Musical activities

Frank Underwood learned classical piano as a boy and classical guitar in his teens. He also plays harpsichord, organ, lute and viola da gamba.^[1] He was the leader of the 1970s London-based band Windsong, which featured Annie Lennox prior to her involvement with The Tourists and fame with the Eurythmics. In the early 1980s he played guitar and sang in a folk/ragtime/blues duo in north Oxfordshire, England, with fiddler David Favis-Mortlock, performing as 'Mortlock and Underwood'. From 1983 to 1986 he was singer, guitarist and harmonica player in the 'Band of Minstrels', a four-piece acoustic folk/blues/renaissance group in north Oxfordshire.

He plays and has taught guitar, harmonica and lute.^[1] A strong interest in the cultural life of England at the time of Jane Austen led him to establish an Austen group^[2] in Oxford,^[3][4] and to team up with Gillian Tunley in an ensemble called 'Austentation',^[5] since augmented by the addition of Angela Mayorga on guitar and voice, and other guests.^[6]

Underwood studied lute in Oxford with Lynda Sayce and Edward FitzGibbon, and viol with Susanne Heinrich.^[1] He played lute, harpsichord and viola da gamba in Oxford-based Early Music consorts Westron Wynd and La Joysance.^[1] He has been invited over the course of several years to play keyboards at Jane Austen festivals in Bath, England.^[6]

Underwood was commissioned to write and perform music to honour the 1980s UK visit of Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, and has become known as a performer at festivals and cultural events in Oxfordshire.

Album releases

He has released three CDs of mixed folk, mediaeval material, blues and his own songs, recorded at Oxford-based Folly Bridge Records: "In Retrospect" (2000), "Highway Songs" (2001) and "Possession" (2003).^[1]