Canny Fettle had its origins in the Manchester area in the late 60s when fellow students Bob Diehl, Gerry Murphy, and Anthony Robb joined with Royton singer John Williamson to form a group. They were influenced at this time locally by Harry Boardman and from further afield by Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick and of course the High Level Ranters. Indeed Bob D and Gerry splashed out the whole of the years’ student folk club’s budget to hold a High Level Ranters’ concert.

David Hillery set Gerry and Anthony on the road to playing the Northumbrian smallpipes and Harry Boardman adopted Bob D often as his accompanist. In the early 70s Gerry and Bob D joined with Bob Morton, a Geordie from South Shields and Steve Turner, a local Mancunian, to form the successful Canny Fettle band which lasted for nearly a decade. Highlights of this time were the records of Varry Canny, Trip to Harrogate and Room for Company as well as accompanying Harry Boardman and David Hillery on various recordings. They toured and performed at folk clubs and festivals in the UK and Europe including venturing as far afield as Thurso (with Nic Jones), Loughborough (with Joe Hutton and Willy Atkinson) and the Netherlands and Germany (with Tommy Peoples and the Bothy Band). Folk club and concert highlights included the Singers Club, accompanying the Irish singer Dominic Behan, as well as a BBC North West television series on various local history topics.

By the early 80s the group had effectively disbanded, Steve was already pursuing his solo ambitions and professional careers took the two Bobs and Gerry to live in various parts of the globe. However throughout the years, the three continued in their own ways to play music; Bob M and Bob D in various dance bands such as the Village Band and Hugh Ferguson’s Dalriada Scottish Dance Band, as well as touring internationally with the Corryvrechan Scottish Dance team; Bob D played in Holland in “Vidlin Voe” with Peter Urwin, Gilles & Saskia Michels and Huib Haringhuizen; and Gerry in Basel, Switzerland, in an instrumental group, Early Grey, playing both Northumbrian and French music with Beat Weber and Guido Helmig. However, they still maintained contact with one other—Bob M keeps a guitar in many of his ports of call—and recently decided to record a selection of new and old songs as a tribute to the many people who influenced them throughout the years and endowed them with the joy of music. This is above all what they collectively hope to pass on.