Oak

Oak were Tony Engle (concertina (a small accordion)), Danny Stradling (tambourine), Rod Stradling (melodeon (a small reed organ)), Peta Webb (fiddle). The quartet, organized in the early 1970s, specialized in traditional dance tunes, and their sole album, Welcome To Our Fair (1971), on the Topic label became the jumping-off point for virtually every traditional dance band that followed in their wake. Ironically, it was also one of the rarest '70s folk revival records in England, as of 2003. Tony Engle later came to run Topic Records, while Rod Stradling and Danny Stradling formed the Old Swan Band, the English Country Blues Band, and Tiger Moth, and Peta Webb has emerged as an important solo artist and session musician, incorporating a feminist consciousness into her folk and fiddle repertory. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide