Flowers and Frolics

This UK outfit specialized in British country dance music and music hall songs. Blossoms And Frolics created in 1974, but at that time that they had no standard name so had been acknowledged as the Graeme Smith Music group, for any gig announced in Melody Manufacturer. Their moniker was extracted from the name of unique member Graeme Smith (b. Melbourne, Australia). Smith remaining to come back to Australia prior to the music group recorded its 1st recording. The line-up on 1977’s Bees On Horseback was Mike Bettison (b. 3 June 1951, Chiswick, London, Britain; melodeon/vocals), Roger Digby (b. 19 Apr 1949, Colchester, Essex, Britain; concertina, piano, vocals), Bob Ruler (b. 27 March 1952, Eastbourne, Sussex, Britain; banjo/acoustic guitar), Dan Quinn (b. 11 Oct 1949, Grimsby, South Humberside, Britain; melodeon/vocals), Ted Stevens (b. 27 Sept 1952, Redruth, Cornwall, Britain; percussion) and Alex Western (b. 8 November 1954, Britain; tuba), with visitor vocals from June Tabor and Bob Davenport. By enough time a second recording premiered, 1984’s SOLD-OUT, King and Western had been changed by Trevor Bennett (b. 4 August 1945, Grantham, Lincolnshire, Britain; trombones, flügelhorn, helicon), Rob Gifford (b. 1 March 1955, Wanstead, London, Britain; percussion), and Nick Havell (b. Nicholas George Havell, 7 January 1951, Stratford, London, Britain; bass trombone). Blooms And Frolics attained a great deal of reputation over the folk circuit, not really least for keeping many traditional dances alive. Playing a number of jigs, hornpipes, polkas and waltzes, they performed at celebrations around Britain, and had been popular at ceilidhs and barn dances as well. The music group split in Feb 1985, having chose they had performed more than enough. That same calendar year, Quinn, Havell, Bennett and Gifford produced the dance music group Gas Tag 5. Stevens became a member of the Aged Hat Music group, while King used jazz and rock and roll bands. The initial line-up of Blooms And Frolics reunited by the end from the 90s to record Reformed Individuals, a re-recording of Bees On Horseback that also highlighted several new monitors. Founding member Graeme Smith was readily available to greatly help out these times, with Bob Davenport and Peta Webb also offering guest vocals.