Blacksmith Credits

Blacksmith was formed in the early 1970's in Port Elizabeth, the product of collaboration between like-minded musicians at the Four Winds Folk Club.

Initially this collaboration was called Crookshank, and members included Neil Harvey, Richard Haslop (who eventually gave the band the name Blacksmith), Tristan McGee and Glen Mew.

In the mid 1970's, members gravitated to Cape Town, and reformed there.

Paddy Booth-Jones was at UCT, and the Cape Town Blacksmith initially comprised Neil Harvey, Paddy Booth-Jones, Glen Mew and Andy Fourie.

In late 1975, Andy left to pursue a mining career and the band was very fortunate to find the mutli talented banjo, mandolin and guitar player Nielen Prinsloo, who had migrated to Cape Town from Pretoria, and who miraculously ended up living next door to Paddy and Neil.

The band secured many gigs around Cape Town, finally taking up residence at the Chelsea Arms, a boutique pub in Wynberg.

In 1979, three members of the band travelled to the UK, and moved around the UK and Ireland playing gigs. Paddy chose to stay in Ireland, and Nielen and Neil hooked up with Stuart Loveday who was living in London, and the band played in Folk Clubs around the UK.

Neil and Nielen returned to Cape Town, and reformed the band with Glen Mew, Terrence Scarr and Dave Nissan.

Later, Stef Malherbe joined the band, and Blacksmith played as a three piece for some years at Touch Of Madness in Observatory and at the wonderful Alma Cafe in Rosebank.

James Harvey (Neil's son) joined the band and we played as a four piece, with guests including Lance Allam (who has gone on to form his own successful band), Carlo Bidoli (who has also formed a successful band) and guests including Paul Slatter, ex Shinnery and a fiddle player extraordinaire, and many others.

Fiddler James Hall was introduced to the band by Pete van Heerden, a wonderful man sadly no longer with us, and James fitted in immediately.

James Harvey and James Hall have gone on to form a band with the wonderfully talented Jenny Eaves. They call themselves Jenny and the Jameses and they have achieved great success as a three piece band, including a stint as the opener for Jonny Clegg in Amsterdam and a full house slot at the Edinburgh Festival.

See their work on Facebook at Jenny & The Jameses

A great joy for Nielen and Neil is the current collaboration with Rob Anderson and John Bolton, both from the band Shanty, and Emma Rycroft and Maddy Gin and other guests in the band Gravel Road.

See their work at Gravelroad

Most of the videos on the site were filmed and edited by Justin Phillips.

There have been so many collaborations with musicians over the years, you know who you are, and we are grateful to have been part of the South African music scene.

We recorded many songs over the years with various musicians, and we have four formal albums, which are featured on this website.

Wherever possible, we have included Credits for the albums and songs. If we left anyone out, it was certainly not deliberate, and we ask you to let us know, so we can correct the record.

We hope you enjoy the music, and we thank you all profusely for supporting us from 1972 to date.

It is such a privilege to be playing live music to audiences who support us, and we hope it continues.

Thank you especially to our families, who've made it possible to pursue such a spiritually rewarding pastime.

Blacksmith 2022