John Spiers

John Spiers (born 1975) is an English melodeon, concertina and bandoneon player. He is widely recognised as one of the leading English melodeon players of his generation.

This article is about the English folk musician. For the Canadian baker and actor, see John Tully Speirs. For the New Zealand rugby union player, see John Spiers (rugby union). For the British wealth manager, see John Spiers (entrepreneur).
John Spiers
John Spiers performing with Bellowhead in 2011
Background information
Birth nameJohn Spiers
Born1975
Birmingham, England
GenresFolk music
Occupation(s)Musician
Websitewww.johnspiers.co.uk

Career
Performing with Jackie Oates at Purbeck Valley Folk Festival in 2021

Spiers is best known for his work with Jon Boden in the duo Spiers and Boden and the band Bellowhead. He also played with Eliza Carthy's former band The Ratcatchers in the mid-noughties. Since Bellowhead called it a day in 2016, Spiers has released two highly acclaimed albums with Peter Knight, Well Met (2018) [1] and Both in a Tune (2021), which has been described as 'An extraordinary collaboration between two musicians at the absolute top of their game';[2] he also plays regularly with Peter Knight's Gigspanner Big Band, whose 2020 album Natural Invention has been described as 'a piece of music that feels thrillingly, frighteningly, beautifully of our time... some of the most important and exhilarating art ever to sit under the banner of folk music'.[3] Spiers also performs regularly in a duo with Jackie Oates, mostly but not just at Nettlebed Folk Club; Oates and Spiers released a joint album in 2020 called Needle Pin, Needle Pin.[4]

Compositions

Several of Spiers' compositions have become English folk session classics, most notably the jig Jiggery Pokerwork (a homage to his first melodeon), and a tune encapsulating his views of the Conservative Party.[5] The former piece is well-known among melodeon players for its notoriously unplayable B-section, particularly the infamous "Bb of doom".

Personal life

Spiers was born in Birmingham but moved to Abingdon at an early age. His father is a Morris dancer. He attended John Mason School in Abingdon, and then went on to study genetics at King's College, Cambridge.[6] [7] As a child he learned the organ and piano and when he was a university student he began to play the piano accordion and melodeon.[8] After spending some time busking he started a new career selling melodeons, of which he owns several.[9]

He and his partner have two sons.

Other publications
  • The John Spiers Tunebook (2002) – 32 tunes with chords
  • Spiers, John (2017). Jiggery Pokerwork. Oxfordshire, UK: Boars Hill Music.
59 original tunes with chords
  • Spiers, John (2020). Foraged Music. Oxfordshire, UK: Boars Hill Music.
a collection of 94 popular session tunes with chords

References
  1. Folk Radio review, https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2018/03/peter-knight-john-spiers-well-met/
  2. Trad Folk review, https://tradfolk.co/music/reviews/knight-spiers-both-in-a-tune-a-review/
  3. Folk Radio review, https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2020/04/gigspanner-big-band-natural-invention-artist-of-the-month/
  4. Interview with Jackie Oates, https://www.folkwitness.co.uk/album-reviews-2/jackie-oates-on-new-album-needle-pin-needle-pin-working-with-john-spiers-and-lace-tells/
  5. Tune about the Tories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBJ6NYORSZ8
  6. Hodgkinson, Will (19 September 2008). "Folk has a new sex appeal". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  7. "John Spiers - About".
  8. Interview with John Spiers, https://theglamourcave.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-squeezy-is-john-spiers.html
  9. Squeezebox Advent Calendar, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkcjrfhh0DE


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