Tony Hetherington’s family are from Northern Ireland and that’s where he grew up for the first 8 years of his life. His uncles were in accordion bands and he had an uncle who could play guitar. Country music was always an important part of family life, but he wasn’t really aware of Country music at the time although he does remember some of the Irish showbands in 1964, shortly before he moved to England. At that time, he was listening to the popular chart artists like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Freddie and The Dreamers and The Hollies etc.
The family used to watch Top Of The Pops and as he became more aware of music he would record the songs he liked on a Grundig reel to reel tape recorder by standing the microphone in front of the TV speaker. He would then write the lyrics down and learn the songs. One particular song he learnt when he was 14 was Don McLean’s American Pie.
When he was 15, one of his uncles gave him an old Spanish guitar. He would come to the house and teach him a few chords. He then bought a guitar lesson book and learnt the basics from that. He joined the Royal Navy when he was 16 and met some really good guitar players. One of them had an Echo Ranger guitar which he sold to Tony although, at that time, he still couldn’t play properly and really only knew chords. They taught him how to play tunes like Streets of London and House Of The Rising Sun. At this time, Tony was a bedroom guitarist singing and playing to himself for his own enjoyment. He had no aspirations of becoming a musician and it wasn’t until he was 37 that he first started playing in bands.
One day, in later life, Tony met Clive Battle who was a big Albert Lee fan. Although Tony liked Country music, he considered himself to be more of a rock ‘n’ roll fan, in particular artists like Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. Clive asked him if he was interested in forming a band to play in local pubs. At that time he was still only playing at home for fun and jumped at the opportunity to play with others for the first time. They enlisted a bass player and drummer and Live n Pickin took to the road for the first time in 1994. It was a Country rock band playing music by Rodney Crowell, Albert Lee, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Eagles etc. Their first pub gig was well received but they only lasted for two gigs before the drummer and bass player left. They recruited new musicians and there were several changes to the lineup until, after two years, Clive Battle left the band.
By now, Tony had got the bug and wanted to keep the band ‘live n pickin’ working. Simon Elford was on drums at this time. Jess Mortimer played bass with the band from the beginning, Jess began his musical career playing in punk bands before moving into heavy rock. Eventually Tony found a new lead guitarist, Keith O’Connor who was jazz influenced and loved the guitarist Carlos Santana. He wasn’t really a ‘country picker’ and inevitably the band became rockier. Keith owned and ran a music shop called The Music Box on the Cowley Road in Oxford. After a couple of years, the name of the band changed to Fast Forward and in 1998 the line up was Tony Hetherington (lead vocal and rhythm guitar), Keith O’Connor (lead guitar and vocals), Jess Mortimer (bass) and harmony vocals and Joe Chapman (drums).
In 1999, without notice, Keith left the band for personal reasons, leaving Tony in the lurch with band bookings to fulfil. He needed to find a replacement guitarist very quickly to avoid cancelling gigs and was able to recruit Denis Cremin who had a traditional Irish, Country and bluegrass background. Denis agreed to join the band totally unrehearsed to fulfil an important wedding booking. Denis was a multi instrumentalist; as well as playing lead guitar he also played fiddle, squeeze box and harmonica.
When Denis joined, this took the band in a more Country direction so the name was changed to Ridgeway Country in the summer of 1999. Originally the new name was just going to be Ridgeway because Tony lived near The Ridgeway but one of the band members suggested adding Country to the name would be useful as people would know they were a Country band. The original lineup was Tony Hetherington (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) Denis Cremin (lead guitar), Jess Mortimer (bass) and Joe Chapman (drums). As soon as they became a Country band they stopped working pubs and working men’s clubs and launched themselves on the Country club and festival circuit. They made a demo CD album to promote the new band. They soon found however that it was a harder life on the road as a Country band. Instead of working locally and getting home at midnight they started getting home at 3 or 4 in the morning. They were well aware that they joined the Country circuit at a time when bands were in decline so they would have to be prepared to travel further afield to get the work.
