A little while before Christmas I was hunting around for some old folk records, especially those released on the Leader and Trailer label, set up in 1969 by Bill Leader and his wife Helen. Prior to this, Bill cut his teeth at the Workers Music Association in 1956 where he worked as a full-time employee for a while…The WMA began the Topic label to ‘release gramophone records of historical and social interest’, ideal ground for a recording enthusiast like Bill Leader.
Anyhow, I got some lovely vinyl including a couple of releases by The High Level Ranters. I then got a note from the seller Mike Butler saying he’d written a book titled ‘Sounding the Century’ about Bill Leader that I might enjoy and that the proof for Vol 2 had just been sent to his publisher that morning. I got hold of a copy of Vol 1 and if the truth be told, it went way beyond what I was expecting. What immediately struck me was the level of detail provided. Mike must have sunk numerous hours into this volume of work (one of ten!) which includes many in-depth interviews and photographs which are heightened by Bill Leader’s recollections and humour. It’s a real treasure that also reveals a hidden history of Britain that you rarely see written about today. The book is not only indexed but also has a superb appendix of ‘possibly significant people’. It’s gold dust!
‘At last I can find out what I’ve been up to over the last 90 years. It’s all there between covers. And there’s pictures too. Author Mike Butler has used my story as a ball of yarn to help to guide readers through some of the lesser known corners of music making over the last century — music making and much more. From research and writing to realisation, Mike has done a great piece of work, which will be increasingly valued as each year passes’– Bill Leader
The prolific sound engineer Bill Leader was the first to record Bert Jansch, the Watersons, Anne Briggs, Nic Jones, Davey Graham, John Renbourn and Billy Connolly, and (among) the last to record Jeannie Robertson, Fred Jordan and Walter Pardon. That is to say, he straddled the golden age of traditional singing and the folk revival. Quite apart from the inherent musical interest – not just confined to folk; he also recorded Paul Simon and Son House – Bill is an Everyman figure who stands for everyone buffeted by the large impersonal forces of history. As someone blessed with a long life (now aged 92), Bill Leader has been buffeted by more than most, from the trauma of the Second World War to the plague years of the early twenties.
Many of his early recordings were made in his small flat in Camden using only a Revox tape recorder. He tried to make the best of what he had and soundproofed his flat using blankets and egg boxes. As well as recording artists he also imported rare records from America and helped organise folk clubs.
He had a great love for folk music and undertook many field recording trips across the British Isles which ended up on labels such as Topic, Transatlantic and Decca. In 1969 he took the decision to set up his own labels with his wife Helen: Leader and Trailer were born… “there was a lot of things that I was interested in doing that were not tradtional enough for Topic and not commercial enough for Transatlantic”. Trailer focused on revivalists and featured the first recordings of Dick Gaughan, Nic Jones, Robin and Barry Dransfield.
Sounding the Century is a projected ten-volume series of books, with the first two books published on 28th April 2022. The books set Leader’s life, times, achievements and failures against the backdrop of his turbulent times. They cover the cultural and social background and give accounts of the artists he worked with; that is everyone in the sixties folk revival, and many of the source singers that nourished the sixties folk revival. The first book, Glimpses of Far Off Things: 1855-1956, spans the century between the emigration of brothers Patrick and Thomas Leader from Ireland, and grandson/great-grandson Bill’s involvement with “this bunch of nuts in London called the Workers’ Music Association”.
The WMA’s affiliated label, Topic Records – now the UK’s oldest independent record company – was just then beginning to focus on folk song as the vehicle of the workers’ struggle. There is a surprising amount of politics in the story, which, in Vol. 1, takes in Victorian gas works, music hall, two world wars, the significance of cinema in young Bill’s life, his blind alley jobs, and the parlous state of Topic’s finances upon his arrival. Topic was rescued by a Punch and Judy professor called ‘Alex’ stepped who silkscreen printed Topic sleeves in his garden shed (sleeves were Topic’s greatest expense). He and Bill met when Bill tried to dodge into the Metropolitan music hall on Edgware Road without paying (Alex also served as commissionaire for the Metropolitan). The full title of the book series is Sounding the Century: Bill Leader & Co. The supporting cast is full of eccentrics. ‘Never told’ and ‘unsung’ are the author’s watchwords.
The successor of Glimpses is Horizons For Some 1956-62, which advances the story to the skiffle boom and Ban the Bomb marches, when Bill recorded folk revival godfathers Ewan MacColl and Bert Lloyd and documented a US influx headed by Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, the herald of Bob Dylan. The latter played at Bill’s folk club, the Black Horse Broadside.
Each volume comes with rare photographs and beautiful illustrations by Peter Seal.
There will be 10 books in the series. Volumes 1 & 2 will be published on 28th April 2022.
https://www.soundingthecentury.com/home
Sounding the Century: Bill Leader & Co.
Glimpses of Far Off Things: 1855-1956 (publication date: 28thApril 2022).
Horizons for Some: 1956-1962 (publication: 28th April, 2022).
The Poor Man’s Only Music: 1958-1963 (publication to be announced)
Bad Lads and Hard Cases: 1959-1966
Let Us Now Praise Obscure Men: 1962-1967
A Messy Garden, It Is a Garden: 1967-1971
Cradle Song: 1969-1972
From Doc Rowe to Dock Pudding: 1972-1979
Ye Who Secure Trophies Not Your Own: 1979-2020
Lost from Sight: Critical Postcards
‘I am, in turns, excited, delighted, informed, entertained and made to laugh out loud as I read your book. I have known Bill [but not well] ever since I met him at around the time that I joined Topic Records [indeed, it was he who showed me how to edit tape – before I got down to doing that myself in earnest] but I now wish that I had got to know him better. At that time, I realised that he was a pretty significant person but, reading your book, I see that I had no idea of just what a man he is. Thanks for opening my eyes. I now have a new respect for Bill and can’t wait to read more.
Tony Engle, Topic Records director, 1972- 2017
About the author
MIKE BUTLER switched his musical allegiance from Pink Floyd to Bobby Womack, c. 1975; flunked a History BA, Polytechnic of North London, 1977-78; drifted into record retail at Out on the Floor Records when it was only a stall at Camden Town market, 1980-1983; gained a first class BA in Art, Manchester Polytechnic, 1986; as part of Manchester Artists Studio Association (MASA) and its affiliated gallery, Castlefield, he editedthe gallery’s house magazine, Granby Row Review, 1987-1991; as jazz editor at City Life what’s-on magazine, he interviewed Sun Ra and (twice!) Nina Simone, 1989-2009;compiled listings and interviewed musicians for Metro, 1999-2009; discovered the missing verse of ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ for Independent on Sunday, 1994; promoted UK tours by Abner Burnett, 1998 and 2001, the latter with co-star Johnny Moynihan; co-promoted a joint UK tour by John Fahey and Abner Burnett, 1999 – a rock ’n’ roll disaster story of such magnitude that it rated a feature in Mojo.
https://www.soundingthecentury.com/home
Main image: Bill at WMA, Bishops Bridge Road, late 50s