Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)

Subject: BOB DAVENPORT RIP
From: GUEST,The Sandman
Date: 28 Sep 26 - 02:48 AM

I have just seen on Face book,Bob has just passed on. Condolences to family and friends

Subject: RE: BOB DAVENPORT RIP
From: Nick Dow
Date: 28 Sep 26 - 06:14 AM

Sad news. Another voice gone. God rest him
Nick

Subject: RE: BOB DAVENPORT RIP
From: r.padgett
Date: 28 Sep 26 - 06:20 AM

Yes a powerful voice and Geordie songs ~ moved to London. I think he was teacher of Art

92 years old and a truly great unaccompanied singer; also sang with the Marsden Rattlers


Ray

Subject: RE: BOB DAVENPORT RIP
From: GUEST,Tom Patterson
Date: 28 Sep 26 - 06:49 AM

Yes, one of the very greatest of North East England singers. Like many others, I got songs through his recordings, including "The Durham Lock- out". One Sunday back in the 80's or 90's I was at Nigel Denver's lunchtime session in Kings Heath Birmingham sitting close to Dave and Betty Campbell, Ian and Lorna Campbell's parents. I sang "The Durham Lock-out" and as I sat down Betty turned to me and said that it was the second best version of the song she had ever heard. Very taken aback I said that she must have heard Bob Davenport singing it. Quick as a flash she said, Oh no, not him,I meant Ian! Mothers and sons............

Subject: RE: BOB DAVENPORT RIP
From: GUEST,The Sandman
Date: 28 Sep 26 - 07:12 AM

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bob Davenport
Born        Robert H. Davenport

31 May 1932 (age 94)
Gateshead, County Durham, England
Genre        Traditional folk music
Occupations        Singer, arranger, songwriter
Years active        1950s –present
Labels        Topic, Trailer, Columbia, others

Bob Davenport (born 31 May 1932) an English traditional folk singer who has been a leading and influential voice in the British folk revival since the early 1960s.[1][2]
Biography

Bob Davenport was born in Gateshead, County Durham. At 10 months of age, he survived a gas explosion which destroyed his family home and killed his father Thomas, aged 23, and his grandfather.[2] He grew up in a musical family – he is distantly related to George Ridley, the writer of "Blaydon Races" – and began performing when an evacuee in the Second World War.[2] After completing his National Service in the Royal Air Force, he moved to London in 1953 to work for the General Post Office.[3] He also studied at Saint Martin's School of Art and worked for a publisher.[4]

He was encouraged by Irish Traveller singer Margaret Barry, and became a regular singer at the Bedford Arms in Camden Town and, later, local folk clubs.[4] He won awards as the best amateur folk singer in London,[5] and recorded an EP, Geordie Songs, in 1959, backed by Reg Hall (melodeon) and Michael Plunkett (fiddle), known as the Rakes. Adding fiddle player Paul Gross, Davenport recorded a further EP, Wor Geordie, with the Rakes for Topic Records in 1962. Both Davenport and Martin Carthy have been cited in several publications as early influences on Bob Dylan when he was performing in London folk clubs in the early 1960s. In 1963, as the result of an invitation from Pete Seeger, Davenport sang at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, US, alongside Dylan and Joan Baez.[4]

He ran folk clubs in north London, with a strong commitment to high quality traditional singing,[2] and featured on several song collections released on record in the early and mid-1960s, including Sea Shanties (with Lou Killen and Redd Sullivan, 1963), Hootenanny in London (with Lou Killen, Alex Campbell, Martin Carthy and others, 1963), Northumbrian Minstrelsy (with Isla Cameron and Jack Armstrong, 1964), and Folksound of Britain (with the Watersons, Cyril Tawney and others, 1965).[6] In 1965, the Columbia label released the LP Bob Davenport and the Rakes, produced by Peter Eden and Geoff Stephens with all the songs arranged by Davenport.[3][6] For Trailer Records in 1971, he made the album Bob Davenport and the Marsden Rattlers, produced by Bill Leader with an eight-piece traditional band from South Shields. The album was followed by Pal of My Cradle Days (1973). The Rakes also recorded a self-titled album without Davenport.[3]

