John Roberts (musician)

For another person, see John Roberts (electronic musician).

John Roberts (5 May 1944 – 3 February 2025) was an English musician.^[1]

John Roberts
Roberts in 2009
Background information
Born	(1944-05-05)5 May 1944
Died	3 February 2025(2025-02-03) (aged 80)
Genres	Traditional folk music
Instruments	Vocals, concertina, banjo
Years active	1969–2025
Labels	Golden Hind Music
Member of	Nowell Sing We Clear, Curragh
Formerly of	John Roberts and Tony Barrand
Website	https://johnrobertsmusic.com/

He is best known for his musical collaborations with Tony Barrand. As Roberts and Barrand, they performed a cappella and accompanied performances of traditional English folk music. They also performed and recorded fare such as sea shanties of the North Atlantic, and an album of traditional drinking songs. The duo was also half of the related act Nowell Sing We Clear—which in addition to a number of albums—performs an annual yuletide concert series.

Born in Worcestershire, England, of Welsh ancestry, Roberts moved to the United States to study graduate level psychology at Cornell University, where he formed his longtime music partnership with Tony Barrand in 1968.^[2] They were members of the Cornell Folk Song Club and for several years served as co-presidents.

Roberts also had a solo career, was a member of the trio Ye Mariners All (with John Rockwell and Larry Young), and performed regularly with upstate New York's Broken String Band. In recent years he had performed with his partner Lisa Preston, as well as folksinger Debra Cowen.^[3]

He was a regular at the Old Songs Festival both as a performer and Master of Ceremonies for evening concerts.

Roberts died on 3 February 2025, at the age of 80.^[4]

Discography

Solo

Sea Fever (2003) Golden Hind Music

1. "Campañero"
2. "Diego's Bold Shore"
3. "The Bonny Ship the Diamond"
4. "Candlelight Fisherman"
5. "Farewell Nancy"
6. "The Weeping Willow Tree"
7. "The Boatman's Cure"
8. "Short Jacket and White Trousers"
9. "Sir Patrick Spens"
10. "Let the Bulgine Run/Sally in the Garden/Hog-Eye Man"
11. "The Black Cook"
12. "The Saucy Sailor"
13. "The Old Figurehead Carver"
14. "What Fortunes Guide a Sailor/Leave Her Johnny"

Ye Mariners All

Songs of the Sea (2003) Golden Hind Music

1. "The 'Fame' of Salem"
2. "Marcherot"
3. "The Steam Packet"
4. "Wings of a Goney"
5. "Pique la Baleine"
6. "Three Jolly Fishermen"
7. "Jack Robinson"
8. "Old Billy Riley-O"
9. "Hourra les Filles"
10. "Serafina"
11. "Rolling Down to Old Maui"
12. "Yangtse River Chantey"
13. "The 'Balaena'"
14. "Hullabaloo Belay"
15. "You Gentlemen of Boston"
16. "Nantucket Point/Off She Goes"
17. "Noah's Ark Chantey"
18. "The 'Jamestown' Homeward Bound"

Roberts and Barrand

Main article: Roberts and Barrand § Discography

• Spencer the Rover is Alive and Well… (1971, 2001)
• Across the Western Ocean (1973, 2000)
• Mellow With Ale From the Horn (1975)
• Dark Ships in the Forest (1977, 1997)
• Live at Holsteins! (1983)
• A Present from the Gentlemen (1992)
• Naulakha Redux (1997)
• Heartoutbursts (1998)
• Twiddlum Twaddlum (2003)

Nowell Sing We Clear

Main article: Nowell Sing We Clear § Discography

• Nowell Sing We Clear (1977)
• To Welcome In The Spring (1980)
• The Second Nowell (1981)
• Nowell Sing We Clear, Vol. 3 (1985)
• Nowell Sing We Four (1988)
• the best of Nowell Sing We Clear 1975–1986 (1989)
• Hail Smiling Morn! (1995)
• Just Say Nowell (2000)
• Nowell Nowell Nowell! (2008)
• Bidding You Joy (2013)

John Roberts and Debra Cowan

Ballads Long & Short (2015) Golden Hinds Music

1. "Drive Dull Care Away"
2. "The Broadside Man"
3. "The Tailor's Breeches"
4. "Fair Annie"
5. "Garners Gay"
6. "Combing the Mane"
7. "The 'Cornstalk'"
8. "The Bonny Hind"
9. "Twa Corbies"
10. "When Fortune Turns the Wheel"
11. "Gypsum Davy"
12. "Jim Jones"
13. "Anderson's Coast"
14. "Bold Riley"