Plainsong was originally a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 country rock

Country rock

Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...

/folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 band, formed in early 1972 by Ian (later Iain) Matthews

Iain Matthews

Iain Matthews is an English musician and songwriter. He was born Iain Matthew McDonald, in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He was known in the 1960s first as Ian McDonald, then as the 1960s progressed, as Ian Matthews...

, formerly of Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention

Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...

; Andy Roberts

Andy Roberts (musician)

Andrew "Andy" Roberts is an English musician.He gained a violin scholarship to Felsted School. He then attended Liverpool University. He has played with The Liverpool Scene, Plainsong, The Scaffold, Roy Harper, Chris Spedding, Pink Floyd, Hank Wangford, Kevin Ayers, Vivian Stanshall and Grimms...

, previously of The Liverpool Scene; Dave Richards; and Bob Ronga. The original group split up before the end of 1972 but, since the early 1990s, Matthews and Roberts have intermittently performed and recorded together, with other musicians, as Plainsong.

The original band

Matthews had been a member of Fairport Convention between 1967 and 1969, and then left to work solo, soon afterwards forming his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort. After that band split up, he recorded two solo albums, If You Saw Thro' My Eyes

If You Saw Thro' My Eyes

If You Saw Thro' My Eyes is the 1971 album by country rock/folk rock musician Ian Matthews. Guest musicians were former Fairport Convention bandmates Sandy Denny supplying vocals & keyboards, and Richard Thompson on accordion & guitar.-Track listing:...

and Tigers Will Survive

Tigers Will Survive

Tigers Will Survive is the 1971 album by country rock/folk rock musician Ian Matthews. Former Fairport Convention bandmate Richard Thompson sat in on guitar and accordion.-Track listing:#"Tigers Will Survive"...

in 1971, before forming Plainsong, with Roberts, Richards and Ronga, in early 1972. The band were signed by Elektra Records

Elektra Records

Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....

, and recorded an album, In Search of Amelia Earhart

In Search of Amelia Earhart

In Search of Amelia Earhart is the 1972 album by Plainsong, a band formed by country rock/folk rock musician Ian Matthews and Andy Roberts.Ian Matthews played in four different incarnations within three years...

. The album mixed songs by both Matthews and Roberts with covers, including versions of "Red River Dave" McEnery

David McEnery (musician)

Red River Dave McEnery was a musician and writer of topical songs. He was born in San Antonio, Texas. He got the nickname "Red River Dave" because he enjoyed singing "Red River Valley" in high school...

's song "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight

Amelia Earhart's Last Flight

"Amelia Earhart's Last Flight" is a song written by Red River Dave McEnery shortly after Amelia Earhart's disappearance.It was copyrighted in 1939, and was first performed by David McEnery on a pioneer television broadcast from the 1939 New York World's Fair.It has maintained continued popularity...

", Paul Siebel

Paul Siebel

Paul Siebel is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, born on September 19, 1937 in Buffalo, NY. He is best known for other artist's cover versions of his songs, most notably "Louise"...

's "Louise

Woodsmoke and Oranges

Woodsmoke and Oranges is the debut album from folk rock/country rock musician Paul Siebel. The album contains his tune "Louise" which was recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Ian Matthews, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Andersen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Leo Kottke, and others....

", and Jerry Yester

Jerry Yester

Jerry Yester is an American folk rock musician, record producer, and arranger.Growing up in Burbank, California, Yester formed a duo with brother Jim Yester, the Yester Brothers, and starting playing folk clubs in Los Angeles in 1960...

 and Judy Henske

Judy Henske

Judy Henske is an American singer and songwriter, once known as "the Queen of the Beatniks".-Life and recording career:...

's "Raider

Farewell Aldebaran

Farewell Aldebaran by Judy Henske and Jerry Yester is an album issued in 1969 on Frank Zappa's innovative Straight record label. It contains a wild mixture of styles, as though recorded by ten different bands, all featuring Henske's almost gothic lyrics and remarkable vocal range, which might lead...

". The album also included "True Story of Amelia Earhart's Last Night", a Matthews song based on research that suggests that Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...

 on her round-the-world flight may have been spying on Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese bases in the Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 islands; and "Even the Guiding Light", a response to Richard Thompson's "Meet on the Ledge

Meet on the Ledge

"Meet on the Ledge" was Fairport Convention's second single.The song was taken from the album What We Did on Our Holidays. BBC Radio 2's Sold On Song TOP 100 songs as voted for by Radio 2 listeners put their early song "Meet On The Ledge" at Number 17...

".

The album was critically well-received but was not a commercial success. The group toured extensively with drummer Roger Swallow

Roger Swallow

Roger Swallow is an English producer, musician and songwriter. He was a member of The Albion Band and worked with many artistes in the late 1960s early '70s as a session and touring drummer/percussionist.- Biography :...

 and began recording a second album, but Matthews and Richards disagreed on the direction the album should take, Ronga left before the sessions were completed, and the band broke up. Matthews and Roberts each then began recording again as solo artists.

In Search of Amelia Earhart was reissued on CD in 2001. Several albums of archive recordings of Plainsong have also been released on CD since the 1990s, including ... And That's That, comprising recordings made for the band's unreleased second album.

Revival

In 1991, some eighteen years after the original band broke up, Roberts encountered Matthews again when he was performing in a pub in Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, and the two decided to revive Plainsong. Adding Mark Griffiths and Julian Dawson, they recorded three albums - Dark Side of the Room (1992), Voices Electric (1994), and Sister Flute (1996) - before Dawson left to pursue a solo career. His replacement was Clive Gregson

Clive Gregson

Clive Gregson is an English singer/songwriter, musician and record producer. He has toured in bands, provided backup for well-known musicians, and written songs that have been covered by Kim Carnes, Norma Waterson and Nanci Griffith.-Solo:At the end of 1984 Gregson released his first solo record,...

, once of Any Trouble

Any Trouble

Any Trouble are a British rock band, originating from Crewe, England, best known for the early 1980s recordings.-Early days:Founding members were Clive Gregson, Chris Parks and Tom Jackson. Soon after, Mel Harley and Phil Barnes completed the line up. After Tom Jackson left, the band was fronted by...

 and later Gregson & Collister

Christine Collister

Christine Collister is a Manx folk, blues and jazz singer-songwriter. She was born and grew up on the Isle of Man and first came to public attention in 1986 as the singer of the theme song for the BBC's television adaptation of Fay Weldon's book The Life and Loves of a She-Devil.Prior to this, in...

. The new line-up then recorded New Place Now in 1999, before Matthews and Roberts recorded a duo album under the Plainsong name, A to B, in 2001. For their last album, Pangolins in 2003, Dawson again replaced Gregson. The band continued to perform and tour during the 1990s and 2000s.

Original line-up

• In Search of Amelia Earhart
  In Search of Amelia Earhart
  In Search of Amelia Earhart is the 1972 album by Plainsong, a band formed by country rock/folk rock musician Ian Matthews and Andy Roberts.Ian Matthews played in four different incarnations within three years...
  
  (1971)
  • Reissued on CD, 2001
• Plainsong On Air: BBC Sessions (recorded 1972, released 1992)
  • Plainsong On Air (expanded version released 1998)
• ... And That's That (recorded 1972, released 1992)
• In Search of Amelia Earhart / Now We Are Three (expanded versions of original and intended second albums, released 2005)

Revival

• Dark Side of the Room (1992)
• Voices Electric (1994)
• Sister Flute (1996)
• Live in Austria (1997)
• New Place Now (1999)
• A to B (2001)
• Pangolins (2003)