Pete Willow on Rod Felton - From Folks Magazine 1979

Rod Felton - enlarged self portrait from one of his posters.

Pete Willow on Rod Felton - From Folks Magazine 1979

I would like especially thank Rod Felton for his help with this

Pete Willow

issue's article. My original intention this issue was to look at Coventry clubs in the early 70's, but I would like to postpone that for another issue or so. Roddy has very kindly lent me his famous scrapbooks, which contain a wealth of information on the local folk scene during the mid to late 60's, and more specifically on what Rod himself was doing musically during this time, which is what I'd like to concentrate on for the main part of this article. Hopefully in future articles, I shall cover the same period of time as seen through the eyes of other local musicians who played different styles of music at different venues.

Above is an attempted reproduction of of a photo of Rod that appeared in the Coventry Standard in July 22nd 1965, accompanied by an article headed "Rod Felton - a newcomer in the Bob Dylan folk tradition." It went on:

"The name Rod Felton, a Coventry folk singer, could soon become a household word like Donovan or Bob Dylan - and all because of a Government decision not to go ahead with plans for the HS 681 military freight aircraft....Rod, a former commercial artist at Whitworth-Gloster Aircraft Ltd.' Bagington, was made redundant some 18 months....He had been folk singing in his spare time for two years. As he left the aircraft factory for the last time, thoughts of professional folk singing were already uppermost in his mind.

"Sipping coffee in the Sombrero, Coventry's currently fashionable coffee house with the 'in-crowd', he told be: 'I was at Whitworth-Gloster for five years and making some pocket money doing a bit of folk in the evenings. then when I was made redundant I decided to turn professional as soon as I could.....Recently he appeared at folk clubs in Coventry, Rugby, Leamington, Birmingham and London- and everywhere he goes he is approached with pleas for a return performance.


"Diz Disley, the well known jazz guitarist and vocalist, has

Drawing from Rod Felton's Scrapbook

been one of many to voice openly their approval of Rod's musical abilities. In fact he became such a popular fellow in Coventry that he recently shaved off his beard top escape recognition.....Rod's immediate plans include a summer season at a seaside holiday camp - and then he is all set for the big time and a recording contract!"

Not a journalistic masterpiece, but at least the local press was showing more interest in local folk acts than they have of late.

Digressing if I may for a while, I referred in the last issue to the change of venue in 1965 of the Coventry Folk Club, from Binley Oak to the Craven Arms (now The Bear), High street. There is more detail of that in another cutting from the scrapbooks, headed "Folk Wave Hits City Scene". It describes a particular evening at the Coventry Folk Club and then runs through other folk events in the same area and mentions Rod's popularity as a popular singer. Articles like this appearing in the local press did much to bring the local folk scene to everyone's notice. Not only did the people of Coventry know that there was a growing movement of folk enthusiasm in the city, but they knew where to go to see it on stage. Local acts, like Rod, were given particular encouragement.

I hope journalists reading this take note.

Here are a few quotes from that article -
"The fact that the Coventry Folk Club at the Craven Arms was packed by 7.50 on Thursday night makes its own comment on the subtle change coming over the folk scene in this country."

"Sure enough the visitor was American, Tom Paxton. Sure enough he does sing a few protest songs. But Paxton is a vastly different kettle of fish to Bob Dylan....Donovan and their subsequent cult of demi-clad, hirsute 'folk poets' and revolutionaries"

The article describes Paxton as 'a real professional' and implies he is not a weirdo like the others, then goes on:
"meanwhile folk music sessions are taking place in the city most nights of the week, including Sundays"
(and here is a list I could have done with when compiling the article last issue!).

"When fans congregate at the Weaver's Arms Hotel in Bell Green Road, the Cofa's Tree Folk....The Heart of England Folk Club at the Fox and Vivian, Leamington."

Then back tot he original theme when the article quotes The Heart of England F.C. chairman, Peter Farley: "...One of our most popular resident singers is a Coventrian. He is Rod Felton, the blues artist, who has shown interest in the club since our formation 18 months ago." The article also makes reference to a club Roddy ran at the Market Tavern in Coventry on Wednesday evenings.

Whether it is journalistic flair or whatever, constant mention is made in these articles about the enthusiasm and the packed audiences at these clubs. 1965 seems to have been the year when folk was 'new wave' although the impression seems to be (from the newspapers' viewpoint at least) that this was due to the cult heroes Dylan and Donovan. American influence, including country music, and of course Irish traditional music appeared to be two main factors in the folk scene, skiffle becoming a thing of the past by this time. I mentioned last issue that anthologies of English traditional material were not so abundant in the early to mid 60's as they are today; publications such as Karl Dallas were still being prepared. It could be that the so called 'Traditional' folk Clubs, such as we know them today are, strangely enough, a more recent innovation than clubs where more so-called 'contemporary' music is played. Please write in your thousands if I'm wrong!

Roddy and Rob Armstrong formed the New Modern Idiot Grunt Band in the mid sixties and quickly achieved fame throughout Britain and Germany. A selection of quotes from various newspapers reveals a little of their past:

"Three Coventry folk singers plan to spend a fortnight in Germany, catering for this Teutonic taste in British folk music." 1968 "Two of the trio, Geoff Smedley and Rod Felton were with the Mummers in Keil last year. Third member of the group is Rob Armstrong....They plan to present German folk fans with just about every type of folk music - blues, English contemporary, traditional and so forth. Primarily the three are going as individualists, but will occasionally play together - Rod and Rob as 'The New Modern Idiot Grunt Band' and the three of them as 'Gentle Idea'." "Rob Armstrong and Rod Felton play a kind of 'new' modern folk music with a 'beat', which involves sustained grunting. And they call themselves 'idiots'. Which all adds up to their curious name...."

More extracts from the Felton scrapbooks are included here (although there wasn't space in the magazine for all the material). Suffice to say hey are packed full of letters, cuttings, photos and posters relating to people involved with the local and national folk scene from the mid 60's to the early 70's. They also contain many details of Rod's own career as a folk singer, including tickets, ads, posters and other publicity of concerts he has performed along with Savoy Brown, 10cc, Bronx Cheer and Julie Felix. A brief rundown of rod's career up to the age of 25 appears in the programme of the concert at the Playhouse, Harlow, one of the venues where he appeared with Julie Felix:

"He has played guitar since the age of twelve and started playing in clubs at the age of fifteen. he teamed up with Beverley Kuter (Martyn) who later married and partnered John Martyn."

"He then formed the New Modern Idiot Grunt band which was a great success in Northern England and Germany. When they stopped disbanded, Rod decided to build a solo career and recently signed management and recording contracts with with Barry Murray and Harry Simmonds - managers and producers of Mungo Jerry, Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack etc... who in turn signed him with the newly formed British Talent International Agency who handled Mungo Jerry, Savoy Brown, Prelude, Peter Skellern, Weather Report and Herbie Hancock. Rod is currently working on his first album and single."