DAVE COUSINS
Having notched up 19 studio albums since Strawbs’ 1969 self-titled debut, Dave Cousins has remained the one constant at the centre of the band throughout the 51 years that have followed, amid various shifts in musical directions and sometimes turbulent personnel changes. He turned 75 at the beginning of this year, yet the prolific songwriter and vocalist intends to stay busy. “While I still enjoy it, I’ll keep on doing it,” he says.
In 2019, Strawbs celebrated their golden jubilee at a gala event in Lakewood, New Jersey. Backed by a 30-piece orchestra and a choir made up of staff members from New York’s United Nations building, the gig covered their lengthy career from start to present day. Cousins recalls, “Tony Visconti, who’d worked with us on our very first records, agreed to come and conduct. It was unbelievable to have Tony there and we did our very first single, Oh, How She Changed, with Dave Lambert singing and backed by the orchestra. We also had the choir sing an amazing rendition of Lay Down and they accompanied us on We Have The Power from our 2017 album, The Ferryman’s Curse. That was extraordinary.”
The three-day celebration, which included many of musicians who’ve either played live or recorded with Strawbs since they began, was a truly emotional occasion. “Strawbs are a family. You can never overlook that. And we all get on very well together. Even though [artists] left the band there was never really any hard feeling. Yes, there might have been aggravation at the time but by and large, we’ve all stuck together and looked after one another.”
“We’d been paying Rick Wakeman £25 a week and Yes offered him £100. Funnily enough, history repeated itself because we had Oliver, Rick’s son, playing with us for a while and he left us to join Yes as
