Andy Fairweather Low – in session for John Peel recorded October 21, 1975 – Broadcast November 17 – BBC Radio 1 –
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Andy Fairweather Low in session for John Peel tonight. A long-standing musician of great respect and accomplishments, Fairweather Low is still at it; touring and recording some 50+ years after getting started as a founding member of Amen Corner.
Fairweather Low was born in Ystrad Mynach, Wales. He first found fame as a founding member of the pop group Amen Corner in the late 1960s. They had four successive Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart, including the #1 single “(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice” in 1969. The overnight success and Fairweather Low’s teen idol looks, as music journalist William Ruhlmann noted at Allmusic; “… put his attractive face on the bedroom walls of teenage girls all over Britain”.
The band split in two in 1970, with Fairweather Low leading Dennis Byron (drums), Blue Weaver (organ), Clive Taylor (bass) and Neil Jones (guitar) into a new band, Fair Weather. The band scored a UK Singles Chart No. 6 hit with “Natural Sinner” in July 1970, although the outfit’s albums, Beginning From An End and Let Your Mind Roll On, failed to chart. After twelve months Fairweather Low left to pursue a solo career, releasing four albums up to 1980 on A&M and Warner Bros. These spawned further single chart success with “Reggae Tune” (1974), and “Wide Eyed and Legless”, a No. 6 Christmas time hit in 1975. Welsh group Budgie covered “I Ain’t No Mountain” off Fairweather Low’s 1974 album Spider Jiving on their 1975 release Bandolier.
In the late 1970s and 1980s he worked for numerous artists as a session musician, performing as a backing vocalist and guitarist on albums by Roy Wood, Leo Sayer, Albion Band, Gerry Rafferty, Helen Watson, and Richard and Linda Thompson.
In May 2008, Fairweather Low & the Lowriders started a UK tour, the Lowriders being Paul Beavis, Dave Bronze and Richard Dunn. In 2009, he joined Eric Clapton’s band for a series of 11 concerts held at the London’s Royal Albert Hall. He became part of Clapton’s touring band with drummer Steve Gadd and keyboardist Tim Carmon throughout May 2009. In 2011, Fairweather Low joined Clapton for another series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. He also performs with Edie Brickell, Steve Gadd, and bassist (and fellow Welshman) Pino Palladino as The Gaddabouts; their eponymous album was released in early 2011, and their second album, Look Out Now!, was released in 2012.
Also in 2011, Fairweather Low made a guest appearance on Kate Bush’s album 50 Words For Snow, singing on the chorus of the album’s only single, “Wild Man”.
In 2013, he opened Eric Clapton’s shows with his band the Lowriders on Clapton’s European tour and, later that year, Fairweather Low & the Lowriders released the album, Zone-O-Tone. In April 2013, he appeared at the Eric Clapton Guitar Festival Crossroads in New York and featured on two tracks of the DVD of the concert. On 13–14 November, he was also part of Eric Clapton’s band on the occasion of Clapton’s two concerts during the “Baloises Sessions” in Basel, Switzerland, where he was featured singing “Gin House Blues”. In November 2015, Fairweather Low made a guest appearance on Kevin Brown’s album Grit.
Still going strong and currently on tour around the UK until mid-December. Still trying to figure out where all the time is for him to become a World Famous Tennis player. Here’s a reminder of his work in 1975 and the first of two sessions he did as a solo artist for John Peel.
Crank it up and enjoy – get ready for the week ahead. Should be insane, but I suspect you already know that.
