got in touch (Oct 2025) and gave me a detailed history of the group.

I was born and grew up in Nottingham, and was in the happy position of being in my mid-teens when the mid-seventies arrived. My musical interests spanned folk and prog, and many enjoyable evenings were spent in the Portland Building, or Trent Poly, or the Imperial. For a budding acoustic guitarist (Yamaha Dreadnought for my sixteenth birthday) this was amazing and eye-opening; seeing Richard Thompson, John Martyn, Nic Jones, Al Stewart, Kevin Coyne, Roy Harper, Andres Segovia, Robin Trower et al.

CHOPSTICK 1976-77
Brendan Stone: Guitar, Vox
John Rees Lewis: Flute, Mandolin
Dave Walker: Guitar, Vox

My first experience of being in a group was with Chopstick (1976-1977) with friends Brendan Stone and John Rees Lewis (later with Medium Medium and C-Cat Trance). The songs had a folksy, singer/songwriter vibe, largely a vehicle for Bren’s own lyrical compositions. They had been invited to Belgium to play by friends met at Cambridge Folk Festival and wanted a second guitar and backing vocals to augment guitar, flute and mandolin. We had a few gigs in Nottingham (community halls, pubs), recorded a live session at Radio Trent and headed for the Ostend ferry. Based in Gent, we played several youth clubs and café bars there and in Eeklo, Olsene, Antwerp, Brussels and others. No palpable records, only memories of this trip, bar a couple of posters. Suffice to say we were warmly welcomed by our lovely hosts, and learned a good deal about playing live, all at the tender age of 18. We slept in people’s spare rooms or in attic spaces above bars. Arriving back in England Bren and I were itching; not to keep playing; we’d both contracted scabies.

Chopstick recorded a live session for Radio Trent in 1977 including two songs called ‘You Are Not All I Know‘ and ‘Maybe I’m Wrong‘.

My gap year over, I quit my job on the building site and left Notts for university in Canterbury to study English & American literature.

EMBROGLIO 1977-80
Dave Walker: Guitar, Vocals
Patrick Gray: Fiddle, Mandolin
Paul Croggan: Guitar

In the meantime, over in County Armagh, Patrick Gray had been having fiddle lessons from an early age from one of the last ‘travelling players’, before also relocating to uni in Canterbury. We soon met up, and finding a shared interest in folksong and traditional music, we began to practise and then to explore the local folk scene in East Kent. Later we shared a house in Herne Bay with the University FC organisers and performed regular spots at the Uni Folk Club and in clubs in Canterbury, Whitstable and Faversham. We both lived on campus for our first year and in the same college. Sometimes we were a trio with creative, fluent left-handed guitarist Paul Croggan; then we were ‘Embroglio’. In defence of the name, remember it was still the seventies. Fiddler’s Dram (‘The Day We Went To Bangor’) were the local folk celebs of that time, and with a name no-one struggled to pronounce.

The two Embroglio pics are the only ones I have from that era; one was at the University Folk Club in Canterbury, the other from a one-day music festival arranged by one of the colleges on campus there. Vague memories of Here & Now (an offshoot of Gong) playing on the same bill.

And speaking of celebs, a sometime floor singer at the Uni club was ‘Ish’, who sang rather lovelorn, fey, self-penned songs on guitar, and who in later life transpired to be Kazuo Ishiguro (Nobel Prize for Literature). Other highlights – seeing Rory Gallagher and band play at Eliot College and Dr. Feelgood (original line-up) at Margate Winter Gardens.

Having graduated in 1980, we sat down with some beers and spent an evening selecting a place to relocate to and to ‘give the music a go’. Nottingham won the vote, as a centrally-situated city and my hometown. So we packed our bags, headed North, found accommodation in Lenton and Forest Fields, work in the city centre, and set to it. The then lively Nottingham folk club scene could boast several venues attracting good quality floor singers and main acts. In sampling a few of these, getting a handful of bookings and being generally well-received, Patrick and I ran into Tim Garland singing at the Coop Folk Club. Tim’s forceful solo renditions of traditional songs and re-interpretations of the English Tradition immediately struck a chord with us. Moreover, Tim’s songwriting skills ensured that the new band (he had said “yes” to our proposal over a pint) would have a more individual sound and include less derivative content. It felt as though a door was opening, suggesting a sense of something new and rewarding. So Fieldwork emerged.

