Melodeon Tutors Concert: John Spiers and Simon Care

The Melodeon Weekend tutors concert.

Simon Care is a veteran melodeon player in the British folk scene and a founding member of the folk quartet Banter, where he plays melodeon and concertina. He has over 30 years of experience in the industry, having worked with prominent groups such as the Albion Band, Edward II, Whapweasel, and Tickled Pink. Originally from Moulton, Northamptonshire, Simon's musical journey began through Morris dancing, specifically with Moulton Morris.

John Spiers, known better in folk circles as Squeezy, has made a name for himself as one of the leading squeezebox players of his generation. Well known for his long-standing duo partnership with Jon Boden in the formidable Spiers & Boden as well as his contribution to the massively popular Bellowhead, John has also played with Eliza Carthy’s Ratcatchers and a number of local folk-dance bands

​John still lives in Oxfordshire with his partner and two children and is an active member of the local folk scene. A true enthusiast, his passion for music and bellows-driven instruments is only equalled by his passion for his allotment, cooking, making things out of wood, home brewing, the environment, gadgets and complaining about things on Twitter.
John has always written tunes and music for the melodeon in the traditional style and many of them can be heard performed on the albums of both Bellowhead and Spiers & Boden as well as being played in folk sessions up and down the country and around the world. He has only recently found time in amongst the heavy touring schedule to develop more of these compositions for performance as solo pieces and is keenly working on ways of marrying the infectious pulse of traditional English dance music with modern musical influences and take this vibrant music to audiences both at home and abroad.