Dave Anderson had been playing for 59 years. He was brought up in a very musical family; his dad Alec wasn’t a working musician but he played violin and clarinet in his army days. His uncle Jack was the drummer in the Eric Winstone (big) Band and also played in the BBC orchestra in Wales. His uncle Stan was a hotel lounge piano player in Fiji for many years and his cousin John was a jazz drummer and played on P&O Orient line ships.
With two drummers in the family it is perhaps not surprising that Dave also started his career in music as a drummer while still at school. His first band was Titch & The Taveners (singer Stu ‘Titch’ Edson being under 5 feet tall). His next band was The Detours and then Freddie ‘Fingers’ Lee and the Storm. Freddie had been the piano player with Screaming Lord Sutch.
Dave played some local sessions for Country singer/songwriter/musician Ray Brett. Dave was mesmerised by his intricate guitar playing; thumb pick and fingers, Chet Atkins style. He bought a guitar and tried to emulate him but in his own words ‘never succeeded!’ Having learnt how to play guitar sufficiently well Dave joined his first Country band, Campbell’s Country in 1971. The line up was Campbell Baxter (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Dave Anderson (lead guitar and harmony vocals), Nicky Evans (bass) and Mark ‘Ginge’ Brian (drums and harmony vocals). In 1975 they recorded an album, Campbell’s Country on the Westwood label. The band weren’t happy with the quality of the album and didn’t promote it.
After a few years, Campbell left and took a break from Country music after an extensive tour with Patsy Montana and Judy Rose. Before leaving, the band recorded an album with Patsy and Judy (Patsy Montana’s daughter) called Mum And I Visit Campbell’s Country, this was Judy’s first ever recording session. Sleeve notes for the album were co-written by Gene Autry and fiddle supremo Billy Armstrong. Billy, talking about Judy Rose said “It goes without saying that Patsy and Campbell’s Country are also great” It was recorded at Look Studios in Yorkshire and was released on the Look label in 1976. After Campbell left his own band, Dave Anderson also left and the band resurfaced as Colorado. In about 1978 Dave decided to make Country music his full time career having learnt how to play pedal steel guitar and he gave up his day job as a manager. He joined another 4-piece band called County Class. Dave wasn’t impressed with the name and suggested something with a bit more punch, Barbary Coast was agreed. The line up at that time was John ‘Robbo’ Robinson (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Dave Anderson (lead guitar, pedal steel guitar and harmony vocals), John ‘Bugsy’ Moloney (bass and harmony vocals) and Warren ‘Wally’ Greaves (drums). The band was signed to Allen Productions and were very busy. Dave recorded two albums with Frank Ifield and Barbary Coast. The first was Frank Ifield With Barbary Coast in 1978 and the second was Sweet Vibrations in 1980 after he had left the band.
After leaving Barbary Coast in 1979 he joined a five-piece close harmony band called Conspiracy. They played quality pop music and harmony based Country (Eagles, Poco, Little River Band etc) and the line up was Dave Anderson (lead guitar, pedal steel guitar and vocals), Dave Clemo (guitar, mandolin and vocals), Andy (lead guitar and harmony vocals), Phil (bass and vocals) and Mark Bryan (ex- Campbell’s Country, drums). After leaving Conspiracy, Dave joined the Alan Howard Band, a local function band, for a short time. The band didn’t suit him and he was quickly sacked after suggesting the band should rehearse songs!
After a short break from playing, Dave formed a duo Lock Stock & Barrel with John Fellows, the bass player with the function band. At around this time Dave decided to form an artist booking agency which he called Barrel Promotions. The duo was getting a good amount of work and having to turn work away. Dave started the agency to find work for other acts for a small commission. Many years later the agency was renamed Black Cat Promotions.
After a while Dave had a phone call from Peterborough band Burnt Ash who was a summer season band and Pontins. They had been asked to be the resident band for the first Pontins Country festival. They didn’t have enough of a Country repertoire or knowledge of the music to take on the role and Dave was asked to join the band. It didn’t suit him at that time and he recommended Campbell Baxter who was looking for a new band after his short break from Country music, Campbell stayed with them for two years after which he decided to re-form Campbell’s Country. Mickey Bembridge, keyboardist and lead guitarist with Burnt Ash went with him and Dave Anderson and John Fellows also joined the reformed band. The line up was Campbell Baxter (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Dave Anderson (lead guitar. pedal steel guitar and harmony vocals), Mickey Bembridge (keyboards, lead guitar, lead and harmony vocals), John Fellows (bass, lead and harmony vocals) and Chris Page (drums) Dave spent four years with Campbell’s Country leaving in 1985 to form Vegas. He took bass player John Fellows with him and the line up was Dave Anderson (lead guitar, pedal steel guitar and vocals), John Fellows (bass and vocals), Julie Clements (fiddle, keyboards and harmony vocals) and Stu Peters (drums and vocals). The band recorded a cassette album, Vegas before they even started gigging. Vegas turned out to be very short lived, barely lasting a year.