In the mid-1970s Davenport recorded three albums for the Topic label, Down the Long Road (1975), Postcards Home (1977), and Bob Davenport and the Rakes (1977).[6] As well as traditional songs, some with trad jazz or morris band accompaniment, these albums contained several of Davenport's own songs, including "The Gypsy Poacher" and "Wild Wild Whiskey", which "tells the story of people away from their homes and their loved ones, trying to eke out a living in London and avoiding the pitfalls of drinking in the pubs around Camden Town."[4]

Davenport continued to perform in folk clubs and at festivals in the 1980s and 1990s, but less frequently than before. His recordings continued to appear on many compilations of English and British folk songs. In 1997, he returned with an unchanged line-up of the Rakes - Plunkett, Gross and Hall - to record the album The Red Haired Lad, produced by Mike Harding.[3][6] In 2004, he released The Common Stone, an album dedicated to his father,[2] and comprising mostly traditional folk songs recorded with musicians including Richard Thompson, Martin Carthy, the Watersons, and the band Chumbawamba.[1][3] In 2010, he performed with Kathryn Tickell at a concert in Gateshead.[2]

Subject: RE: BOB DAVENPORT RIP
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 28 Sep 26 - 10:20 AM

Sad news. I saw Bob many times when I lived in London and always came away impressed. He was a singer who achieved a great deal through his love for traditional folk music, especially of songs from the northern part of England. As always, I send my condolences to all those who know and love him and have entered his name in the "In Memoriam" thread. RIP Bob.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Sep 26 - 11:46 AM

He turns up in numerous threads on Mudcat, discussing his songs and as a performer. Info/discussion: Bob Davenport is one of those threads, and when you look at the top there are a dozen other topics linked to him.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 28 Sep 26 - 01:32 PM

Bob was definitely a one-off and his own man. A controversial character but a good friend, and a friend of our family in Hull and Goole. He appeared at our Hull folk club many times over the years. Condolences to the family. Fond memories.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)
From: GUEST,Trevor Sheridan .(Marsden Rattler)
Date: 29 Sep 26 - 01:53 AM

Great friend for over 60 years. We had some amazing times together at festivals and pubs all over Britain and Holland and especially in Suffolk. We went to Norwich Sunderland Milk Cup final together He’d got tickets in the Norwich end with me wearing my Sunderland scarf !!

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)
From: GUEST,Georgina Boyes
Date: 29 Sep 26 - 03:18 AM

I've always thought that Bob Davenport's solo in Lal Waterson's "Child Among the Weeds" on "Bright Phoebus" is the finest piece of lyrical singing ever recorded in the Revival.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 30 Sep 26 - 06:35 PM

Georgina ... many thanks for reminding me of that recording... although as I never bought a copy of Bright Phoebus when it was issued (and it never got re-released "thanks" to Celtic Music), perhaps I'd never heard the recording before. Remarkable singing.
Derek

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)
From: Mick Tems
Date: 01 Oct 26 - 07:18 AM

I've just heard about Bob Davenport's passing. He was the first singer that had inspired and really moved me in my youth. I joined the Valley Folk Club in Pontardawe, and Bob and The Rakes (or possibly Webb's Wonders, or solo) were the memorable highlights of the evening. I co-founded the fledging Llantrisant Folk Club, and we decided to book an artist; Bob was the first choice. He came down on the train, and the fee was a bargain £30. Years on, when we celebrated our 40th birthday, we invited Bob as the main guest - and he charged us the same unbelievable £30! He spent a few nights with us, and he was the most courteous, friendly and humble guest it has ever been my pleasure to meet. I still think of Lal and Mike Waterson's landmark album 'Bright Phoebus' and Bob's amazing soaring solo on 'Child Among the Weeds'- it was just perfection. RIP to a respected, true artist.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Oct 26 - 02:46 AM

I would love to be a fly on the wall when he meets, St Peter at the gates of heaven.
R I P

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Oct 26 - 07:58 AM

He was one of the first folk singers that I remember seeing during my schooldays - at Ipswich Folk Club. I would have been about 16, so he would then have been in his late 20s or just touching 30. We also had him as a guest at our medical school folk club in Whitechapel a few years later. The song I remember most was the one where “I jumped into bed with me put boots on”!

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Davenport (1932-2026)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Oct 26 - 05:19 AM

Pit boots!