Between Us
She was Fairport Convention and Trader Horne’s former muse, and he’s the singer with bucolic prog rockers Big Big Train; together Judy Dyble and David Longdon created one of this year’s most poignant releases. Here, Longdon recalls their very special collaboration.
Words: Grant Moon Portrait: Sophocles Alexiou
He finds it strange to talk about all this without her. David Longdon was one of the last people to visit Judy Dyble, sitting with her just the day before she succumbed to lung cancer in July, aged 71. When Prog catches up with him, it’s just a week after her funeral, and he’s still understandably raw. Due to current restrictions only 20 mourners were present but many others attended via an online stream, and at the request of Dyble’s children Longdon gave a eulogy, focusing on her musical career.
“I wanted to do it,” he says, “so that, if she were there, she’d have found it moving but entertaining. Because that’s what she was - you couldn’t be serious for too long around Judy. She was one of the few members of Fairport Convention who’d get their lighter back at a show at The UFO Club or Roundhouse. Once Arthur Brown asked her to set fire to his helmet. Judy’s small and he’s incredibly tall, so he crouched down, she got up on some steps and set fire to him. And off he went, the ‘god of hellfire’!”
“Our pairing was unusual, and that’s what drew me to it. I want these songs to be in people’s lives, to be enjoyed and cherished by ‘prog people’ who like me, and also Jude’s fanbase.”