Jo Lustig - British Folk Music

British Folk Music

In 1968 Lustig spotted “The Pentangle”. In 1969 he gave them one of the first mystery album sleeves – a silhouette of the band (see The Pentangle). The cover of their second album Sweet Child was designed by Peter Blake, creator of The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper cover. Lustig also brought Pentangle a U. S. concert tour beginning in February 1969 at the Fillmore East.

In 1970 Ralph McTell changed his manager Bruce May for Jo Lustig. In October he was able to fill the Royal Festival Hall. In 1972 Robin and Barry Dransfield’s “Lord of all I Behold” was Melody Maker’s Folk Album of the Year. Jo eagerly read the pop press and signed them up, even before the album was released. The two brothers were then signed to Warner Brothers in America, and were off on a big concert tour supporting another Lustig act, Ralph McTell. Unfortunately the brothers not only quarrelled with each other but Barry seemed to be psychologically unable to handle large-scale commercial fame. Jo tore up the contract in disgust. This gives a hint of how impatient and short-tempered Jo Lustig was. By the end of the 1972 McTell had also broken with Jo Lustig. Ralph’s brother Bruce was in charge again. It is perhaps surprising that Jo never managed Donovan, the biggest of all British folk artists. The reason is that Mickie Most got there first, and managed Donovan well. Another casualty of Jo’s aggressive publicity-seeking approach was Anne Briggs, who was so disgusted that she gave up singing altogether, citing Jo as one of the reasons. Shel Tamany described him as “one of my most unfavourite people”.