Shortly after Denis joined, they became a 5-piece band with the arrival of Ken Byng on pedal steel guitar. He had played in bands with Denis before and Denis recommended him for the band. The addition of pedal steel gave Ridgeway Country a more Country sound especially as Denis also played fiddle. Ken also played banjo and dobro which gave the band much greater musical versatility. At this same time, Joe Chapman left as he wanted to move in a different direction and he later joined a glam rock band. He was replaced by Simon Elford who had previously played in Live n Pickin and Fast Forward. Simon left Ridgeway after a couple of years to be replaced by, in succession by, Martin Matthews, Biff Walsh and Matt Jacobs.
When Denis and Ken Byng eventually left the band in 2010 their places were taken by another top guitarist, Andy Kingston (aka Andy Twang) and Jimmy Martin on pedal steel guitar. (note this is a different Jimmy Martin to the musician who is currently very busy in various bands and duos), Jimmy was in remission from cancer and passed away after only10 months with Ridgeway. Jimmy was replaced by Dave Wheelhouse. Dave Hayward occasionally depped with the band but he was never actually a member of Ridgeway.
In 2012, Tony got a phone call from lead guitarist Andy Kingston to say he couldn’t make an important gig that night due to illness. Tony tried to get a stand in but it was too short notice and he had to cancel. To avoid this happening again, he put together some backing tracks that allowed him to work solo or as a duo and Ridgeway Duo came into being as insurance if band members weren’t able to perform at short notice. It wasn’t long before Ridgeway Duo became Whitehorse Duo in case people thought that Ridgeway Duo was the band. Tony was keen to maintain a separate identity for the duo especially as many of the songs were different.
Andy Kingston stayed with the band for 4 years. By 2018 the line up line up was Tony Hetherington (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Mark Jacobs (lead guitar), Dave Wheelhouse (pedal steel guitar), Jess Mortimer (bass) and Matt Jacobs (drums). Mark Jacobs was an established member of the band by this time, however during 2020 when no one was gigging due the Covid pandemic Andy Kingston returned. Jess Mortimer who had been playing with Tony since 1994 left in 2021 to explore new directions. He now plays upright double bass in The Zodiacs rock ‘n’ roll band but occasionally stands in on bass with Ridgeway Country if required and remains a member of Whitehorse Duo. He was replaced by Tim Albins from Suffolk.
Dave Wheelhouse left around 2018 to be replaced by Ray Phillips on pedal steel and lead guitar. Mark Jacobs left in 2020, with Andy Kingston returning to the fold for a couple of years finally departing in 2022.
At this time the band became a 4 piece for the first time since 2000, with Ray playing lead guitar and pedal steel. The current line up is Tony Hetherington (lead vocals rhythm guitar), Ray Phillips (electric guitar, pedal steel guitar and vocals, Matt Jacobs (drums and vocals) vocals, Tim Albins (bass and vocals). Matthew is Mark Jacobs’ nephew.
Tony also fronts a 4-piece rock ‘n’ roll band called the Tony H Band working mainly in the Swindon area but they only have a few gigs a year, Ridgeway Country is much busier.
Ridgeway Country have released three studio CD albums over the years, the first was Ridgeway Country in 2004, the second was The Right Place in 2010 and the most recent album 110% Ridgeway in 2023. There was also a live album Ridgeway Live in 2019. A number of other musicians have depped with the band over the years. These include Dave Mackie on lead guitar who was with ‘Live and Pickin’ for a short time after Clive Battle departed. Dave Hartley (pedal steel guitar) Jim Martin (from Black Steel) (pedal steel guitar, electric guitar and fiddle), Gary Holster (lead guitar) and Graham Walker (lead guitar).
Tony also fronts a 4-piece rock ‘n’ roll band called the Tony H Band working mainly in the Swindon area but they only have a few gigs a year, Ridgeway Country is much busier.
Ridgeway Country have released three studio CD albums over the years, the first was Ridgeway Country in 2004, the second was The Right Place in 2010 and the most recent album 110% Ridgeway in 2023. There was also a live album Ridgeway Live in 2019. A number of other musicians have depped with the band over the years. These include Dave Mackie on lead guitar who was with ‘Live and Pickin’ for a short time after Clive Battle departed. Dave Hartley (pedal steel guitar) Jim Martin (from Black Steel) (pedal steel guitar, electric guitar and fiddle), Gary Holster (lead guitar) and Graham Walker (lead guitar).
Research by Nick Catford.