(c’70 to date) Rod Bayton (singer/songwriter)

Guildford folk music writer and performer Rod “Bearded Beanstalk” Bayton played the Ukulele and Banjo.

To our knowledge he first appeared at the Stag Folk Club on the club’s opening night in ’70 and became a club resident, expertly warming up any audience for the evening. On 26 March ’72 the club meet was recorded by Tony Engle, capturing Bayton’s own track “Natural Gas Conversion” and his rendition of music hall song “The Old Dun Cow” written by Harry Wincott in 1893; with both included in the Stag Folk Club LP ‘Live Folk’.

StagFolk album sleeve front. Picture courtesy of Bens Collectors Records

Bayton also appeared at the Stag Folk organized free concert at The Guildford Show on 1 September ’73 along with Derek Sarjeant & Hazel King, Ian Russell, Mountain Line, Fred Hayes, Backhurst, and Damien. Two years later, on 20 August ’75, Bayton, along with Mountain Line, and Derek Serjeant & Hazel King, repeated this appearance at the Stage Folk Free Concert at Guildford Show with Cocky, Grass Roots, Don & Sarah Morgan, Dave Tarn, and Julian High.

He was last seen performing in Guildford, where he still resides, band UkeRythmics, who formed in 2017 and he is rumoured to have attended the virtual meetings of the Anchor Folk Club Byfleet in 2020.

Gallery:

StagFolk album sleeve back. Picture courtesy of Bens Collectors Records
StagFolk album insert. Picture courtesy of Bens Collectors Records