In 1985 George Moody’s lead guitarist Terry Clifford moved on to the Western Rodeo Band teaming up with Brian Mann. With the demise of Vegas, Dave was looking for a new band and he was pleased to accept George Moody’s offer of a job with the Country Squires. The line up was George Moody (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Dave Anderson (lead guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo and harmony vocals, Robbie Hawkes (bass) and Steve Patchett (drums). In 1986 George’s For All Those Years album was released; this was to be his and Dave Anderson’s last vinyl album. Steve Patchett left shortly after Dave joined and moved to Wales and he was replaced by Rich Butcher on drums. A cassette album New Favourites followed in 1987 and another cassette album Thats The Way Love Goes, followed. During Dave’s time with the band, Bobby Wilkinson (from Burnt Ash) also played on drums for a while and a young pedal steel player, Lynn Ansell, regularly played with the band bringing them up to a 5-piece. Very few musicians stayed in the Country Squires for long and Dave Anderson was no exception leaving after a little over two years primarily because of the amount of travelling involved. The Essex based Country Squires were extremely busy sometimes working seven nights a week and it eventually proved to be very wearing for Dave travelling from Northants to Essex. He left the band in 1990 and was replaced by Terry Clifford returning after his stint with the Western Rodeo Band.
Dave went immediately into his next band Jon Derek & Country Fever. Guitarist Albert’s Lee’s career as a country musician probably began when he joined the Jon Derek Band in early 1968. Albert had been introduced to Jon Derek two years earlier by a good friend, Chas Hodges (later to become half of Chas & Dave). The Jon Derek band were formed as a backing band for Clodagh Rodgers but Jon and Albert later went on to form Country Fever one of the best respected and most successful British country bands in the 1970s and 80s. Dave recorded two cassette albums with Jon Derek and Country Fever, a studio album Moving On and a live album Live At The Venue. By the time Dave Anderson joined, Jon Derek was nearing the end of his career. The line up was Jon Derek (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Dave Anderson (lead guitar, guitar synth, pedal steel guitar and harmony vocals), Dave (Lofty) Pycroft (bass and harmony vocals) and Tony (Pekker) Peck (drums and harmony vocals). George Moody and The Country Squires released another cassette album That’s The Way Love Goes which included Dave Anderson as it was recorded before he left.
Jon Derek went into semi-retirement at the end of 1991 and Country Fever was reborn as Wishbone with Dave fronting a band for the first time as one of three lead singers, but with most of the presentation falling on Dave’s shoulders. Until then he had always considered himself a guitarist who could sing. Fifteen year old Stuart Lee joined the band as the third lead singer and featured on Wishbone’s first album First Wish. Stuart was an exceptional singer but as he was still a teenager it didn’t work out and he was soon replaced by Bob Common on lead guitar.
Bob started playing in 1967 and in the early years played all types of music before joining the Dundee based Silver Dollar band where he stayed for many years playing only local gigs. He joined a touring band, Rhodes County, in the 1980s and then moved on to Rufus Stone before joining Wishbone. During the 1990s Wishbone were considered to be one of the best bands on the British Country circuit. Instrumentally and vocally they were very tight and always had more than a touch of lunacy thanks to drummer Anthony Arthur John Peck. Dave, David Pycroft and Bob Common shared the lead vocal duties and Tony Peck also sung lead vocals from time to time. Wishbone released three other CD albums Second Wish. Live 95 and Yesterday’s Wishes.
As well as recording with his own bands there were many other recording sessions over the years. These including working with 1975 Opportunity Knocks winner Tammy Jones and with The Fortunes on their 1999 album Some Bridges.
Following the demise of Wishbone at the Millennium, Dave formed the Thrillbillies duo with Neil Lusk almost immediately. Neil left the duo after less than two years and in 2001 Dave recruited Ed Cox to fill a vacancy. Ed had been working as a soloist in pubs and clubs in Northamptonshire. Although he was brought up with a love of Elvis and included some Country material in his act he knew little about the British Country music scene at that time. In the following 19 years the Thrillbillies established themselves as one of the best country duos with two good singers, good vocal harmonies and good playing. In 2019 Dave and Ed decided to go their own way as solo artists but then came Covid. Having caught Covid himself shortly after lockdown ended Dave continued working as a soloist performing a full country show, including line dance friendly songs, and a full show of 60s/70s music or a mix of the two. Although working primarily as a soloist Dave also worked as Freeway duo with J.D.Bullitt with traditional country music and Freeline duo with Cliff Weston for country/line dance and as Freeway trio with both.
Sadly Dave Anderson passed away on 31 December 2024 at the Sands CMC in High Wycombe doing what he did best singing and playing.
Research by Nick Catford.