In most discussion of Steeleye Span, Bob Johnson could be overlooked or at least overshadowed.
Steeleye was/is Maddy Prior, Maddy is/was Steeleye. isn't that the case?
Look more closely and you see how important others were in the band’s great success. Think Ashley Hutchings, Tim Hart, Peter Knight, Martin Carthy, Rick Kemp … that list goes on. But Bob Johnson absolutely must be on it.
Bob died, aged 79, on December 15 after being unwell for several months.
A friend asked if I’d offered an obituary to The Daily Telegraph, for which I was not only a reporter but also for 20 years the resident folk bloke. He certainly deserves one, even if my links with that newspaper are fixed in the past.
Looking back on the career of a band I have loved from the start, I remember briefly worrying about a review I'd read suggesting that Bob’s vocals sounded too, er, middle class before I realised that this wasn’t really much of an issue if an issue at all. Then I began to realise just how much he brought to the band.
If asked for one Steeleye track that stands out ahead of all others – one hell of a request given the treasure of material – I’d leap in a heartbeat for Long Lankin, a murder ballad given added tension, drama and stunning musical impact by Bob’s contributions: he wrote the music and arranged it.
The live version you see below shows him, initially unobtrusive on his electric guitar (on the right as you look at the clip but then adding his supporting vocals). It is strikingly good. And It wasn’t the only big ballad in which was imposed a Johnson/Steeleye mark.
Peter Knight has just posted this tribute at Facebook:
It's been a sad day for me today.
Bob Johnson was a friend first first, and a colleague second.
We knew each other long before the Steeleye days, and my day has been filled with memories, each one a gift, the most recent being the summer of this year, when I sat at his table eating a takeaway curry and drinking beer. He was not well then, but we talked and laughed for an afternoon. I will cherish that day forever.
He was an extraordinary man, and although he is known for his love of the tradition, and those incredible arrangements of the big ballads that Steeleye Span performed, to his friends and family he is known and loved for so much more.
I will miss my friend. That feeling that there was so much more to know.
RIP Bob.
In all honesty, I cannot improve on that. Rest easily, Bob, brilliant musician, qualified psychologist, beloved husband and father.
A very sad day today for the band and all Steeleye Span fans
Our dear friend guitarist,singer and songwriter Bob Johnson has passed away this afternoon.
He had been poorly for a few months now but finally left us in search of the rainbows end. pic.twitter.com/0HkgAfOGFB— Steeleye Span (@steeleye_span) December 16, 2023
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