In Search of Nic Jones

Laura Barton tracks down the legendary lost figure of folk music, Nic Jones.

Nic Jones has been hailed as the greatest talent the British folk scene has ever produced. An expert, idiosyncratic guitarist and songwriter, his 1980 album Penguin Eggs is way a high-water mark for British folk music. And it proved to be the last record Nic Jones would ever make.

On the way home from a folk club booking in 1982, Nic's car crashed head-on into a fully loaded lorry. His guitar was the one thing that remained unbroken in the crash. In the years that followed the prospect of Nic Jones performing on stage again seems very remote indeed.

But recently, thirty years after it seemed like his music career had ended, with his final album hailed as a formative influence on a raft of current artists-from Kate Rusby to Laura Marling- Nic Jones has unexpectedly returned to the stage in a series of - at first tentative - but always emotional concert appearances.

Producer: Martin Williams.