Bill Leader obit

Bill Leader (1929-2026)

 

He was not on the list.

I’m sorry to say that Bill Leader (1929-2026) has passed on. A legendary, remarkably modest and remarkably prolific engineer and producer of folk and traditional music from Britain and Ireland from the mid-50s to the end of the 70s (and very occasionally thereafter). Recorded history in that sphere would be unrecognisable without his herculean contribution to documenting it.

He recorded dozens of now revered musicians, several of whom maybe no one else would have – the very first albums by Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, Bert Jansch, The Watersons, Sweeney’s Men, Archie Fisher, Barbara Dickson, Gerry Rafferty (yes, really), Dick Gaughan, The Boys of the Lough, Robin & Barry Dransfield, Roy Bailey, Vin Garbutt, Dave Burland…

And classic albums by Irish trad icons like Willie Clancy, Martin Byrnes and Seamus Ennis, and Christy Moore’s proto-Planxty ‘Prosperous’…

Many of these were for his own labels Trailer and Leader (1969-78) – after 15-odd years recording for Topic, Decca, Argo and Transatlantic, he put his money where his mouth was and captured magic, locking it down forever. Albeit, circumstances mean that much of that music never made it into the digital era – at least not yet.

Mike Butler is four volumes into his brilliant eight-volume ‘Sounding the Century’ series on Bill Leader and his milieu. I understand that Volume 5 is nearly ready for the crowdfunding process to see it into print. The series is already a fabulous testimony to Bill’s output – and great fun too. It will continue to be so.