FIELDWORK Line up #1 1984-89
Tim Garland: Cittern, Fiddle, Vox
Dave Walker: Guitar, Vox
Patrick Gray: Fiddle, Mandolin
Will Johnson: Percussion

Meantime Will Johnson had been playing bodhran at the peripatetic Irish Session – then based at The Yorker on Mansfield Road. Keen to experiment with other percussion instruments (tongue-drum, dholak, dalbouka, maracas etc) he joined us, and his alternative ‘battery’ kit became a regular feature at gigs, lending the band a touch of the exotic, both visually and aurally.

With Tim singing main vocals, and playing cittern and occasional fiddle, I was free to adjust my role (backing vocals, guitar in open tunings, and back-up percussion (mbira and dalbouka). Patrick provided fiddle and, for some song arrangements, mandolin.

Fieldwork’s first gig as a four-piece was at The Coop (a CND benefit) in Jan 1984 and other bookings (mainly at folk clubs but also at arts centres and pubs) followed. Towards the end of 1984 we were playing out of town regularly, and at a range of folk clubs and other music venues, outside the ‘folk’ orbit. With a strong local following, club organisers in the region were happy to book us, and we were voted ‘top folk group’ in a Folkwaves radio show and local folk magazine in 1987.

Nottingham’s Own was a festival of traditional folk and roots music from local musicians and groups.

Roy Harris
Jill & Bernard Blackwell
Dave & Ruth Cooper
Steve Hicks & Ann Dickinson
Six Hands In Tempo
Haydn Taylor & Barry Swan – Recorded a cassette at MEK studio
Notts Alliance – I have an album which I will cover later
Patti O’Doors – Another band I will cover later
Pendragon
Belzebub
Brian Colby
Fieldwork
Terry Paling & Pete Bradley
Five Go Off In A Caravan
Phil Pipe
Flashpacket

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With the line-up settled, we strove to develop a sound that spanned different cultures and backgrounds, and did so before the world/roots tag became fashionable. Fieldwork were often described as ‘innovative’ and delivering ‘imaginative and energetic live shows’, reminding audiences that protest – in all its forms – together with danceable rhythms, are two of the mainstays of the folk tradition.

In 1988 we recorded ‘Sunfishing’ – a cassette album recorded at MEK Studio in Nottingham by Mik Walker and Kevin Jackson. Perhaps more than any other recording, these versions capture the ‘live’ feel of Fieldwork gigs of that period, and we sold copies regularly during what was an active period for Fieldwork, as we gigged more often both locally and further afield. Most of the songs on ‘Sunfishing’ were hardy perennials in the Fieldwork garden around this time; Framework Knitters, William Brown, Dole Queue Smile, Seamstress.

Here are a few comments from the folk press:

“Fieldwork meld an engaging Eastern European gypsy style with a refreshingly forward-looking sense of English folk history.” Mojo Magazine

“One of the most innovative of today’s folk groups.” Rock ‘n Reel Magazine

“Direct – even stark – with a taste of Eastern Europe and a hint of Africa and the Mediterranean; what really impresses is the thoroughly English folksiness, as though a little eclecticism somehow points up and reinforces the root of their music.” Leicester Mercury

“The formula has been refined to produce a unified and rewarding style.” Folk Roots Magazine

In the later 80s we played slightly less often, but in a greater variety of venues including more festival bookings, among them Cheltenham, Warwick, Upton and Sidmouth. Patrick left the band in 1989, and Mik Walker joined (guitar, harmonium, percussion).

FIELDWORK Line up #2 1989-91
Tim Garland: Cittern, Fiddle, Vox
Dave Walker: Guitar, Vox
Mik Walker: Guitar, Harmonium, Percussion
Will Johnson: Percussion

The cassette album ‘Dalbouka Joe & Busk’, following on from this change in personnel, was probably our best studio offering up to that point, with reviewers emphasising the clear sound and attractive artwork. It was recorded and produced by Joe King. Regularly in the setlists from this period were Acid Rain, Goole Captain, William Sycamore and Door In The Wall. Joe had earlier also provided a highlight of 1988, when he had arranged for the ‘Crane Tinkerman’ EP to be mastered at Abbey Road studio in London. A cool day out.

In 1991, with job and family commitments becoming an increasingly challenging factor, we decided to have a break, and disbanded.

