Barry Dransfield, a pioneering fiddle player in the late-1960s English folk music revival movement, has died aged 79. He was known for his distinctive style of playing the fiddle off his chest rather than on the shoulder, which made singing while playing easier.
Early Career and Breakthrough
Dransfield began working as a duo with his elder brother Robin in 1969, quickly establishing formidable reputations on the folk-club scene. He taught himself folk fiddle, possessing an unerringly sharp ear despite never learning to read music. Their first LP of traditional songs, released by Trailer Records in 1970, won Melody Maker's folk album of the year, and a follow-up in 1971. A US Warner Brothers contract and best-of LP were prepared, but Dransfield turned down the offer, leading to the duo's split.
Solo Work and Notable Recordings
After the split, Dransfield resumed a solo career, recording a now much-sought-after solo LP for Polydor Records in 1972. He featured on two historic records: Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band's No Roses (1971), playing lead fiddle on The Murder of Maria Marten, and Morris On (1972), a folk-rock compilation of morris dance tunes where he played fiddle, guitar, and sang a version of The Cuckoo's Nest.
Personal Life and Later Career
Born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, to Mary (née Maltby) and Arthur Dransfield, an office clerk, Barry attended Woodlands community primary school and Harrogate grammar school. He began performing in his teens on mandolin in a bluegrass group with Robin before working as a luthier in London, where his performing career took off. The brothers reunited in the late 1970s for two more LPs and occasional gigs before both settled into string instrument repair and dealerships—Barry in Hastings and Robin in Cornwall.
In 1979, Dransfield met his partner, Christine Goldschmidt, at the Queens pub in Crouch End, north London, during one of his gigs. He was cast as The Blind Fiddler in the 1984 film The Bounty with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, and contributed to various TV, theatre, and film scores.
Musical Legacy
Dransfield later released three more solo records featuring his own compositions, folk songs, and music-hall standards. He is possibly the only luminary of the folk revival to record both a Procol Harum cover and a Handel aria—singing and playing guitar against two cello and four violin overdubs. After Hastings, he and Christine moved to Brittany in 2007 before returning to the UK and settling in Barnstaple, North Devon, in 2016.
Barry Dransfield is survived by Christine and Robin.
