{"id":454320,"date":"2026-03-02T23:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T23:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/454320\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T23:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T23:12:15","slug":"the-wurzels-from-somerset-unrecognisable-4-decades-later-amid-huge-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/454320\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wurzels from Somerset unrecognisable 4 decades later amid huge comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formed 60 years ago, a so-called \u2018scrumpy & western\u2019 band from Somerset, this year they\u2019re celebrating the 50th anniversary of their No.1 single The Combine Harvester<\/p>\n

Peter Robinson , Annette Belcher and Hannah Britt<\/p>\n

16:39, 02 Mar 2026Updated 16:41, 02 Mar 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(L-R) Tommy Banner, Pete Budd and Tony Baylis of English folk group The Wurzels performing on variety show The Wheeltappers And Shunters Social Club, circa 1976. (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

An iconic 70s band from Somerset are preparing for a major comeback. And they are virtually unrecognisable, four decades later.<\/p>\n

Not many bands can boast being knocked back by Princess Anne when they offered her a cider – but The Wurzels can. Formed 60 years ago, a so-called \u2018scrumpy & western\u2019 band from Somerset, producing \u2018ciderdelic\u2019 music, this year they\u2019re celebrating the 50th anniversary of their No.1 single The Combine Harvester and their No.3 – I Am A Cider Drinker. Dressed as West Country bumpkins, they delivered their catchy songs in \u2018Ooh Arr\u2019 \u2018accents, fuelled by lashings of cider or its rougher, stronger, local equivalent, scrumpy, The Mirror exclusively reports.<\/a><\/p>\n

Still touring and recording today, with two of their original hit-making line-up – accordionist and pianist Tommy Banner, 86, who\u2019s actually Scottish, and banjo player, guitarist and lead vocalist Pete Budd, 85, from Bristol. Looking back at their 1976 chart-topping triumph, Pete tells The Mirror<\/a>: \u201cThat was the greatest feeling ever. We had a party til 10am the next morning. We were drinking everything that night. Someone had to come and pick me up off the floor and take me home.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople used to supply us with barrels of cider free at gigs. We once took five gallons to Top Of The Pops and dished it out to everyone in paper cups. They kept coming back for more, not realising how strong it was. The Bay City Rollers and Demis Roussos had a drop. We got asked to not take it there anymore. We met Paul McCartney at EMI when he was with Wings. He was great. Paul sent out for some cider and he paid for it. So we had a few drinks together. Very pleasant. We did three Royal shows: two at Windsor and one in Buckingham Palace<\/a>. We met Princess Anne, and Tommy asked her if she\u2019d like some cider and she said \u2018No, I\u2019ve got a bad throat but it\u2019s not that bad!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Performing everywhere from The Middle East to Canada, where they had a hit, The Wurzels have had royalties from America and The Seychelles. Pete, the only child of Fry\u2019s chocolate factory workers George and Doris, says his dad disapproved of his musical leanings, that also saw him play with Pete Budd & The Rebels, Rainbow People, and The Eddie King Band.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cMy father had been a sergeant and instructor in the Army, and he always used to say \u2018You don\u2019t wanna mess around with that music stuff; that\u2019s not gonna bring you any money!\u2019 But, after The Wurzels went to No.1, he said to me \u2018against all my wishes, you stuck by your guns and did what you wanted to do, and I\u2019m very proud of you\u2019. That brought tears to my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Peter Budd(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

Pete joined The Wurzels as a musician in 1972. Two years later, becoming lead singer following the death of the band\u2019s founder and frontman Adge Cutler in a car crash, aged 43. He says: \u201cI think Adge fell asleep at the wheel of his sports car, which overturned on a roundabout approaching the Severn Bridge. I was upset about that because Adge was our leader and a really nice fella. Sod\u2019s Law he died two years before we had hits. We still do a lot of his songs, including Drink Up Thy Cyder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pete says of The Combine Harvester, which was a parody of Melanie Safka\u2019s 1971 hit Brand New Key: \u201cGoing to No.1 changed my life completely. At the time, I was living in a council house with my wife. From then on, we got well treated everywhere. They say you\u2019ve got to earn respect and we felt we had by then. Being lead singer of The Wurzels has made me very comfortable and happy. I ran a pub \u2013 The Star Inn at Liverton – in Devon for nine years and that was difficult, but I was still working for The Wurzels then.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wurzels also pride themselves on keeping spotless reputations – never getting into tricky situations with female fans. Pete says: \u201cNothing like that, no. We tried to keep away from that sort of thing because Tommy and I were married and we didn\u2019t want any aggravation. Our manager warned us \u2018you\u2019ve got to keep the Wurzel image squeaky clean\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Famous fans of the band include Bill Bailey, who admitted on TV to having The Combine Harvester as his doorbell tune, and The Stranglers, who\u2019d play Wurzels\u2019 songs at soundchecks. One For The Bristol City is the official club anthem of Bristol City FC, whose supporters sing other Wurzels songs, too. More recent releases by The Wurzels have included Ooh Arr\u2026Just A Little Bit, a cover of Gina G\u2019s Eurovision classic, and a version of Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs with its original backing chorus refrain of aah aah aah replaced by ooh arr ooh arr ooh arr.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like to Wurzelise songs\u201d Pete explains. \u201cWhen we were last on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, the Kaiser Chiefs\u2019 lead singer Ricky Wilson put his arms around us and thanked us, which was nice. When we did Fairytale Of New York, The Pogues sent us a message saying we had made the second best version of it. To do a parody of someone\u2019s song, you have to ask them. They can say no and stop us doing it. We wanted to do the guitar riff from (I Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction, but The Rolling Stones wouldn\u2019t let us. Our manager wrote to tell them he was sorry, and he would have to decline if they ever asked to do anything of ours!\u201d<\/p>\n

Once described as appealing to people aged from 9 to 90, The Wurzels continue to bring great joy. But Pete\u2019s had some tough times, which include losing his wife-of-61-years, Pauline, who a Wurzels fan, in 2022. He says: \u201cShe had dementia. Last year our younger daughter, Yona, died in her sleep, aged 40, having had diabetes. I now live in the Chew Valley with our elder daughter, Julie, who looks after young people who are ill. I\u2019ve got seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. They all like Wurzel music, but none of them are musicians.<\/p>\n

“I get recognised out and about but I never get bothered, which is fantastic. I go to the pub [The Crown Inn in West Harptree] where they\u2019ve got all our records on the jukebox.\u201d Despite their advanced years, The Wurzels have 22 gigs lined up for the rest of this year. And Pete says \u201csheer enjoyment\u201d keeps them going. Of being in the band, he says: \u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed every minute of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s going to come a time when we won\u2019t be able to do it. But we still get a good turnout. We\u2019ve proved we\u2019re not a joke. \u2018One-off Wurzels\u2019 they used to say, but you don\u2019t go all these years on luck alone. It would be nice if we had another hit song, and who knows what\u2019s round the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

*For more information, see www.thewurzels.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formed 60 years ago, a so-called \u2018scrumpy & western\u2019 band from Somerset, this year they\u2019re celebrating the 50th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,3882,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-454320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-somerset","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}