Mudge & Clutterbuck
One of the joys of starting this website project has been renewing the acquaintance of so many artists and punters. One such is Tim Clutterbuck who first crossed our path in our school days when he joined Al Stewart, and his musical partner Dave Mudge to provide a memorable evening in 1970.
We have been trying for some time to obtain permission from Dave's estate to use two of his songs recorded at that school concert, Lowly-Low and Rougemont Castle, on our second CD.
Our fellow intrepid producer Alan White's enquiries led him to Jacksonville in Florida where Tim now lives with his wife Bonnie designing contact lenses for a living. Sadly Dave's death in 1998 came as news to Tim.
Tim writes:
'I don't have any Mudge and Clutterbuck recordings except for an EP we made back in our Bristol days. We did sign contracts with the Witchseason Agency - Werewolf was the management side, Warlock the music publishing. That was when we were hoping to work with Island records - I even talked some with Muff Winwood - Steve's brother. The whole thing started to fall apart after that..Haven't picked up the guitar in ten years - it's in my loft gathering dust. It was a wonderful time of my life that I'm glad I did it, but wouldn't want to extend or repeat.
The Mudge & Clutterbuck Story:
The
two first met at the Troubadour Club in Bristol in January 1967 where
they
were working as soloists. There they met the Incredible String Band,
and
learned to play four songs off the group's first LP. The next night
they
played them together at the club.
Dave,
25, who also plays guitar, wrote the duo's songs and Tim arranged
them.
Soon they got engagements at other clubs, and were very popular.
Al
Stewart and Derek Brimstone, who were guest artists at the Troubadour,
heard
them and suggested that they moved to London, which they did in the
summer
of 1969.
As
a group they are very flexible; sometimes they play with violinist Nick
Pickett
and girl singers Fiona Stuart and Jacqui on certain engagements.
Recently
they played at the Queen Elizabeth Hall supporting Al Stewart and
the
Third Ear Band.
Now
they are playing mainly in clubs in London and the provinces. They have
turned
down two recording contracts and are waiting for another offer.
'We
try to please people' says Tim; 'we like to see audience reaction. The
audience
is part of the act. We eventually want to expand into a bigger
group'.
and
later..
After
a considerable interlude Tim Clutterbuck pitched up in New York. He
writes:
'Soon
after I got settled in Rochester, New York I teamed up with a local
duo,
Joe LaMay (guitar) and Eileen Kennedy (double bass). We played several
times
at the Park Avenue Project (and coffeehouse) which was held in a
converted
family room of a house run by two (married) Baptist ministers.
Again,
I became MC for a while - this time only once a week rather than the
3
or 4 times a week at the Troubadour. Unfortunately, Joe had neither the
voice
nor the songwriting talent of Mudge (well neither did I) but we
enjoyed
some local popularity and a couple of years of fun until Eileen
moved
away. I remember at least one of the evenings being taped - that's
undoubtedly
what you have now.
Suzanne
King was a DJ for a local radio station, WCMF. It was she who
introduced
'Punk' and 'New wave' to the Rochester radio scene. She was a
definite
'anglophile' - enjoying everything British, from Monty Python
humour,
to Al Stewart and her favourites, the Kinks. I introduced her to Al
Stewart
one night in Buffalo during his 'Year of the Cat' tour. On another
occasion
we had dinner with the Kinks - also in Buffalo. It was she who got
me
the gigs on WITR, which is the radio station of Rochester Institute of
Technology.
I never knew she had tapes of those shows. If I remember
rightly,
one was an hour and a half, the other was an hour. I was stupid at
the
time because I didn't like to hear myself through headphones, so I had
to
conduct the whole show myself rather than being prompted and talking
with
the show's host - if only I could do it all over.'
and now..
These
tapes have now found their way into the possession of our intrepid
production
man young Alan White. Sadly the likelihood of them finding a
wider
audience is slight.