Fairport Convention and friends release new fundraising version of iconic track

Fairport Convention were due to be hosting Cropredy Convention this month.

Folk-rock pioneers Fairport Convention have teamed up with friends, many of who were due to join them at the Cropredy festival this month, for a new recording of their classic song Meet On The Ledge.

The song was released this week as a charity single with proceeds being donated to Help Musicians UK - formerly the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund.

The single features all five current members of Fairport Convention plus Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, Ralph McTell, Moya Brennan, Chris and Kellie While, Rosalie Cunningham, Emily Barker, Martin Joseph, Graeme Taylor, Joziah Longo, Rob Allum, Ollie Knights, Scott Doonican, and Maddie Morris.

With 20 performers, this line-up is being billed as 'Fairport's Cropredy 20'.

Most of the musicians on the single had been due to perform at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention festival earlier this month which takes place annually on the Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire border.

However, like many similar events it was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fairport’s singer and guitarist Simon Nicol said: “Help Musicians UK has been doing its best to support people through the Covid-19 crisis so it is the logical choice of beneficiary.

“Those on the single are professional musicians themselves so this is something by musicians for musicians.”

The festival’s finale would’ve seen most of the line-up joining Fairport on stage to sing Meet On The Ledge.

The idea of creating a virtual replacement for this ensemble performance came from BBC Radio Oxford producer Will Banks.

He invited the musicians to film themselves performing to a guitar guide track.

The resulting videos were stitched together to form a high-quality audio and video stream which was first broadcast on Radio Oxford on Saturday, August 15.

The single is available via iTunes and Amazon Music.

For more information, visit https://music.apple.com/gb/album/meet-on-the-ledge-single/1529135148, http://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/fairport and

https://www.fairportconvention.com