John Spiers: My OG Melodeon Hero

Chatterbox with Mel Biggs

John Spiers is famously one of the busiest and most unavailable box players on the English folk music circuit. Most well known for his long-term collaboration with Jon Boden in Spiers & Boden, and together co-founding their multi-award winning global phenomenon big band Bellowhead, John can also be seen playing with Steeleye Span's Peter Knight as a duo, Peter's Gigspanner Big Band, and Saltlines, as well as in duo with fiddler & vocalist Jackie Oates.

Join me this month as I get to fangirl my original melodeon hero - the reason I picked up a box in the first place - and find out more about his journey into folk music and what a wild ride it's been to experience such a monumentous career trajectory from the quaint, rural Oxfordshire villages he sessioned in as a young adult, to the bright lights of Bellowhead's reign.

John's Links:

Website | YouTube | Bluesky

Mel's melodeon workshops at The Stables, Milton Keynes Jan & Mar 2025:

https://stables.org/workshops

Join my PATREON for extended episodes, guest tutor Melinars & learning resource archive:

www.patreon.com/melbiggsmusic

Visit my website for on demand classes, courses, live dates, merch & more:

www.melbiggsmusic.co.uk

Intro & outro music:

'Dream Big' by Mel Biggs. All rights reserved.

Listen to the full track on my album 'From Darkness Comes Light':

www.melbiggsmusic.bandcamp.com

Get in touch: [e-mail]

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