Fotheringay - Fotheringay (1970)

Fotheringay were a short-lived British folk-rock band.

Singer Sandy Denny left Fairport Convention at the height of their success, after their critically acclaimed Liege & Lief album. She soon teamed up with Australian singer-songwriter Trevor Lucas, American guitarist Jerry Donahue, bassist Pat Donaldson and drummer Gerry Conway, and they formed the band Fotheringay. Their debut album was released in 1970. Stylistically it blended the electric folk of Fairport Convention with a more American folk-rock sound - the former best represented by their version of the traditional song "Banks Of The Nile", which would have fit perfectly onto any of Fairport's three 1969 albums, and the latter by their covers of Bob Dylan's "Too Much Of Nothing" and Gordon Lightfoot's "The Way I Feel". The remaining six songs were written by Denny and Lucas. The two of them also both shared lead vocals, though undeniably Denny's presence is the most prominent throughout. Instrumentally, Donahue's country-tinged electric guitar was to the fore, with Lucas usually playing acoustic rhythm guitar and Denny contributing some distinctive piano. The lack of fiddle distanced it somewhat from Fairport's electric folk.
After this one album together, Fotheringay disbanded in 1971, its five members going their seperate ways. However all but one of them would later resurface in various lineups of Fairport Convention, the band whom their fates were always destined to be entwined with.

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