Roy Bailey

Roy Bailey played a seminal role in the evolution of British folk music for more than four decades. Having launched his career in 1958 as a member of a skiffle band, Bailey has continued to perform as a soloist, and as leader of the Band of Hope, an acoustic group he formed with Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick, Dave Swarbrick, and Stefan Hannigan. While Mojo called him "the very soul of folk's working-class ideals," Labour MP Tony Benn declared that Bailey was "the greatest socialist folksinger of his generation." Chris Smith, England's minister of culture, called him "one of ...