Tony Taffinder — Biography

The beginnings 

Rumour has it that Tony Taffinder was born in 1962 in Morley, where he spent his childhood, so he’s our only real ‘local lad’ and none the worse for that!

You may have met him at festivals on the Music Room Stall.

Tony’s been a musician for many years – at school in brass bands on tenor horn and Bb bass, and in folk bands on guitar. After leaving school Tony played with various blues and rock bands on drums and guitar to no avail; he gave up when other band members refused to maintain the same rate of hair loss as himself.

He was a founder member of the ‘Morley Formation Drinking Team’ (now defunct) and this is when he fell in with a bunch of folkies, sold all his electric rock gear and bought his first acoustic guitar, closely followed by bass guitar, fiddle, bouzouki, bodhran, flute, whistles, mandolin, harmonica and tenor banjo.

More recently ...

In recent years Tony ’s worked with Bernie Parry, renowned singer-songwriter from Leeds, and Lancaster’s own Kate Howden and Paul Jones, with whom he recoded and toured the UK and Ireland extensively.

Recently he played in a duo with Bruce Baillie, a fine musician and writer of humorous songs.

Currently Tony plays with local blues band ‘Sneakin’ Suspicion’, the ceilidh band ‘Shake a Leg ’, and also with Toms Napper and Bliss with squeeze-ace Chris Parkinson - ‘Tom, Tom and the Piper’s Sons’ .

But it’s probably his pure, expressive vocals and haunting guitar accompaniments for which he’s most respected in the world of folk and traditional music. He plays together with our very own Mark Mawby – truly inspirational guitar music and harmonies. And he’s a great solo performer in his own right, with a growing reputation.  His choice of material for songs ranges from working on dry stone walls to ‘night visiting’.

Find out where Tony is playing: visit his gigs page.