The Welsh Bob Dylan

Richard Morton Jack presents a 65th birthday celebration of cult hero MEIC STEVENS, whose early records change hands for up to £300

Meic Stevens has become the subject of an ever-growing cult following in recent years. His classic 1970 LP Outlander (the only major label album he has ever released) has just been reissued for the second time, and two volumes of his rare early EPs have recently appeared on CD for the first time.

He was born during a fierce thunderstorm in March 1942, and grew up in the idyllic Pembrokeshire village of Solva. In the mid 1950s he became entranced by the pop music pouring out of his family’s radio and, having persuaded his grandparents to buy him a guitar, began to write songs and practise obsessively.

Having honed his musical abilities in Cardiff’s clubs and bars as an art student, he hitchhiked around Europe before settling in London in the early 60s and playing club dates alongside luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Davy Graham, Wizz Jones and Long John Baldry.

“I used to see them all in Paris,” says Meic today. “Busking wasn’t allowed in London then, but there was more of a culture of it across the Channel. I remember seeing Joan Baez, Richard and Mimi Farina and others all at it over there. It was like going on holiday – you’d get fed up of England and head off to Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris…”

In late 1964 BBC DJ Jimmy Savile talent-spotted Meic at Manchester …

by Richard Morton
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