lit a candle 1h agofound Wor Geordie on a compilation last year, didn't know a voice could sound like that. 94.
Their story
Robert H. "Bob" Davenport was an English traditional folk singer whose uncompromising Geordie voice became one of the defining sounds of the British folk revival. Born in Gateshead, County Durham, on 31 May 1932, he survived a gas explosion at ten months of age that destroyed the family home and…
Robert H. "Bob" Davenport was an English traditional folk singer whose uncompromising Geordie voice became one of the defining sounds of the British folk revival. Born in Gateshead, County Durham, on 31 May 1932, he survived a gas explosion at ten months of age that destroyed the family home and killed his father, Thomas, aged 23, and his grandfather. He grew up in a musical household and was distantly related to George Ridley, the writer of the Geordie anthem "Blaydon Races." As a wartime evacuee he began performing, carrying North-east song into later life.
After National Service in the Royal Air Force he moved to London in 1953 to work for the General Post Office. He also studied at Saint Martin's School of Art and worked for a publisher. In Camden Town he found a second musical home among Irish musicians at the Bedford Arms. Encouraged by Irish Traveller singer Margaret Barry, he became a regular there and in the emerging folk clubs. He won awards as London's best amateur folk singer and recorded the EP Geordie Songs in 1959 with Reg Hall (melodeon) and Michael Plunkett (fiddle), the core of the band known as the Rakes. With Paul Gross added on fiddle, Topic Records issued Wor Geordie in 1962.
Davenport and Martin Carthy have both been cited as early influences on Bob Dylan during Dylan's early-1960s London folk-club visits. Dylan later named Carthy and Davenport among people who "really knew those traditional English songs." In 1963, invited by Pete Seeger, Davenport sang at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island alongside Dylan and Joan Baez. Through the mid-1960s he appeared on key collections including Sea Shanties, Hootenanny in London, Northumbrian Minstrelsy, and Folksound of Britain, and in 1965 Columbia released Bob Davenport and the Rakes, with songs arranged by Davenport.
He ran folk clubs in north London with a strong commitment to high-quality traditional singing, later associated with nights at The Fox in Islington where programmes could mix traditional song with New Orleans jazz, clog dance, or visiting American writers. For Trailer Records he made Bob Davenport and the Marsden Rattlers (1971) with an eight-piece traditional band from South Shields, then Pal of My Cradle Days (1973). Mid-1970s Topic albums Down the Long Road, Postcards Home, and Bob Davenport and the Rakes mixed tradition with his own writing, including "The Gypsy Poacher" and "Wild Wild Whiskey," a Camden-set song about migrant workers, loneliness, and the pitfalls of pub life.
He performed less often in the 1980s and 1990s but remained a reference point on compilations. In 1997 the original Rakes lineup reunited for The Red Haired Lad, produced by Mike Harding. In 2004 Topic released The Common Stone, dedicated to his father and featuring Richard Thompson, Martin Carthy, the Watersons, Chumbawamba Acoustic, Linda Thompson, and others. MOJO named it a Folk Album of the Year. In 2010 he performed with Kathryn Tickell in Gateshead.
Davenport died in September 2026, aged 94. Tributes in the folk press, including a Chimeo remembrance and community announcements around 27-28 September 2026, marked the loss of a singer who never chased fashion and kept radical, traditional fire at the centre of English folk song.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia; Camden New Journal (Dan Carrier, 2008); The Journal (Tamzin Lewis, 2010); Mainly Norfolk; Topic Records; Mike Harding Folk Show. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“I ran into some people in England who really knew those traditional English songs. I met Martin Carthy, and another guy named Bob Davenport. I learned a lot of stuff.”
Bob Dylan, 1984 interview, recalling early 1960s London
“I walked into the Bedford Arms and there was this Radio Athlone Ceilidh Hour, but played live. It was amazing and it quickly became part of my life.”
Bob Davenport to Dan Carrier, Camden New Journal, 2008
“They would have worked incredibly hard all week and then they would get their suits and ties on for the Saturday night. They'd all be well turned out.”
Davenport on Irish Camden pub culture, Camden New Journal, 2008
“Never one to court fashion, Bob has remained true to the living tradition while being on the cutting edge of revivalism.”
Topic Records description for The Common Stone
“Few singers command the respect of their peers like Tyneside's Bob Davenport - his radical fire is undimmed.”
Observer Music Monthly, quoted by Topic Records
“Warmth and sincerity - his unaccompanied version of the McGarrigles' Heart Like a Wheel is a whimsical treasure. Few singers are as important to the revival.”
The Telegraph, quoted by Topic Records
“He has had a massive influence on the folk scene and his work with bands like The Rakes, Flowers and Frolics and The Marsden Rattlers has produced a fine body of songs and music.”
Mike Harding Folk Show, Hall of Fame entry on Bob Davenport
“Singing was an important pastime. There was often singing at weddings and funerals.”
Davenport on growing up in Depression-era North-east England, Camden New Journal, 2008
Photos
1Bob Davenport on the cover of The Common Stone (Topic Records, 2004)
by People Forever
