Artist of the Week - Winterberry - The Lay of the Land

There are apparently only a few known copies of this album in existence.

Three copies are now in the possession of Andrew Hodges who bought two copies from a charity shop in York in 1997 for 50p each. Knowing that these were extremely valuable Andrew insisted on paying £10 for both (a great deal of money back then). The other copy he found in the attic of an old pub/folk singer whose wife had organised an open house clearance following his untimely death (he fell from a stile whilst exploring the Whiteway Head's Road). It is said that a fourth is held in a vault in a Hamburg bank but this cannot be verified at this time.

One of the main questions that rises from the mystery of Winterberry is why there are so few copies out there. Maytree Recordings (an unacknowledged offshoot of Island Records) folded in 1975 following a series of unsuccessful ventures with a variety of bands. Few now remember the work of Michael Tally, The Hunters of Rye, Star Spangled Bagman, A Tanner for a Pear and of course Winterberry. This is very sad because it is clear from the track that Chris Sharp has uncovered that they were a very exciting force in the world of folk music.

According to Maytree's ledgers (that Chris Sharp bought at auction last year) 500 copies were pressed in 1974 but only a few made it to the shops. Apparently the truck carrying the bulk of Maytree's stock was involved in a fatal collision on the A47 in May of that year. The stock that did survive did make it to a few branches of Woolworths, but sadly,  the Anti-Pagan League (a branch of the Nationwide Festival of Light) bought up the remaining stock and burnt them outside St Mary The Virgin Church in Uttoxeter.

Artist of the Week - Winterberry - Origin of the name...

According to Winterberry researcher Professor Andrew Hodges (University of York); in a short unprinted interview with Broadside Magazine in 1972 the wooden masked lead singer of the new folk ensemble "Winterberry" did give some insight into the origin of their name. Hodges suggests that this was probably Colin Winterberry as Derek was known to be profoundly reclusive. Their surname was clearly a pseudonym and the real names of the band are unknown. "Colin" did admit that the name had a particular origin.

He told the magazine that whilst on a family holiday to Crow Head in Newfoundland, in the mid 50's, he had developed a taste for this inedible berry. He watched a Willow Ptarmigan voraciously eating the delicious looking berry and so decided to try some for himself. The subsequent illness he contracted resulted in him penning the song "The gorge rises in the cold breeze" which he recorded on the 1973 album "Culinary Delights and Ancient Cures". This album, like so much of the Winterberry back catalogue, is now lost. It is thanks to researchers and enthusiasts such as Chris Sharp and Andrew Hodges that we now have some insight into this fascinating band and their output.

Ilex verticillata, the winterberry, is a species of holly native to eastern North America in the United States and southeast Canada, from Newfoundland west to Ontario and Minnesota, and south to Alabama.

 Other names that have been used include Black Alder Winterberry, Brook Alder, Canada holly, Coralberry, Deciduous Holly, Deciduous Winterberry, False alder, Fever bush, Inkberry, Michigan Holly, Possumhaw, Swamp Holly, Virginian Winterberry, or Winterberry Holly. 

The species occurs particularly in wetland habitats, but also on dry sand dunes and grassland. The berries are an important food resource for numerous species of birds.

(Source Wikipedia)