John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett

On Friday 20 April, 1973 the first John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett single, Murder Man, was released on Track Records, home of Jimi Hendrix, Thunderclap Newman and The Who, and produced by The Who’s PeteTownshend at his own Eel Pie studios. Despite the involvement of one of the biggest rock stars of the time, the record failed to trouble the chart compiler, so the pair split.

Now, more than 50 years after that first release, the mismatched but dynamic duo are on the road again with their WHAT THREE WORDS: OTWAY AND BARRETT tour.

Otway and Barrett initially met in Aylesbury as schoolboys. Nine years later, Barrett had become Aylesbury’s most promising multi-instrumentalist and was running the town's folk club. Otway succeeded in getting an unpaid floor spot and was allowed to return on a semi-regular basis. A fortune teller predicted that John would enjoy huge success with a ‘blonde-haired musician'. Contacting the only blonde musician he knew, Otway persuaded Barrett to do some recording and a show together. Almost inevitably, they split up before they’d even appeared together. Otway’s wild, chaotic solo set emptied the hall; Willy’s tuneful and inventive set re-filled it……..so he refused to allow Otway back for the scheduled duo set, vowing to never work with him again.

Enter the aforementioned Townshend, who heard their recordings, offered his production services and became the catalyst for the duo to reunite. Sadly, John’s style really didn’t appeal to the folk club audiences Willy was playing in and, as the Murder Man single failed to chart, the seemingly mismatched duo again went their own ways. 

Forward to 1977. With punk in the ascendance, Willy thought Otway’s wild performances, elementary guitar skills and terrible voice might now work. He was right - the duo developed a following on the pub rock circuit and were invited to appear on the Old Grey Whistle Test. John’s performance on the show is now legendary. Five million watched what has since been voted one of the worst ever moments on television. Yet Within two weeks of the leaping Otway landing on his testicles astride Barrett’s amplifier, the duo were in the charts and on Top Of The Pops (introduced by Elton John) with their single: Cor Baby That’s Really Free.

Of Course, it wouldn't last. Otway insisted the all important follow-up be credited to him alone and replaced Wild Willy with a cheesy hundred piece orchestra. The single flopped and they split up acrimoniously.

Since then Otway and Barrett have regrouped, fallen out, and split more times than a curdled sauce. One tour was even titled ‘The Incompatible Otway And Barrett‘. ‘I think he’s genuinely fascinated by what I do’ said Otway of Wild Willy ‘but totally horrified at the damage it does to his reputation as a musician’. Willy countered ‘I do rather find that performing alongside his imbecilic antics distracts from the music I’m playing. I’m a little bit more tolerant of him now but it used to really cut to the quick in the early days’. Yet here they are, celebrating over 50 years of attempted escapes and still loved for their in-yer-face originality. 

Older but wiser, the contrast between the deadpan humour of Barrett and mad onstage antics of Otway are hilarious to watch. John's lyrical genius and Willy's outstanding musicianship continue to entertain. Let's hope they don’t fall out again. On second thought let’s hope they do, it’s far more fun! 

Audiences should be prepared for everything from bare-chested theremin playing to wah wah wheelie bin as the duo jump from one hit and 40 near misses to another .An amazing and irreverent performance by two master entertainers. 

Dr John Otway (he received an honorary degree from Oxford) has performed over 5,000 gigs since first launching himself in Aylesbury, building a sizable cult following of amazingly loyal and adoring fans. He has released 15 albums (six withWild Willy Barrett), sold out The Royal Albert Hall and headlined the London Palladium. His self-made biopicOtway theMovie: The Story of Rock n Roll’s Greatest Failure premiered in Leicester Square, was shown at Cannes, voted 2nd best film of 2013 by Guardian readers and is still popular on Netflix. He has also written two volumes of his autobiography. His song Beware of the Flowers was voted the nation’s seventh favourite lyric in a BBC poll.

www.johnotway.com

Wild Willy Barrett is an English experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist known for virtuoso fiddle and guitar skills, ability with a great number of stringed instruments, playing slide guitar with a whole raw egg (known as egg-necking) and his 'wah wah wheelie bin'. He has performed alongside musicians as varied as Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, GordonGiltrap, Ralph McTell, George Hamilton IV, Madness, Steeleye Span and reggae legends Sly and Robbie. More recently, Willy has been focused on the all metric Plucking Banger, an instrument co-designed with Rob West in order to perform Willy’s original concept of ‘metric music’. As a skilled instrument maker, woodworker and carver Willy has produced some highly unusual furniture over many years.

www.wildwillybarrett.com

JOHN OTWAY AND WILD WILLY BARRETT - The Nearly Free Tour Booking Period: Sunday 30 June 2019 Running Time: 2 hours