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 <a href="spotify:artist:6304CN545CvN8hNfPKuWf1">Rod Argent</a> shortly after the latter had left <a href="spotify:artist:2jgPkn6LuUazBoBk6vvjh5">the Zombies</a>, 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 <a href="spotify:artist:1YTLOHyyXnaj7W1g1oSS56">Christine Perfect</a> (later <a href="spotify:artist:6RCsx4p5smZHYz2P5HLcL2">Christine McVie</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:08GQAI4eElDnROBrJRGE0X">Fleetwood Mac</a>) and <a href="spotify:artist:0VUc6t4nvRMYCURJEEC94W">Jellybread</a>, as well as doing some live shows with <a href="spotify:artist:3MZSosn49GqZGplFGbZovg">Keef Hartley</a>. 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 <a href="spotify:artist:72zalCfn9P7eU6oGje7tyJ">Davy Graham</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1FqG6mhiJbhbMg43ohCT6D">Bert Jansch</a>. 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. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi