Dando Shaft is the name of a short-lived

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

progressive folk Progressive folk was originally a type of American folk music that pursued a progressive political agenda. More recently, the term has also been applied to a style of contemporary folk that draws from post-Bob Dylan folk music and adds new lay ...

and

folk jazz Folk jazz is a musical style that combines traditional folk music with elements of jazz, usually featuring richly texturized songs. Its origins can be traced back to the 1950s, when artists like Jimmy Giuffre and Tony Scott pursued distinct appro ...

band that was primarily active in the early 1970s. The band has attracted a measure of attention from recent compilation releases and Dando Shaft is today known primarily as one of the major influences on the progressive stream of the 1960s folk revival.

History

Forming in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, England, in 1968, the original Dando Shaft was an all-male quintet composed of the two guitar/vocalists

Kevin Dempsey Kevin Dempsey is a British, Coventry-born guitarist, songwriter, producer and arranger, whose playing has been described as "innovative". Career Dempsey started off playing drums before moving quickly to guitar. A co-founder of progressive fo ...

and Dave Cooper, multi-instrumentalist Martin Jenkins, bassist Roger Bullen, and tabla/percussionist Ted Kay.

Larkin, Colin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

. ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Seventies Music''. Virgin. 1997. pp.117-118. The band's name was taken from that of the title character of a 1965 novel by Don Calhoun.Cooper, Dave.
Histories Of Dando Shaft
''. Dando Shaft Official Homepage. 29 October 2010. Performing in local English venues for the next two years while remaining active in the folk revival scene, the band was offered a recording deal with Young Blood Records and in 1970 they recorded their debut, ''An Evening With Dando Shaft''. The album was well-received, drawing immediate comparison to the work of fellow folk revival musicians Pentangle,Harper, Colin & Marr, Johnny. ''Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival''. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2007. p.259. but demonstrating more of an emphasis on original folk compositions as well as showcasing a more progressive use of bluegrassy multi-instrumentation (especially due to Martin Jenkins's diverse talents) and Balkan (particularly Bulgarian) rhythmic structures.Unterberger, Richie. ''Eight Miles High: Folk-Rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock''. Hal Leonard Corporation. 2003. p.262. Vivaldi, Antonio. ''Folk Inglese e Musica Celtica''. Giunti Editore. 2001. p.107 Comparisons to Pentangle were only enhanced when, after moving to London in 1970, the band grew in October of that year to include

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

singer Polly Bolton, who had previously sung with

June Tabor June Tabor (born 31 December 1947 in Warwick, England) is an English folk singer known for her solo work and her earlier collaborations with Maddy Prior and with Oysterband. Early life June Tabor was born and grew up in Warwick, England. As ...

. Bolton's contributions to the band received praise with her voice described as pure and expressive and Bolton herself has been described as a half-forgotten female vocalist of the era ranking alongside Pentangle's

Jacqui McShee Jacqueline 'Jacqui' McShee (born 25 December 1943) is an English singer. Since 1966 she has performed with Pentangle, a jazz-influenced folk rock band. Biography McShee was born in Catford, South London. Her musical career began as a soloist in ...

as well as other contemporary legends like

Shirley Collins Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on ...

Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer". After briefly w ...

, and

Maddy Prior Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police dr ...

. Creating an even more favorable impression on critics, Dando Shaft were soon signed to

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

's progressive offshoot Neon, and in 1971 they created the eponymous album, ''Dando Shaft''. Despite warm critical reviews of the first two albums, neither achieved a great deal of commercial success. Nevertheless, in 1972 Dando Shaft was moved from Neon to the RCA parent label to release ''Lantaloon''. Receiving fewer accolades for this effort than for the previous two albums, and with even less prospect of commercial success, the band began to move in the direction of mainstream rock eventually resulting in the single "Sun Clog Dance". This shift, however, caused internal dissension and the band soon broke up with Dempsey and Bolton forming a duo for a time in the USA, and Jenkins joining

Hedgehog Pie Hedgehog Pie were a British folk rock group from the north-east of England, that evolved between 1969 and 1971. Despite frequent line-up changes, they built up a considerable regional and national following and produced three highly regarded a ...

on the

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

label Rubber Records. A few years later Rubber extended a recording deal to the duo of Jenkins and Cooper, and at this point Dempsey, Bolton, and Kay expressed an interest in recording again as Dando Shaft. Rubber was supportive of this decision and the band's short-lived reunion resulted in the 1977 release of ''Kingdom'', a significantly more electric offering. This album also included a number of prominent guest musicians including Pentangle double-bassist

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Mart ...

as well as drummer John Stevens, saxophone player

Paul Dunmall Paul Dunmall (born 6 May 1953) is a British jazz musician who plays tenor and soprano saxophone, as well as the baritone and the more exotic saxello and the Northumbrian smallpipes. He has played with Keith Tippett and Barry Guy. In the ea ...

