Whippersnapper (nf, 1674) – one who snaps whips; hence, an impatient person; a young enthusiastic upstart; an insistent motivator: legendary folk-music quartet from the 1980s.

Whippersnapper was formed in 1983 by Dave Swarbrick. Together with Martin Jenkins, Chris Leslie. Looking and Kevin Dempsey, the band comprised of four of the most repected acoustic string players in the country.

In their first year together they played at the two most famous folk festivals in the UK – Cambridge and Cropredy. They were also the unlikely pioneers of the way the music business was about to go, since their first release was a live video of the Cambridge set, filmed four months before they even began recording their debut album. Through the second half of the 1980s Whippsnapper remained one of the must-see (and must-hear) bands playing on the British acoustic music scene. Tour gigs were inevitable sell-out dates and festival organisers vied to book them. They released five albums – the classic Promises (1985), Tsubo (1987), the live album These Foolish Strings (1989), Fortune (1989) and Stories (1991).

 

Remembered with a combination of affection, reverence and delight, Whippersnapper remain of the truly great English folk bands, a watershed in the music’s post-folk-rock development. The news, in 2007, that the group planned to reform was nothing short of a dream come true for countless fans who had had the thought of seeing them one more time high on their wish-list. Just as they were when Swarb first announced the formation of the band, expectations are high and no one will be disappointed!