In the 60's I hitched and strummed his way around Ireland several times and got to love the music. The 70s found me into Folk in places like Worcester and Derby. In the 80s I wrote and sang for whoever had a cause, steel workers, miners, anti-apartheid, CND. Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire -  Derbyshire, wherever solo, or as part of several bands.

There was work for TV and I teamed up in Northern Clouds (with singer-song-writer Keith Jones). With the advent of the Miners' Strike, I joined Red G'zunders and Moaning Minnies (with Malcolm and Jenny Fox and Carmel O'Toole) and Young and O'Toole. The Minnies played the Albert Hall and turned down Blackpool Winter Gardens.

The next 20 years were less musical, although I always wrote and played and filled a couple of carrier bags with unheard songs. Now I am back to plague audiences who have had it too easy for too long. Here I am once more,presenting a mixture of middle-aged angst and post-dated polemics. For the last few years I have been residing under the pseudenym "The Grey Picker" , but now I am officially "out". John Young rides again! Long may he strum!