Ian A. Anderson
English magazine editor, folk musician and broadcaster
Ian A. Anderson (born 26 July 1947) is an English magazine editor, folk musician and broadcaster.
Early career and The Village Thing
Anderson first performed in his home town of Weston-super-Mare as a member of the Backwater Jook Band and came to prominence as a member of the Bristol based country blues scene of the mid to late 1960s, performing live and on record, both solo, with Al Jones and Elliott Jackson as the trio "Anderson Jones Jackson", and as a duo with Mike Cooper. The middle initial was added at a later date to avoid confusion with Ian Anderson of the band Jethro Tull.
After two EPs, he recorded his first album, Stereo Death Breakdown, as Ian Anderson’s Country Blues Band, which was released by Liberty/United Artists in 1969.
In December 1969, with John Turner, he conceived the record label The Village Thing, for which he was also a producer. The label released two dozen albums by mostly British and American artists between 1970 and 1974 including LPs by Wizz Jones, Sun Also Rises, Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra, Steve Tilston, Dave Evans, Fred Wedlock, Al Jones, Derroll Adams, Hunt & Turner, Lackey & Sweeney,
Chris Thompson, Dave Peabody and Noel Murphy, as well as three by Anderson himself.
In the 21st century, much of Village Thing’s output has been categorised as "psych folk" or "acid folk", terms which did not exist at the time its records were first made.
1970s–80s duo
In 1973, he moved from Bristol to Farnham, Surrey, performing internationally with his then wife, Maggie Holland, as the duo Hot Vultures who recorded three albums. In 1980, the duo teamed up with melodeon player Rod Stradling and hammered dulcimer player Sue Harris, later replaced by Chris Coe, as The English Country Blues Band (two albums). This line-up subsequently expanded again with the addition of guitarist Jon Moore, drummer John Maxwell and later keyboard player Ian Carter and guitarist Ben Mandelson to become the world music-influenced English ceilidh band Tiger Moth, later, Orchestre Super Moth when they recorded with international guest musicians (two LPs, and two 12” EPs).
The public source identifies “Ian A. Anderson” as english magazine editor, folk musician and broadcaster. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Anderson, English and magazine.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5980720. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1947, 1969, 1970 and 1974.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ian A. Anderson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.