AL ‘Bert’ Lloyd is best known for being one of the principal architects of the UK’s post-war folk revival, alongside the likes of Alan Lomax, Ewan MacColl and John Hasted, and as the benign godfather of folk rock, but this remarkable autodidact and polymath was also one of the most mercurial and radical figures in post-war British cultural life.

A Marxist, BBC radio documentary maker, award-winning journalist, singer, whalerman, sheep-station roustabout, translator of Lorca, Brecht and Kafka, co-founder of The Left Review, founder member of the Artists’ International Association, artistic director of the Topic label, expert on Eastern European music, friend of Aleister Crowley, Dylan Thomas and Henry Moore, Lloyd was the kind of individual who, when he learned he was dying, declared it “a bugger” that he would be leaving behind so many unrealised ideas and projects.

For this edition of The Wire Salon, musician, author and English folk music scholar Dave Arthur will give a talk based on his acclaimed new biography of Lloyd. The talk will be illustrated with audio and video clips and Dave will also perform and discuss some of the traditional songs most associated with Lloyd.

Dave Arthur’s Bert: The Life And Times Of AL Lloyd is published by Pluto Press

The Wire Salon is a monthly series of events, hosted by The Wire magazine, dedicated to the fine art and practice of thinking and talking about music. The events consist of talks, panel discussions, film screenings and DJ sets.

The Wire
Dave Arthur website
Pluto Press website