Nick Strutt
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Charles Strutt (8 October 1946 - 29 September 2009), was a British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
musician. He was particularly noted for his mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
playing, and worked and recorded with a number of well-known musicians of his time.
Strutt first played banjo at the age of 15 and then mastered guitar, autoharp, mandolin and bass. In 1965 he relocated to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and graduated from Leeds University in 1970. Between 1966 and 1969 he played in a duo with Roger Knowles which featured regularly on radio, including the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Country Meets Folk, where they sometimes played with Brian Golbey and Pete Stanley as a four-piece unit. Strutt and Knowles played as support for Hank Snow
Hank Snow
Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian-American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980...
and Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
on UK appearances, before their influences saw them turn more to seminal country rock. In 1970 Strutt turned fully professional, and between 1969 and 1971 he and Knowles played with Natchez Trace. In 1972, they parted amicably with Knowles opting for more traditional music and Strutt favouring the contemporary. He had already joined Bob Pegg and Carole Pegg in the folk rock band Mr. Fox
Mr. Fox
Mr Fox were an early 1970s electric folk or folk rock band. They were seen as in the ‘second generation’ of electric folk performers and for a time were compared with Steeleye Span and Sandy Denny’s Fotheringay. Unlike Steeleye Span they mainly wrote their own material in a traditional style and...
, and, after this highly rated but commercially unsuccessful unit's demise, recorded two excellent duo albums with Bob Pegg. When folk rock waned, Strutt returned to country music, playing regularly around the northern country club scene.
In the late 70s, he worked on production and played as a session musician for the now defunct Look label. Here he worked with many artists, especially with Mel Hague
Mel Hague
Mel Hague is an English country music singer and author.-Early life:...
but also produced albums for folk singer Alex Campbell
Alex Campbell (singer)
Alex Campbell was a Scottish folk singer. Described by Colin Harper as a "melancholic, hard-travelling Glaswegian", he was influential in the British folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s and was one of the first folk singers to tour the UK and Europe...
and country star Tommy Collins
Tommy Collins
Tommy Collins, sometimes referred to as Tom Collins M.A., Dublin City University, is an Irish filmmaker.- Biography :Born in County Donegal, he moved as a child to nearby Derry, Northern Ireland...
. In the early 80s, he turned more to old-time music again and often worked and recorded with Brian Golbey. He commented that "with the advent of New Country, line dancing and blander performances, our picking and grinning style was regarded as a novelty." During the mid-80s, Strutt played part-time with various units, including a swing quartet, but returned full-time in 1990. He began teaching guitar, mandolin and bass and appeared regularly with Hague's band. He also played old-time music at regular venues with banjoist Tim Howard of the Muldoon Brothers. In 1994, he began working with a trio called Finnegan's Wake.
Strutt acknowledged the influence of Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
and John Duffey
John Duffey
John H. Duffey was a Washington DC-based bluegrass music innovator and musician....
but confesses: "I was never any good at stealing licks accurately, so I made up my own; copying any instrument I liked be it trumpet, dobro, clarinet or trombone." He used to run jam sessions in Leeds, which often featured 20 musicians on numerous different instruments.
Nick Strutt died on 29 September 2009 at his home in Great Yarmouth, from liver failure
Liver failure
Acute liver failure is the appearance of severe complications rapidly after the first signs of liver disease , and indicates that the liver has sustained severe damage . The complications are hepatic encephalopathy and impaired protein synthesis...
. Nick spent a large portion of his life in Leeds, getting Married to Sue and having 3 children as well as attending university. His funeral took place in Leeds on Friday 16 October which was arranged by Sue and his three children Wezley, Bradley and Holly which was held in Leeds. The funeral service was held at St John's church in Wortley
Wortley, West Yorkshire
Wortley is a district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins one mile to the west of the city centre.In the 1086 Domesday Book it is mentioned as Wirtlei, also Wirtleie and Wrleia. Later it was known as Wirkelay until about 1700...
followed by cremation at Lawnswood followed by Wake/Jam session at The Grove Inn which had enormous amount of family, friends, fellow musicians and people who just knew of him.
In the year 2003 Nick Strutt made a temporary home for himself in the Shoulder Of Mutton in Castleford. This temporary home lasted 3 years where he was much loved for playing his music in the pub. Nick Strutt made many friends within the area and decided to form a band which they decided to call 'steal away'.
The band consisted of:
Nick Strutt on mandolin (Backing vocals)
Stevie Mac on Guitar (Lead Vocalist)
Graham Hall on Fiddle
Steve Parker on Bass Guitar (Backing vocals)
Steal Away got gigs straight away and was becoming a very successful band.
3 years later Nick Strutt moved down to Caistor & Hemsby.
Recordings
- Bob Pegg and Nick Strutt (Transatlantic, 1973)
- The Shipbuilder (with Bob Pegg) (Transatlantic, 1974)
- BRIAN GOLBEY & NICK STRUTT Last Train South (Waterfront, 19??)