Village Squire, 1978-10, Page 20MUSIC
Bob Burchill -
music
and farming can mix
Not many years ago such a young man
would have had to make a choice: either
he'd pdrsue his career in music and beat it
off the farm to the city, or he'd become a
farmer and only.pick up a guitar
occasionally. Bob Burchill is part of a
younger generation, however, one that
wants to have the best of both worlds.
Bob and his wife Anne live on his
parents' Century Farm near Dublin where
Bob continues to have one foot planted
firmly in each of the professions of music
and farming. And he likes it that way. "I
love farm life," he says. "I like living in
the country and I like planting crops." But
he also likes to entertain and so he tries to
keep up with both. Most of the time, he
says, it works out fine as he divides his
time about 50/50 between his two careers.
In winter after the crops are in, he spends
more time on the road. In summer, he
spends more time chi the farm.
On the road means anywhere from
Kitchener to Sweden. He's played both
with his own blend of folk -country -rock
music. Mostly his engagements are spaced
out from the Kitchener -Guelph -Hamilton
areas to Ottawa in the east.
'His reputation has been spread by his
successful album Will I Ever Get to Heaven
which was released last year and had
helped bring him new recognition both on
radio stations and in clubs. It contains
entirely his own material written and
performed by himself and backed up by his
band Perth County Apple Jack.
The album was recorded at the Track
Four studios of Radio Waterloo by Bob's
own production company Will o' Wind. It's
a common practice these days, the
producing of records by the artists
involved. It was a trend that wasn't so
common however the first time Bob was
involved in recording, back in the days of
the old Perth County Conspiracy. The
Conspiracy was the first group in the folk
field to produce its own record, borrowing
the idea from performers in the country
and western field who had pioneered the.
field.
The Perth County Conspiracy is now
pretty much a thing of the past with its
members spread all over the country but it
is remembered as a powerful force in the
music industry in its prime earlier in the
decade. The group, roughly based in Perth
county and spread out on various farms
PG.18. VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1978.
Bob Burchill at home on the farm.
and homesteads throughout the county,
would tour across the country with about 12
or 13 members ("we'd try for 12 but
somehow we usually ended up with 13"
Bob recalls).
Home base for the group was the Black
Swan coffee house in Stratford and 100 or
150 people roughly considered themselves
part of the overall group and would show
up for meetings when important decisions
had to be made.
The disappearance of the Conspiracy,
can be put down to the nature of the
community the members formed. It
evolved from a co-operative to a
self-governing anarchy, Bob says, and an
anarchy is based on extreme individualism
so it was natural that the individuals should
-go their own way, though they remain good
friends. Cedric Smith, one of the best
known members is heavily involved in film
work these days. Richard Keelan is still
performing in concerts, and helping with
his 'wife Cheryl's No Strings Attached
puppet theatre. Others took off to Paris to
study mime or are spread around the world
in such far-flung places as Lebanon. Others
hiive settled on the west coast.
Bob was with the group from 1971 to
1975 when he formed his own band and