John and Ray first met in 1995 at the Crediton Folk Club then being held in The Red Lion, Shobrooke. having both returned to the folk scene after breaks of around 20 years. A friendship quickly formed and Sean & Heard was born. Ray’s daughter Sharon, an excellent fiddler, often joins them when work commitments permit. 

Although both enjoy all forms of folk music, traditional and contemporary, John prefers the slower English ballads where Ray prefers the up-tempo Irish style. With a repertoire of over 300, they are regular performers at local folk clubs, including "The Exe Folk Club" at Three Horseshoes, Cowley, The Barnfield Theatre Club, etc. Live recordings at various venues have given rise to a number of CDs which are greatly enjoyed by our mums and dads!

The name "Sean & Heard" is one of John's awful jokes. Ray likes Irish Folk music, Sean is Irish for John.  But we say "Seen & Heard".

Ray Heard
Crediton born and bred. Ray had played in the late 60’s and 70’s at local folk clubs with John Phillips after a stint as rhythm guitarist in the rock group The Kynd.  Despite being an accomplished guitarist and a keen keyboard player, Ray continues to search for a Bob Dylan song that he can play on the harmonica, having been taught to play this ghastly instrument at the age of 4 by his father.  Ray's obvious enjoyment of performing easily transmits to audiences.

John Andrews
John moved to Crediton in 1990 from South East London where during the 1960s and 1970s he had played in many of the Folk clubs as part of the duo “Wee Two”. John prefers the "finger picking" style of playing and enjoys tracing the history of the traditional songs the group plays.  John has been a great fan of Cyril Tawney since first hearing The Oggie Man in 1966.  Sean & Heard sung "Sally Free and Easy" and "The Grey Funnel Line" in front of Cyril at The Iron Bridge Folk Club, Exeter on 7th February 2003 - a wonderful moment, thoroughly enjoyed by Cyril.  In 2004 John was invited to do the portrait photography for the jewel case booklet for Mick Burch's latest CD "Listen".

Colin Wills
Colin dusted off his guitar so he could join us for a song or two (see White Ensign Concert). then bought a new one to become a regular of Sean & Heard. Colin also accompanies Ray at The Whipton Guitar Club. Every group needs a "Colin", he knows how to put a plaster on.

The Others

Andy Stevens
Our "sound man".  That is to say he is loud.  He sings forcefully and in key, plays Spanish guitar beautifully, bass guitar like a pro, Bouzouki like an Eastern European on caffeine, keyboards better than Chubb & Yale, the violin a la Yehudi - and I don't mean the character out of Star Wars,  and writes his own songs.  He can read even music  More importantly, he is the only one who knows how to set up the PA system and his professional stage sound set up is greatly appreciated by grateful local and international musicians.   He says he learnt the piano and violin during the early years.

He was involved in organising local festivals and "doing" the local folk clubs whilst at College and in Teacher Training, moving to Exeter in 1979 to run St Thomas High School music department for 20 years.  He frequented the local folk clubs, but only recently returned to playing outside educational events(!)  Andy now does some sound engineering work with Devon Youth Music and other local groups. That's how he became involved with Sean and Heard. The later years are yet to come!

Alan Howlett, Cliff Jones, Peter Cornelius
Sean & Heard are often accompanied by these worthy fellows. Alan is a multi-instrumentalist, Cliff plays a mean bass guitar, normally with Hips & Haws and potters about with a classical guitar, and Peter, although playing left-handed, can get a tune out of a mandolin, despite his instrument's protestations. Alan plays in many local groups including Peter's "Cornelius Family".  

Alan	Cliff	Peter