Wild Willy Barrett

Born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1950, Wild Willy Barrett, born Roger John Barrett, has since the late 1960s developed a distinctive career in British music at the crossroads of English folk, rock, blues, reggae, psychedelic pop, and a punk spirit that is often offbeat. A multi-instrumentalist, he plays guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin and bass, with an experimental approach that remains rooted in traditional and popular music. Wild Willy Barrett appears on collective recordings in the early 1970s before forming a durable duo with John Otway, with whom he notably releases John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett (1977), Deep & Meaningless (1978), Way & Bar (1980) and The Wimp & The Wild (1989). In parallel, his solo discography includes Call of the Wild (1979), Organic Bondage (1986), Open Toed and Flapping (1995) and Mound of Sound (1997), albums that show an evolution from acoustic writing to more unusual textures and a taste for unconventional formats. Wild Willy Barrett also played with Sleeping Dogz and then Wild Willy Barrett’s French Connection, while continuing on the scene solo or in a duo, in a register where stage humor, instrumental virtuosity and experimentation consistently occupy a central place.