FIELDWORK Line up #3 1999
Tim Garland: Cittern, Fiddle, Vox
Dave Walker: Guitar, Vox
Patrick Gray: Fiddle, Mandolin
Will Johnson: Percussion

The original line-up reconvened in 1999 for a series of dates fifteen years on from their inception. The anticipation, enjoyment and pleasant aftertaste generated by these anniversary gigs seemed to stimulate a new momentum within the band and led to further appearances. With the new-fangled compact disc now the format of choice, we drew material from several of the recordings listed above to create a kind of compilation CD featuring material that, whilst still in the set-list, acted also as a brief history of our earlier incarnation for new listeners (as the slightly self-deprecating title suggests). Four songs were from ‘Sunfishing’, four from ‘Dalbouka Joe’, one or two new recordings (Springhill, Zhankoye) and a couple of live recordings (Do You See My Face, Unemployment). Again, several reviewers were kind enough to give it the thumbs-up. In retrospect, this is probably the definitive recorded collection.

In July 2024 the original line-up played gigs in Leicester (The Musician) and Nottingham (Carrington Triangle Folk Club). It was great fun to meet up, rehearse and perform again.

Fieldwork recordings. Year Title Format

First Half

1985 – Red Tape – Demo Cassette
‘Red Tape’ (this was basically a promo / demo cassette, and not many copies were run off – though I think a small quantity were sold / bartered at early gigs). There are mp3 files of these songs, though several songs were re-recorded later for inclusion on other releases.

1986 – Sharpen The Sickle – LP Vinyl

‘Sharpen The Sickle’ (12″ vinyl album recorded at MEK studio in Nottingham). First attempt in a recording studio, and a bit of a learning curve for both band and studio.

“A couple of people have uploaded Fieldwork songs onto youtube. They are from the 1986 LP ‘Sharpen The Sickle’ (vinyl only) which was our first foray into a recording studio (MEK in Nottingham). The songs from that session display a naivete and lack of experience; we were yet to ‘find our feet’ in regard to the recording process. A few items on the album, however, reflect an energy and rough-edged charm that came close to replicating the live sound of Fieldwork’s early pub, folk-club and festival appearances. One of them is an instrumental piece called ‘Do It Again Ikey; I Saw Diamonds’ which featured a tongue-drum, a talking drum and various bits and pieces of percussion. It’s unusual time signatures made it an instant trad folk club and ceilidh hit (ha ha)”

1987 – Sunfishing – Cassette

‘Sunfishing’ (cassette album). Perhaps more than any other recording, these versions capture the ‘live’ feel of Fieldwork gigs of that period, and we sold copies regularly during what was an active period for Fieldwork, as we gigged more often both locally and further afield. Recorded at MEK by Mik Walker and Kevin Jackson. Most of the songs on ‘Sunfishing’ were hardy perennials in the Fieldwork garden around this time; Framework Knitters, William Brown, Dole Queue Smile, Seamstress.

1988 – English Rebels (2 tracks on compilation) – LP Vinyl

‘English Rebels’ (12” vinyl released by MEK / Artworks 88). Not a Fieldwork release, but we were invited to record 2 tracks for inclusion on this compilation. Other contributors included Roy Harris and Patti O’Doors, and the album was produced by John Tams and Joe King. Our contributions were ‘Sharpen The Sickle’ (re-recorded for this collection and later included on ‘From Humdrum To Tongue-Drum’) and ‘Song Of The Lower Classes’.

1988 – Ballad of Crane Tinkerman – 7-inch EP Vinyl

‘Ballad Of Crane Tinkerman’ (7” vinyl EP – 45rpm !) Recorded at Nightfall Studio, Nottingham by Joe King, and mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London. A more ‘produced’ sound than the earlier Fieldwork – this garnered some favourable reviews in the folk/roots press and received some radio play.

1990 – Dalbouka Joe & Busk – Cassette

‘Dalbouka Joe & Busk’ (cassette album). Final release of the first lifespan of Fieldwork, again recorded by Joe. Prior to this recording Patrick had left the group, and Mik had become a permanent member on harmonium, guitar and percussion. We were pretty pleased with these recordings and with the artwork, and subsequently some positive reviews in the folk press helped us promote the album. By 1990 we were playing a bit less regularly, but at a wider variety of venues, and at more festivals. Regularly in the setlists from this period were Acid Rain, Goole Captain, William Sycamore, Door In The Wall.

