Phil Colclough

{{Short description|English contemporary folk singer and songwriter (1940–2019)}}

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Phil Colclough (11 January 1940 - 23 September 2019{{cite web|last=Drever|first=Kris|title=Kris Drever–The Call and the Answer–Glasgow Flat Session|website=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/krisdreversings/posts/2642625985789278|access-date=28 July 2020}}) was an English contemporary folk singer and songwriter. His best known works, co-written with his wife, June Colclough (1941 – 12 October 2004), are "A Song for Ireland" and "The Call and the Answer".

June and Phil Colclough both came from North Staffordshire, England, and both had careers in education. Phil had been a navigator in the Merchant Navy,{{sfn|Woods|1983|p=383}} which provided source material for some of his songs. The Colcloughs founded the first folk music club in Stoke-on-Trent in 1960.

File:St Margarets, Phil Colclough's bench.jpg

In 1966, they moved to London, where they were members of the Critics Group led by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger; they eventually left the group due to bitter disputes stemming from MacColl's "authoritarian tendencies".{{citation

| title = Class act: the cultural and political life of Ewan MacColl

| last = Harker | first = Ben

| publisher = Pluto Press

| year = 2007

| isbn = 978-0-7453-2165-3

| page = 209

}}.

In the 1970s, the Colcloughs returned to North Staffordshire, where they produced a folk music radio program for BBC Radio Stoke.

"A Song for Ireland"{{sfn|Woods|1983|pp=349–350}} was inspired by a trip the Colcloughs took to the Dingle Peninsula. Described as a "modern classic",{{citation

|title = Celtic music: a complete guide

|last = Sawyers

|first = June Skinner

|publisher = Da Capo Press

|year = 2001

|isbn = 978-0-306-81007-7

|page = [https://archive.org/details/celticmusiccompl0000sawy/page/173 173]

|url = https://archive.org/details/celticmusiccompl0000sawy/page/173

}}. it has been recorded by numerous artists, including Dick Gaughan, Luke Kelly, Mary Black, Ralph McTell, Celtic Spirit, The Dubliners, Brendan Hayes, Damien Leith, and Scott Appel.