, electric bassist

Rod Clements Roderick Parry Clements (born 17 November 1947 in North Shields, Northumberland) is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Co ...

, and keyboard player Tommy Kearton all performing on individual tracks. During the mid-1980s Jenkins and Dempsey reunited as members of

Whippersnapper Whippersnapper or whipper snapper is a young, impertinent and irritatingly overconfident person. It may also refer to: *Whippersnapper (band), an English folk group *"Whipper Snapper", a song by LaVern Baker *Whipper-snapper, another name for Stu ...

with

Dave Swarbrick David Cyril Eric Swarbrick (5 April 1941 – 3 June 2016) was an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. His style has been copied or developed by almost every British and many world folk violin players who have followed him. He was ...

and

Chris Leslie Christopher Michael Leslie (born 28 June 1972) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shipley from 1997 to 2005 and Nottingham East from 2010 to 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, he defected to form ...

, occasionally performing Dando Shaft material. During this time Bolton also engaged in a successful solo career, eventually joining

The Albion Band The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, were a British folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. Generally considered one of the mo ...

. Jenkins and Cooper also performed with Pentangle's

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...

for a period during which time Bolton and Jansch had a brief 1-year relationship.Harper, Colin & Marr, Johnny. ''Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival''. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2007. p.265. Jenkins and Jansch released ''Carry Your Smile'' in 1984. At last in 1989, at the encouragement of an Italian promoter, Dando Shaft re-formed for a week-long concert series in Italy. An Italian live album ''Shadows Across the Moon'' was released in 1993 from material recorded during this session. Most recently, compilation/anthology albums of Dando Shaft material have been released with ''Reaping the Harvest'' released in 1990 and ''Anthology'' released in 2002 (rereleased in 2005).

Influences

Apart from the traditional themes of English and Irish folklore redolent throughout the folk revival, the most notable influence on Dando Shaft was that of contemporary folk band Pentangle. Other elements unique to the Dando Shaft sound, however, included the progressive use of Bulgarian tempos, a more multi-instrumental approach, and a psychedelic sound reminiscent of the works of Scottish contemporaries

The Incredible String Band The Incredible String Band (sometimes abbreviated as ISB) were a Scottish psychedelic folk band formed by Clive Palmer (musician), Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron in Edinburgh in 1966. The band built a considerable following, esp ...

Personnel

–

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Martin Jenkins Martin Joseph Jenkins (born November 12, 1953) is an American attorney and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. He was previously a justice of the California Court of Appeal for the First District, located ...

–

Flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

Mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

Fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

* Ted Kay –

Tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Roger Bullen – Bass *

Dave Cooper Dave Cooper (b. 1967 in Nova Scotia, Canada) is a Canadian cartoonist, oil painter, and animator. Cooper was born in Nova Scotia in 1967 and moved to Ottawa, Ontario at the age of nine. Cooper began his career in the 90s, making underground c ...

–

*Polly Bolton (1970 onward) –

Discography

Studio albums

*''An Evening With Dando Shaft'' (Young Blood, 1970) *''Dando Shaft'' (Neon(RCA), 1971) AUS #41 *''Lantaloon'' (RCA, 1972) *''Kingdom'' (Rubber Records, 1977)

Live albums

*''Shadows Across the Moon'' (Happy Trails, 1993)

Anthologies and compilations

*''Reaping the Harvest'' ( See for Miles, 1990) *''Anthology'' (RPM Vinyl, 2002)

Singles

*"Sun Clog Dance" (RCA, 1972)

References

External links

Dando Shaft Official Homepage
{{Authority control British folk rock groups Folk jazz musicians Psychedelic folk groups