The Magical Cropredy Festival 2023

It All Comes Round Again…….

Well another year passes as our biggest coverage of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention this year continues. Our new Pre Cropredy audio interviews already available for your listening pleasure we now unleash all of our very own Paul Johnson’s Cropredy 2023 audio interviews upon the unsuspecting folking.com visitors!

Cropredy 23 – what a festival!

Hi all, Paul here and I’d just like to say what a wonderful magical and excellent Cropredy it was this year.

Darren Beech

New food stalls, new clothing and jewellery, new friends and old alongside our yearly favourites. For me personally (and I know I speak on behalf of us on the folking.com team) when I say it was another difficult emotional year, tinged with great sadness. This is only our second Cropredy since the passing of our beloved founder Darren Beech. For those who knew him – and those who didn’t – he was a wonderful, kind, generous, loving, spirit who reached out and touched so many lives. He made all who he graced better, spreading not ju

st the joy and a love of our music, but bringing people together, binding them forever in love and friendship… Thank you Darren Beech.

So to bright, happy Joyful eternal hope from the past and to the future ..We will meet all our friends!

In Fairports wonderful set myself and Paul (the fellow co founder of folking.com) and close friends just could not help having a big cry and a hug as we listened intently to the wonderful atmospheric spel-binding rendition of Rick Saunders ‘Portmeirion’ a tune Darren loved deeply.. and yet out of this sadness we are so proud, lucky, and privileged to be able to not only continue the legacy of folking.com but grow and expand our coverage of events, such as Cropredy and The New Forest folk festival – from sadness springs hope, progress and a love of this music genre and lifestyle that will never die. Once again, this year’s music at Cropredy over the three days was an amazing eclectic mix. Again the toilets showers, stalls facilities camping, food and bar was amazing.

Hats off and huge respect to Gareth Williams, and each and every one of the crew for making this yearly magical festival happen.

So please sit back chill, reminisce in the magical glow of Cropredy if you were there… and if not …well… just enjoy our interviews as we bring you the ambience of that magical weekend.

Keep checking back as we add more interviews over the next few days and next week.

First here I talk to Chris Leslie..

We talk about Mondeo’s…or rather Mandolas,  Algerian Mondoles, Mandolins and Django Reinhardt .. enjoy…

I can’t believe you’re seventy!

Here I talk to Fairport’s stand up comedian, the age defying, and astonishingly amazingly brilliant and ‘haunting’ fiddle player! Ric Sanders.


PARENTAL GUIDANCE REQUIRED! 18

Here I talk to the brilliant Peat and Diesel

‘The Caledonian language’ barrier was a little tricky on this one! But I talk to  the amazing phenomenon that is Peat and Diesel – whose musical  life has changed dramatically since a little bit of filming of a jam session in a front room a couple of years back. The video went viral. Now the amazing genius of Boydie’s song writing and ripping guitar, Uilly Macleod. driving drum rhythms and Innes Scott’s typical Scottish accordion playing, has sent this band on an amazing journey playing hundreds of gigs and festivals across the UK and Europe.


This could only happen at Cropredy….When someone says – would you like to interview Nashville’s Richie Owens and Dolly Parton’s nieces! How could I refuse? So here I chat with Richie Owens of ‘The Farm Bureau’ and the lovely Jada Star and MX Mona.

When It all goes a bit ‘Proggy’

Cropredy’s wide and varied mix of music never fails to amaze and please us. Here I talk to the amazing guitar talent that is Andy Glass, Jess Holland about 30 years of his brilliantly ‘Proggy folkrock’ band ‘Solstice’

So, see you all next year for another great festival.

Paul Johnson.