Second half

1999 – From Humdrum To Tongue Drum (A Young Person’s Guide To Fieldwork) – CD

‘From Humdrum To Tongue-Drum : A Young Person’s Guide To Fieldwork’ (CD)
After a seven-year break, Fieldwork re-formed to play a few folk club and festival dates. The anticipation, enjoyment and pleasant aftertaste generated by these gigs seemed to stimulate a new momentum within the band, and led to further appearances. With the new-fangled compact disc now the format of choice, we drew material from several of the recordings listed above to create a kind of compilation CD featuring material that, whilst still in the set-list, acted also as a brief history of our earlier incarnation for new listeners (as the slightly self-deprecating title suggests). Four songs were from ‘Sunfishing’, four from ‘Dalbouka Joe’, one or two new recordings (Springhill, Zhankoye) and a couple of live recordings (Do You See My Face, Unemployment). Again, several reviewers were kind enough to give it the thumbs-up. In retrospect, this is probably the definitive recorded collection.

2000 – The Rains Of Spring – CD – Original line-up
‘The Rains Of Spring’ (CD)
Back to the original line-up for this set, recorded by Vaughan Wilkinson at Subway Studio. Mainstays of the live set-list from this batch of songs include Strawberry Town, William Sycamore, Chatskela and Crawdaddy.

2002 – Make Me One With Everything – CD – Tim had left, and the CD featured Ronan O’Cualain (bayad box melodeon), Tim Disney (harmonica) and Sam Proctor (fiddle)

‘Make Me One With Everything’ (CD)
The last full album, this time without Tim, who had left. Recorded by Nick Shephard. Instrumentals on this CD featured contributions from several locally-based musicians, and lent the collection a more Anglo-Celtic flavour. Live favourites from this set included July Wakes and The Fireman’s Song.

2004 – Five Eyes – Enhanced CD
Five Eyes (enhanced CD)
A limited homespun pressing of an enhanced CD, again recorded by Nick, and featuring (you’ve guessed) five pieces in both audio and video format. Two new songs (Stony Hill and Green Man) sit alongside oldies July Wakes and Crane Tinkerman, with an instrumental set (Ross Gibson’s) inspired by a few gigs we had played in Brittany. The CD is no longer available, but all five videos have been posted on youtube.

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Thanks to Paul McFadden – who managed Fieldwork in the early years, and who penned a few sequences of the text above.

Dave’s other musical activities:-

1987 – 1992 played guitar with C-Cat Trance (was long-time friend of John Rees Lewis) – mainly European dates. 35 gigs in all, plus some recording for the album ‘Play Mazenko Combo’. See Pete Clark’s recollections of some of these gigs.

1996-1999 ‘Tim Garland & Dave Walker’. Duo, mainly in folk clubs plus a few supports and festivals. 20-ish gigs.

1997 – 1999 Guitar and vocals with ‘Fantastic Shoes’ – covers band plus Dave’s songs – trio with David Mitchell (electric guitar, vocals), Alan Brown (bass, vocals) – occasionally with Pete Clark (drums). Sunday evenings often at The Lion, Basford. 65 gigs.

2004 – David Longdon (Magic Club Acoustic) a handful of out-of-town gigs as a trio with David + Beth Danks

Nick Shephard (May 2020)
A few days ago my good friend Nick Shephard passed away. I knew Nick through music; in his busy schedule (family man, business man) Nick managed to find time to be sound engineer for our folk group Fieldwork for several years in the late 80s, and again in the early 2000s. He had a natural ear for sound mixing, and the technical knowledge to carry it off it expertly; we were often complemented on the sound quality at our gigs. Nick accompanied us to clubs and festivals, and his mischievous wit, ready banter and (sometimes) salty humour often enlivened and brightened the travel and the down-times. He was also enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a wide range of music. In 2002 Nick recorded (another considerable talent he possessed) our last CD in his home studio. Though we kept in touch intermittently on FB, I hadn’t seen Nick for a good while, and so am especially grateful that I met up with him during my trip to England last year. We spent an enjoyable afternoon catching up, whilst watching Forest demolish Hull City 3-0 ! Rest peacefully, Nick. I will miss you, and I cherish the times that we spent together.

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NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990