Rick Hayward

In the late '60s, Rick Hayward (then known as Rick Birkett) was a guitarist in the Accent, playing on their highly regarded non-hit 1967 British psychedelic single "Red Sky at Night"/"Wind of Change." Shortly afterward, he briefly attempted to form a band with Rod Argent shortly after the latter had left the Zombies, recording a few demos. When that didn't pan out, he became a session musician for the British blues-rock label Blue Horizon, subsequently playing in the band of Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac) and Jellybread, as well as doing some live shows with Keef Hartley. In April 1971, he recorded a self-titled solo album for Blue Horizon that was very much in a slightly melancholy British folk-rock and singer/songwriter vein, playing all of the instruments himself (though his guitar was the dominant one). The instrumentals in particular spotlighted a folk-blues-jazz-influenced guitar style along the lines of Davy Graham and Bert Jansch. The album was reissued on CD by Sunbeam in 2007, with the addition of 11 previously unreleased instrumental tracks recorded soon afterward for an unissued second LP.