It is with a very heavy heart that Spiral Earth relates the untimely and sudden passing of Stevie Horton. One of those who turned requests into reality and tirelessly worked behind the scences to promote and advance the music, musicians and events she believed in. There is still an air of disbelief that someone who did so much to help writers, journalists, broadcasters, web sites, magazines and sundry others, will no longer be chatting and laughing on the end of the phone or sending cheery e mails packed with information and welcome tidings to the Inbox. There never was a better press and promotions officier than Stevie.
What made her so special was the fact that she took time to find out what made each of us who worked with her tick, she knew how to handle people and how to get the best out of them, with quiet efficiency and tact Stevie produced positive outcomes. Every year I arrived at Cropredy to a press office packed with charts, lists, spread sheets, there was Stevie ready to offer timetables for interviews, bags of extra information, her welcome was always warm and personal. She was your friend and I don’t say that lightly. That was her way. Of course she also had steel and fire and that balance was what made her so good at her job.
No doubt that the folk/roots/rock community will miss her greatly and there will always be a Stevie shaped hole in the lives of many of us. Working with Fairport Convention, its associated family of musicians, Cropredy festival, the artists of Talking Elephant records and many more, Stevie built a reputation for getting results and her Iconic organisation grew in stature accordingly. I first came across Iconic music – way back – at Buxton Opera House at an Alexis Korner tribute concert greeted by her partner in the venture Andy Farquharson, Stevie herself later at a small festival Folk In The Park where she was minding folk rock hopefuls Little Johnny England to whom she remained loyal, attending their farewell performance in 2023 and admitting to me she had a tears in her eyes at the end. Loyalty was another of her trademarks, she always took care in all her dealings to cultivate the best relationships that she could, then she’d keep those links and foster them.
But of course there was more to her than just music, she was a marvel at horticultre, she’d swap gardening tips for hours, she valued community and was active on the arts and crafts scene around her home in Lemington Spa. Stevie had also begun working promoting those huge box sets that occasionally cross your path, the first of which was The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, umpteen discs of 60s lunacy and rock madness which she’d dropped onto a transfer and sent to me. A couple of days before her death, she’d fixed an interview with ex Ahab songwriter Dave Burn who she rated highly, pinging an as ever chummy e mail giving the number to call and adding a typically Stevie postscript, ” Don’t worry Simon, I’ll remind him!” The interview went very well. The next day……
To her family and her friends all at Spiral Earth send best wishes and deepest condolences. As do I. Her absense will be felt more than words can say. I am despondent and sorrowful yes, but I’ll remember her with affection and smiles for her just being Stevie, excellent in all that she did and so unassuming with it. Simply the best!
Simon Jones.
