ABSTRACT
The study presented in this chapter focuses on the question of gender and voicing strategies in a folk rock band’s sound signature, using Fairport Convention as a case study. Fairport Convention – best known for leading the charge of British folk rock in the late 1960s, and still active today – presents an opportunity to critique the roles assigned to its female and male singers, and their impact on the band. Polyphonic vocal arrangements have always been an important aspect of the Fairport sound, and from the band’s inception in 1967 until 1976 there were both female and male vocalists in the line-up. Since that time, male voices have taken over completely in the band’s performances and arrangements, even of their pre-1976 material, due to the replacement of former singer Sandy Denny’s alto voice with founding member Simon Nicol’s baritone. Aspects of the production of gender in a band’s singing voices become apparent in the strategies that Fairport Convention have turned to when developing their own character and sound signature. In this chapter, I will discuss these strategies, and especially the role of lead singer and songwriter Denny in the band’s cultivation of a folk rock profile in the popular music market – one based on a uniquely British musical heritage.
