In this day and age of bands that burst upon the scene and then just as quickly disappear again, it’s nice to know that there are some around that have stayed the course.

One of those bands was responsible for taking Folk Music and making it accessible to people who wouldn’t normally listen to such music.

Steeleye Span even managed a couple of hit albums and singles in the 40, yes 40 years they’ve been ruling the Folk world.

They formed in 1969 and had the goal of playing traditional folk music in a contemporary style. This involved the use of electric instruments and after introducing electric guitars and bass, they brought in a drummer and the genre of Folk Rock had their first stars.

Classically trained violinist Peter Knight first joined the band in 1971 and apart from a three-year gap at the end of the decade, has been ever-present since.

He is pleasantly surprised at the longevity of the band.

“It’s quite amazing,” he said. “If I’d’ve known it was going to last this long, I’d’ve looked after myself.” He laughed.

“I’ve never looked at music as a career, it’s just something I do. I only do music I enjoy and only work with people I like.”

“Obviously I’m very pleased that we’re still going, touring and recording.”

Peter is very modest about the band’s influence on the genre of Folk Music.

“There have been some changes in folk music and one would like to think that our success made the music more accessible. We’ve a very strong and faithful audience and there are new generations always coming through.”

Fronted by singer Maddy Prior, with Tim Hart on co-lead vocals, Bob Johnson on guitar, Rick Kemp on Bass, Peter Knight on violin (and later keyboards) plus Nigel Pegrum, the band had commercial success in 1973 with the accapella Christmas hit ‘Gaudete’.

Albums like ‘A Parcel Of Rogues’, ‘Now We Are Six’ (produced by Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson and featuring David Bowie on sax) cemented their success.

Then came ‘Commoner’s Crown’ which had Peter Sellers on Acoustic Ukulele.

“We just phoned him up and asked him to do it. He was delighted to do so and even added some of his voices on at the end.”

In 1975, the Mike Batt produced ‘All Around My Hat’ became their biggest hit album and the title track made the Top Five!

After ‘Rocket Cottage’, again produced by Batt, Knight and Johnson left the band, but returned by 1980.

Hart, Kemp and Pegrum also left the band, but Steeleye Span refused to lie down. Members came and went throughout the years, even Maddy left for a while.

Ever the survivors, the band now consists of Prior, Knight, Preston’s Ken Nicol on guitar, Peter Zorn on bass, who has just replaced Kemp (Maddy’s husband) on bass, and the drum stool is occupied by the unforgettable Liam Genockey.

The tour is going very well indeed,” Fiddler extraordinaire Peter Knight told me during a break in a recent concert sound-check.

“With Rick being unwell at the moment, we were lucky enough to get Pete Zorn who is absolutely fantastic.”

“We’re all having a great time.” He added.

To celebrate the band’s 40th anniversary they are undertaking a 23-date UK Tour, taking in Southport and Lancaster.

Whilst not wanting to give much away and spoil things, Peter gave some hints at what we can expect in the concerts.

“It’s a collection of songs we have chosen, a couple of which we haven’t yet recorded. It’ll be a good cross-section of our material.”

The tour started in St Albans on April 14th and ends in Lancaster on May 10th.

“The audience’s response to the set has been fantastic.” Peter said.

After the UK tour the band are in the studio recording a brand new album.

“That’s right,” he agreed. “We hope to be in the studio in July. We have about 8 to 10 songs already, but they still need a bit of work.”

“After that, we are off to America and Australia where we have a great fan-base.”

And not content with this tour, they’ll be touring the UK again.

“Yes, we’ll be touring the UK again in November and December, but after that we may take a break.”

“We’ll take it one step at a time, but we probably won’t tour next year but maybe in 2011.”

Steeleye Span will be celebrating their 40th anniversary at The Floral Hall, Southport on Wednesday 6th May. Tickets are available from the usual agencies or on 01704 500036. And at The Grand Theatre, Lancaster on Sunday 10th May, tickets again from the usual agencies or on 01524 64695.