Ashley Hutchings - a musician, singer, songwriter, producer, broadcaster, poet and most of all band leader. He is mainly known as a person who formed the three most successful British folk-rock groups - Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band, in its many forms. For four years he worked at London's National Theatre with his Albion Band as music director of a number of ground-breaking plays with music, including the phenomenally popular “Lark Rise” and “Candleford”.

Ashley has always been interested in English dancing and dance music. He has been responsible for a series of morris dance albums that helped propel the tradition into the modern era, and he has run electric dance bands as leader and caller which did a similar thing for social dance.

Throughout the eighties and into the nineties he periodically performed in his one-man show portraying the folk-song collector Cecil Sharp. During the same period Ashley researched, wrote and presented many music programmes for BBC Radio.

In recent times he has been the recipient of an Italian lifetime achievement award and a BBC Radio Good Tradition lifetime award. As member of the original Fairport Convention he received an award for the group's Liege & Lief album, which was voted "most influential folk album of all time" by BBC Radio listeners.

Jo Hamilton and Joe Broughton were at the Conservatoire in Birmingham together, and it was Joe that introduced Jo to Ashley (even now in the current line-up of the Rainbow Chasers, there are two Jo(e)s!).  She did several recording sessions on viola and toured Italy with the Albion Band as the lead singer.  Jo also played with Joe Broughton and Ruth Angell in the "Funky Quintet" in Birmingham, before joining the Rainbow Chasers.  Throughout all the different musical explorations that Jo has been on, she has remained an artist in her own right, writing songs filled with observations of the world both small and large - from grief and global warming to the happy dogs of Sri Lanka; mountains in Scotland to beetles in Kuwait which have extra long legs because of the heat... 

Ruth Angell plays with several different bands including Sid Peacock's SURGE (www.sidpeacock.com), The Rainbow Chasers (www.folkicons.com) with Ashley Hutchings, Jo Hamilton and Joe Topping. I love trying out different styles and learning about other types of music. Have had a guitar for nearly 5 years now and am writing songs and singing more than I ever imagined! Never thought I would make a living out of this! My hobbies include knitting, drinking beer/whisky (only the quality stuff!), having baths, moaning when it's cold, listening to music, planting things, doing the charity shops and collecting shells on the beach."

Joe Broughton is steeped in the acoustic scene – his father is a musician and runs a folk club – Joe has performed as a soloist and with his own band throughout the UK. He has worked with some of the best in the genre including Chris While and Julie Matthews, John Wright, Chris Leslie, Gerry Conway, and Maart Allcock.

Chris While describes Joe as "... one of the most talented new generation musicians around...(with) one of the most beautiful voices I have heard." As well as his polished live performances, his songwriting has received much critical acclaim and he has released two albums, “Love, Loss and Alcohol” and “Take Me Home”.