Artist · chart history · #274 in indie & aaa artist polls

Fairport Convention

Band London United Kingdom Formed 1967 English folk rock band

Fairport Convention formed in 1967 in London, United Kingdom. Fairport Convention has 10 chart appearances on 7 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 2004–2020. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”, which appears on 6 lists with a best position of #183. The station that charted Fairport Convention most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 9 appearances.

10appearances

7countdowns

3songs charted

2stations

0#1 finishes

2004–2020years

Fairport Convention started out in London in 1967 as Britain's answer to American folk rock: guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and, after the very first gig, drummer Martin Lamble, working through a set heavy on Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell songs. Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews joined on vocals for the 1968 debut, and the band got tagged "the British Jefferson Airplane". Then Sandy Denny replaced Dyble, and everything changed.

Denny pulled them toward the old songs of these islands. What We Did on Our Holidays and Unhalfbricking, home of the hushed, aching "Who Knows Where the Time Goes", brought in Dave Swarbrick's fiddle, and on "A Sailor's Life" a traditional British song met a rock beat for the first time. Tragedy followed: a crash on the M1 killed Lamble and Jeannie Franklyn, Thompson's girlfriend, and the band put aside its old repertoire and dived headlong into British folk. Liege & Lief, released that same year with Swarbrick full-time and Dave Mattacks on drums, is the result, with "Tam Lin" crackling with electric, eerie menace. In 2006 it was named the Most Influential Folk Album of All Time at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Denny and Hutchings were gone by the end of 1969; Dave Pegg came in on bass and never left. Thompson departed after 1970's Full House and its jaunty "Walk Awhile", and their Cropredy gatherings grew into Britain's largest folk festival.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

Songs by Fairport Convention on radio countdowns

#	Song	Strength	Lists	Best	#1s	Peak year
1	Who Knows Where the Time Goes	366	6	#183	–	–
2	Tam Lin	60	2	#553	–	–
3	Walk Awhile	39	1	#542	–	–

Albums with charting songs

Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.

Every countdown appearance

Year	#	Song	Countdown
2020	183	Who Knows Where the Time Goes	WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time
2014	258	Who Knows Where the Time Goes	WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014)
2010	362	Who Knows Where the Time Goes	WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010)
2010	542	Walk Awhile	WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010)
2009	321	Who Knows Where the Time Goes	WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009)
2009	553	Tam Lin	WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009)
2007	753	Who Knows Where the Time Goes	WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time
2006	277	Artist ranking	WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Artists (2006)
2004	311	Who Knows Where the Time Goes	WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004)
2004	688	Tam Lin	WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004)

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