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All Music Guide:
Ian Campbell & the Ian Campbell Folk Group were Britain's favorite folk performers, bar none, during the '60s. Based in Birmingham, they featured singers Ian and Lorna Campbell of Aberdeen as well as Dave Swarbrick and Dave Pegg, later of Fairport Convention. Their arrangements are somewhat dated today, but with their rousing guitar, banjo, and fiddle accompaniments, some songs still sound fresh, and Swarbrick in particular was ahead of his time.
Wikipedia:
The Ian Campbell Folk Group were one of the most popular and respected folk groups of the British folk revival of the 1960s. The group made many appearances on radio, television, and at national and international venues and festivals. They performed a mixture of British traditional folk music and new material, including compositions by Campbell. Much of their popularity flowed from the variety of their performance which included a mixture of solos, group vocals and instrumentals.
History
The group formed in 1956 in Birmingham, as the Clarion Skiffle Group. The band was renamed the Ian Campbell Folk Group in 1958 and became one of the most respected, popular and influential folk groups of the British folk scene of the 1960s. The group's first recordings included the EP, Ceilidh At The Crown, which was released in 1962 and was the first live folk club recording to be released on vinyl.
In 1963, they signed to Transatlantic Records and released their first studio album, This is The Ian Campbell Folk Group. The group made television appearances throughout the 1960s including Hootenanny Show, Barn Dance and Hullabaloo. They established a substantial audience and played concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall and at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964. In 1965, their version of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'" reached #42 in the UK Singles Chart.
The group split in 1978 when Lorna separated from husband Brian Clark, who had been a singer and guitarist in the group since 1963. Ian and Lorna continued to perform with various other musicians as the New Ian Campbell Folk Group.
On 8 February 2012, at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in Salford, Ian Campbell received the 'Good Tradition' Award, presented by Stuart Maconie, for Campbell's outstanding contribution to folk music over five decades.
