How did you get into Folk Music?
I had a musical family background, but nothing formal. Dad was a singer with a big band and Gran taught piano. Music was a normal part of family life. Family gatherings when I was a kid, always ended up with song sessions around the piano.

Like any teenager I listened to (and obsessively enjoyed) the pop music of the time: Beatles and Dusty Springfield for me. Occasionally an American folk singer or group would make it to the charts and I guess I just absorbed it. A five quid (and almost unplayable) guitar saw me strumming along to Dylan. A friend at work heard me humming a folk song and we started talking. He introduced me to the Waterson's and I'd 'discovered' traditional English song. Until then my interest in folk music had been fuelled by the more commercial recordings of Dylan, Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, John Denver etc. We're talking about the mid to late 60's remember. I went to a club with my mate and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

A year or two later we started our own club in Garratt's Lane in Wandsworth. That was good fun too. The late 60's and early 70's were great times for folk clubs. It was an exciting time for a trad singer. You could still 'discover' trad songs that no-one else was singing. Cecil Sharp House had books full of 'em. At every club night you heard a 'new' song. The performers were exciting too. Carthy, Nic Jones, Allan Taylor, June Tabor could all be seen at your local club.

And I fell in love with the music of my home. Although I do sing a lot of singer/songwriter material as well, I still love it. It pisses me off when people slag it off and when they criticise me for continuing to sing traditional British songs, as if I've got a social disease. I don't complain about West Indians still singing Reggae.

Were/Are folk clubs friendly?
Well it depended on the club. Some were more set up as entertainment venues and others were run more like a club with a peripheral social side to the evening. Cliques? Yes, of course, that's in the nature of any sort of club I'm afraid. Its also human nature to stick with your friends. Some clubs I went to hear the main guest, some I went for the social elements as well. Horses for courses. I never really felt shut out. People who go to folk clubs are, in my experience a pretty wide cut across the population. Young and old, rich and poor.

I must admit that, in London, despite a huge West Indian, Indian and Pakistani population at the time, I don't remember ever seeing any of those races present at any of the 6 or 7 clubs I went to regularly. So you could say they weren't cross cultural at that time. Unless you adhere to the view that the English, Welsh, Scots and Irish are significantly different cultures! I never saw any French people there either, come to that.

It never seemed important then, nor surprising, that people tend to stick within their own musical cultural identities and boundaries. (I still don't find it surprising). If I wanted to hear only Irish music I went to the Castle Pub in Camden Town. If I wanted to hear Calypso and steel bands it was off to Brixton or Notting Hill Gate.

Is the NZ Folk Scene different from the UK?
When I came to NZ in 1985, I arrived on my own and the Wellington Folk Club and to a lesser extent because of distance, the Canterbury folk scene, provided me with an immediate friendly social environment. Indeed, I was struck by how incredibly friendly everyone was. Having sung at a few club nights and Festivals I was amazed at how many people remembered me and my name.

It didn't immediately 'click' for me that the folk scene here was so small compared to the UK, that any new performer, even one with my modest talents, was going to be welcomed with open arms. That size thing is both a curse and a blessing. It means we can really get know most of the regulars, but it makes the folk scene here very fragile financially. Whatever the reason, I will be eternally grateful to the many genuine friends that I made in those first couple of years.

I met my wife at the Wellington Folk Club. We go, together with our two girls, to 3 or 4 Festivals every year. I'm still amazed at how friendly people are at the festivals. They always seem to be full of happy smiling faces. That usually means that people are enjoying themselves doesn't it? When people are enjoying themselves they tend to be more disposed to be friendly. That's how it works, doesn't it? Healthy, honest and sympathetic criticism is ok and genuine ideas and efforts to make the clubs and festivals better for all is one thing, but I haven't too much time for the 'knockers' and cynics I'm afraid.

I'm full of admiration for the organisers. I've helped run two clubs in London and its bloody hard work, and people lobbing 'verbal hand grenades' at them doesn't help. Without the clubs and festivals we don't have a forum to introduce up and coming performers. We don't have a stage for new performers to learn the craft. Without the Clubs we don't have a focal point for 'our' music.

Over the last 38 years, folk music, contemporary and traditional, has provided me with my wife and kids, many, many lovely acquaintances and a handful of great friends. Some I make music with, some I just socialise with. The music still makes me laugh; still makes me cry. What more could you ask for. Just enjoy it for what it is. What is it? I dunno, its still changing just as it always did; but slowly. It's a 'generation' thing. That's the joy of it.

              Listen to Tony performing "Ned of the Hill' on this sound clip.