Bert was an amazing acoustic guitarist and songwriter who came down from Scotland to be part of the London Scene in the mid-sixties.
The contemporary Folk scene had exploded in the mid-sixties owing to the Dylan effect. It had catapulted people like Donovan into the Pop Charts.
The London scene was focussed around places like Les Cousins in Soho and Bunjies near Charring Cross Road. It was where people like Roy Harper, Al Stewart, Jackson C Frank, John Martyn, John Renbourn, Davy Graham and Bert Jansch cut their teeth. A lot of Americans also dropped in – like Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.
I’d been introduced to John Renbourn and Bert Jansch by a school friend – Neil Furby – in 1965. I was already into Donovan and this first album by Bert seemed more authentic. I loved it – particularly the more political stuff like – Do You Hear Me Now.
I was sixteen and had my first motorbike which had given me the chance to get up to London. So I was able to go to see these guys live. It was at a Bert Jansch/John Renbourn concert at Les Cousins in 1967 that I first saw Roy Harper.
Later I’d go along to the Three Horseshoes pub basement on Tottenham Court Road to hear Pentangle play for free! Imagine that!! What would we pay for a dose of that now?
So today I’m going to reacquaint myself with the music of Bert Jansch!