Oak (band)

Oak were an English folk band in the early 1970s which had a major influence on the folk revival in the UK, despite being together for only two years.

Oak were:

• Tony Engle (voice, anglo concertina, fiddle, bones)
• Danny Stradling (voice, tambourine)
• Rod Stradling (voice, melodeons)
• Peta Webb (voice, fiddle)

They met in the 1960s in Kingston upon Thames where Rod Stradling ran a folk club. The Stradlings moved to Camden Town in 1968 and became involved in running another folk club in Islington. Engle and Webb also moved to North London soon afterwards. During 1970, while his wife Danny was pregnant, Rod Stradling played together with Tony Engle as a successful duo and as part of The Garland, replacing Mel Dean. After the birth of their son, the Stradlings and Engle and Webb joined forces as Oak and had soon performed at most of the folk clubs in the London area.

They were asked by Bill Leader to make an LP for his Trailer label, but as Engle worked for Topic Records, he felt obliged to offer to record for them first. To his surprise, the offer was accepted and Welcome to Our Fair was recorded on May Day, 1971. The record caused enormous interest and the band played 163 gigs in the 18 months between the record's release and their final performance, on 19 December 1972.

Later work

Rod and Danny Stradling went on to form The Cotswold Liberation Front, which later became The Old Swan Band. After a few years they left. Rod Stradling recorded with the English Country Blues Band, the English Country Dance Band, Tiger Moth and Edward II and the Red Hot Polkas. He is currently the editor of Musical Traditions, a highly respected magazine whose archives are now available online.

Peta Webb, whose individual vocal style was influenced by Irish traditional singers (especially Margaret Barry, Sarah Makem, and Sarah and Rita Keane), recorded with Scottish singer Alison McMorland in 1980. She made a solo album I have wandered in Exile in the 1973. In the early 1980s she and Tony Engle were members of Alan Ward's Tex-Mex band The Armadillos. She also formed her own band, Webb's Wonders and has recorded with the Watersons and, in the 1980s and 1990s as part of Sisters Unlimited. She performs as a resident singer at the Musical Traditions folk club in London; she is also an Assistant Librarian of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House, headquarters of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

Tony Engle has produced many classic folk recordings for Topic Records, and played on several of them as a session musician. He is now managing director of Topic Records.

Discography

• Oak, Welcome to Our Fair, Topic Records, 12TS212 (1971)
• Oak, Country Songs and Music, Musical Traditions, MTCD327-8 (2003) (includes tracks from Welcome to Our Fair and other archive recordings)

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• Alison MacMorland and Peta Webb, Alison MacMorland and Peta Webb, Topic (1980)
• Peta Webb I Have Wandered in Exile, Topic, LP 12TS 223 (1973)
• Peta Webb & Pete Cooper, The Heart Is True (1986)
• Peta Webb & Pete Cooper, Peta Webb & Peter Cooper, Heart, LP HR1 (1988)
• Peta Webb, The Magpie's Nest, Musical Traditions, MT Cass 202 (1989)
• Sisters Unlimited, (Peta Webb, Sandra Kerr, Rosie Davis, Janet Russell), No Limits, Harbourtown Records, HARCD 013
• Peta Webb and Ken Hall, As Close As Can Be: Songs and duets from English, Irish and American traditions, Fellside FECD155 (2000)
• Flowers & Frolics with Bob Davenport & Peta Webb, Reformed Characters, Hebe Music, HEBECD002

External links

• A history of "Oak", with track listings and full lyrics of the traditional songs they recorded
• English Music website
• Review of The Magpie's Nest
• Musical Traditions magazine online
• Review of As Close as Can Be
• Musical Traditions club website
• A history of Topic Records
• A history of traditional English Country Music