Michael Chapman

A Leeds-born guitarist and songwriter who recorded for Harvest in 1969 and 1970, fell out of fashion, and spent his last decades as a respected elder of British and American fingerstyle, with Steve Gunn producing his final albums.

Leeds and Cornwall

Michael Chapman was born on January 24, 1941 in Hunslet, Leeds. He began on skiffle at Cockburn grammar school, learned from Big Bill Broonzy and Django Reinhardt, went to Leeds College of Art and taught photography at Bolton College. In 1966 he left teaching for a folk-club residency in Cornwall, and by 1967 he was on the London and Cornwall circuits, including Piper's Folk Club in Penzance alongside John Martyn and Roy Harper. A set from the Folk Cottage in Cornwall in 1967 was issued as a double LP in 2014.

In 1969 he signed to EMI's new Harvest label and made Rainmaker (July 1969), produced by Gus Dudgeon, with the single "It Didn't Work Out" and "Mozart Lives Upstairs" (HAR 5002). Fully Qualified Survivor (March 1970), with strings by Paul Buckmaster and Mick Ronson on guitar, reached number 45 in the UK. Window followed in December 1970 and Wrecked Again in November 1971, after which, Derek's Music Blog says, the four-album Harvest contract ended.

Deram to the rediscovery

At Deram and Decca he made Millstone Grit (1973), Deal Gone Down (1974), the live Pleasures of the Street (1975, recorded in Hamburg), Savage Amusement (1976) and The Man Who Hated Mornings (1977). At Criminal he made Play Guitar the Easy Way (1978), Life on the Ceiling (1979) and Looking for Eleven (1980), and until Michael Nesmith's Pacific Arts issued Life on the Ceiling that year no other albums of his were released in the US. He recorded for the BBC, ten John Peel sessions in all, and appeared at Rockpalast in Cologne on April 1, 1975 and at the Essen Rocknacht in March 1978.

A renaissance followed from the 1990s, with Still Making Rain, Navigation (1995) and Dreaming Out Loud (1997) and many releases on Rural Retreat. Light in the Attic reissued Fully Qualified Survivor (2011), Rainmaker (2012), Wrecked Again (2013) and Window (2015). The tribute album Oh Michael, Look What You've Done (2012) included Lucinda Williams, Maddy Prior, William Tyler, Hiss Golden Messenger and Thurston Moore, and in 2011 he toured with Bill Callahan and Thurston Moore. Blast First Petite released The Resurrection and Revenge of the Clayton Peacock (2012), Pachyderm (2013) and The Polar Bear (2014).

50 and True North

50, marking 50 years as a professional musician, came out on Paradise of Bachelors on January 20, 2017, produced by Steve Gunn at Black Dirt Studio in Westtown, New York, with Gunn, Nathan Bowles, James Elkington, Jimy SeiTang and Bridget St John; MOJO made it Album of the Month and Uncut gave it 8 out of 10. True North (February 8, 2019), also produced by Gunn, was recorded at Mwnci Studios in Wales with Bridget St John, the pedal steel player B.J. Cole and the cellist Sarah Smout; it scored 82 on Metacritic and reached number one on the UK Americana chart.

Chapman died on September 10, 2021 at home in Greenhead, Northumberland, aged 80. Thurston Moore, Ryley Walker and Steve Gunn were among those who paid tribute, and MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger wrote in the Guardian that he was the deepest, most joyful musical lifer he had ever met. Wikipedia counts 58 albums.

Albums

Rainmaker 1969 · Harvest
His debut for Harvest, mostly solo acoustic with three electric band tracks.
Window 1970 · Harvest
His third album, issued unfinished by his own account and reissued by Light in the Attic in 2015.

Songs

Among the Trees Window · 1970
A song from Window, the most-covered of his songs, which Steve Gunn has played for years.
Rainmaker Rainmaker · 1969
The title track of his 1969 debut, an acoustic instrumental with thunderstorm sound effects.

Sources

Michael Chapman (singer), Wikipedia
True North (Michael Chapman album), Wikipedia
Michael Chapman, HiLobrow (2013-01-24)
Folk guitar great Michael Chapman dead at 80, Stereogum (2021-09-10)