Roy Harper wants to hear new ambitious music, but knows it’s hard

The music world was enduring another era of technical turmoil in 2013 as the streaming industry was judged to be worth $1 billion for the first time. Reacting, Roy Harper spoke to Prog about how he saw the creative scene – or lack of it – and the benefits of the way artists had found encouragement and development when he was starting out.

“The pop stuff always reaches me because the radio’s always on, but there’s no real scene any more, because the scene is online. So there are various scenes and you don’t know which one is which.

Now and again you hear good things and you turn them up and try and follow up on them, but it’s very rare that something happens like that, because you cannot visit the scene.

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The scene is now in the bedroom. There are plenty of people who’d disagree with that, but they’d all be in big cities. There isn’t a group of people in a school who are influencing each other and forcing each other more or less to improve, and being part of a school does teach you to get better.

My school was probably the folk revival, where I had characters like Davy Graham and Bert Jansch and Paul Simon, Alexis Korner and Jackson Frank. Dozens of people: John Martyn and Al Stewart, the Incredible String Band. If I had a list in front of me it would be very, very long, as long as Long John Baldry – who would actually be another member!

Roy Harper – Me And My Woman (Remastered) – YouTube

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It was a very sharp school of people to be among, and to be writing among. It’s kind of like the British version of the Crosby, Stills & Nash school over in the USA; it’s the same kind of era. It sharpened all of us up. But there isn’t anything like that any more.

Now the internet has hold of everyone, and it has them suppressed. You do have iconic bands still touring – the Rolling Stones and so on – but where’s the up-and-coming? What’s happened to the grass roots? Where are the grass roots now? Where is the progressive stuff happening? Please turn me on! I’m here – I’m easily accessible.”

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