Mandy Morton

Mandy Morton is a singer, songwriter, presenter, and author who first made her name as part of the British folk-rock boom of the 1970s. Along with her then-husband, Mike Morton, Mandy led the Cambridge-based group Spriguns of Tolgus -- later known simply as Spriguns -- through a pair of mid-'70s albums for the Decca label before going independent in 1978. Inspired by and later associated with Steeleye Span, Spriguns soon developed their own unique sound thanks to Morton's mix of progressive songwriting and imaginative adaptations of traditional folk music. After 1978's Magic Lady, Morton moved forward as a solo artist and found an enthusiastic audience in Scandinavia, where she toured frequently into the mid-'80s. She released two more solo albums before forging a career as a radio presenter for the BBC. She later focused on her writing and, in 2014, published the first volume in a successful series of detective novels. Though lesser known than British folk heroines like Maddy Prior and Sandy Denny, Morton's music has attracted a devoted cult audience, and in 2022, her entire music output was made available in the box set After the Storm: Complete Recordings. At the beginning of the 1970s, Morton and her sister were gigging casually under the name Simple Folk, playing local Cambridge clubs and performing the British and American folk songs of the day. She later met and married musician Mike Morton, and the two formed Spriguns of Tolgus as a folk duo inspired by folk-rock icons like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. They later befriended the latter group's founder, Tim Hart, who urged them to seek a record deal. With proceeds from their popular residency at a local Cambridge folk club, they recorded a homemade cassette in 1974 and sold it at shows. Unpolished as it was, Decca Records saw something in the band and signed them to a three-album deal. With Tim Hart producing, the newly re-christened Spriguns recorded 1976's Revel, Weird and Wild, which featured a mix of traditional material and Morton originals backed by a full band. The more contemporary sounding Time Will Pass followed in 1977, after which Spriguns were released from their Decca contract and formed their own label, Banshee. By this time, Mandy had become the focal point of the group's efforts to the point that 1978's Magic Lady was credited to Mandy Morton and Spriguns. Much like Sandy Denny, to which the title song was dedicated, Morton presented a rich tapestry of folk-indebted songwriting, enchanting vocals, and lush arrangements. By chance, the group was offered a month's worth of gigs in Oslo, Norway, where they were surprised to find an extremely willing audience. As folk-rock waned and gigs became scarcer in Britain, Morton and her band began to find steadier work in Scandinavia, and in 1979, she was offered a licensing deal by Polydor Norway. As most of her work was now split between Norway and Denmark, she acquiesced and released her first solo album, Sea of Storms, at the beginning of 1980. Perhaps her most fully realized collection of songs, Sea of Storms was critically well-received, though a moderate commercial success. She and Mike Morton soon split, and she continued to tour Scandinavia over the next few years with a rotating contingent of bandmates that often included her sister. Morton released one more album, 1983's Valley of Light, on her own Banshee label before the rigors of touring life took their toll. After disbanding her group in 1985, Morton joined the BBC and spent the next two-and-a-half decades working as a presenter and producer before again switching careers to become an author. Published in 2014, The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency kicked off a successful new chapter that included numerous popular sequels. In 2022, Morton revisited her music career to compile the elaborate six-disc anthology After the Storm: Complete Recordings, which included her own detailed liner notes along with every known recording from throughout her career.
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