Managed by record producer Sandy Roberton, Plainsong released just one album during their original existence, In Search of Amelia Earhart in October 1972, before splitting up at the end of December that year in somewhat acrimonious circumstances.
By the time of the recording of band's third album Unhalfbricking, Fairport, under Denny's influence, had largely abandoned their original American singer-songwriter material and were moving towards what would become known as English folk rock.
The genre was somewhat alien to Matthews' tastes at the time, leading to a discontent within Fairport that saw him essentially fired from the band after a meeting with producer Joe Boyd in February 1969.
[5] He then left to work solo, soon afterwards forming his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort whose greatest success was topping the UK Singles Chart with their version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" in late October 1970.
That trip took in several US cities and laid the groundwork for a return at the end of July as an acoustic trio - joining him on the tour were Andy Roberts and his former colleague Richard Thompson, who by that time had recently left Fairport Convention.
Ronga duly moved to the UK for the tour, and also ended up playing piano alongside Roberts’ guitar work on the recording sessions for Matthews' second Vertigo album Tigers Will Survive.
It came to fruition in late December 1971 after a meeting at Matthews' Highgate flat, where with Richards and Ronga they tried out the Tandyn Almer song "Along Comes Mary"[10] and agreed that if it worked satisfactorily they would go ahead and form a band.
The album was initially known during the recording sessions by two alternate titles: Plainsong III and Now We Are 3, to reflect the fact that they were by now a trio, Bobby Ronga having been asked to leave the band in November due to a drinking problem.
[33] In March 1990, some eighteen years after the original band disbanded, Andy Roberts encountered Iain Matthews again when he was performing in a pub, The Richmond, in Brighton whilst touring the UK as a duo with American musician Mark Hallman who had produced his solo albums Walking A Changing Line[34] and Pure & Crooked.
[35][f] After playing together on Matthews’ booking at the Cambridge Folk Festival in July 1990 and on his European tour later that same year, and with all previous issues now swept aside, the two decided to revive Plainsong once more.
Adding former Matthews Southern Comfort guitarist Mark Griffiths and singer/songwriter Julian Dawson, they reformed the band in 1992, recording an album of new Plainsong music, Dark Side of the Room,[36] before returning to touring in August 1993.
What was planned to be their final album, Fat Lady Singing (recorded live in the studio during their last tour in 2004)[43][44] was released in 2012, that year marking the 40th anniversary of the formation of the original band.
With Mark Griffiths back on board playing guitar and bass, the decision to use the Plainsong name made sense, and the group was again re-activated, this time as a trio.
Iain Matthews also rejoined Fairport Convention later that evening during their headlining set, singing vocals on several songs including "Reno Nevada" and "Meet On The Ledge".
[48] Nearly fifty years on from the formation of the band, Matthews and Roberts revived Plainsong yet again in 2021, playing a short tour of the UK including gigs at two of their favourite music venues, The Greys in Brighton and the Half Moon in Putney.
By drawing on interviews with surviving members, managers, road managers, diaries and unpublished memoirs, fans and record labels, Clayton paints an astonishingly complete portrait of the band's initial 12-month existence, and his conversational part biography, part oral history approach keeps the reader engaged.” Written during the Covid lockdown in 2020 by broadcaster and author Ian Clayton who had previously collaborated with Matthews on his 2018 biography, In Search of Plainsong from UK-based Route Publishing[50] was initially released via their online website in mid-March 2022.
The book went on general release some six months later on 2 September 2022 to favourable reviews, including a 4-star rating from music journalist Nick Dalton in the August 2022 edition of Record Collector.
In addition, writing in the 13 October 2022 edition of online publication Americana UK, journalist Rick Bayles wrote “Ian Clayton has written the book this outstanding band have always deserved.