RECORDS
Independent label: Forest Tracks Records from Hampshire and Dorset was a non-profit-making label, set up by enthusiasts Gordon Mignot was the treasurer for Christchurch Folk Festival for some years and also on the team of Folk Southern so he brought with him organisational and financial skills. Dave Williams was a well known and respected performer and prime mover on the South coast folk scene, involved with everything from Sidmouth Folk Festival to the local school dance. And Andy Jackson brought his recording experience, both professionally and through the production of The Cutty Wren Folk Club LP the previous year. Having found a name (Andy thought that up) and a logo, from the pen of Dave Williams, we agreed the general reasons for our being. Work then started on raising the finance needed for our first project. It was decided that the first release should be a showcase of talent, drawn from the local folk clubs. The first LP, First Tracks, sold well enough to finance the next release and so we went on. Forest Tracks issued vinyl records from 1972 to 1984, continued releasing cassettes sporadically after the vinyl issued had ceased, and turned to CDs in 2002. It concentrated upon long playing records in the main, one LP financing the next, but it managed three singles: 'The Woolston Ferry', by Gutta Percha & The Balladeers (FT-0011; 1977); a split single by Muffin The Mule and Dave Williams, 'So Ride With Me' b/w 'The Watercress Line' (FT-1013; 1978), which was a benefit record for the Mid Hants Railway; and a Various Artists effort called 'Flour Of The Forest' (FT-1017; 1980). Most of the LPs, cassettes and singles shared the prefix and last three digits of the same FT-x000 numerical series, LPs having a '3' where the 'x' is, cassettes a '6' and singles a '0' or a '1'. Distributed By Forest Tracks Records. Thanks to Robert Lyons For The Info.
| 72 | Various Artists | First Tracks (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3001 |
| 73 | Various Artists | The Streams Of Lovely Nancy (Cassette) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 6002 |
| 73 | David Kettlewell | Trotto (Cassette) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 6003 |
| 74 | David Kettlewell | Gardie Loo (Cassette) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 6004 |
| 75 | Not Traced | Waiting For The Leaves (Cassette) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 6005 |
| 75 | Various Artists | Folk Songs From Hampshire (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3006 |
| 76 | Various Artists | Folk Songs From Dorset (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3007 |
| 76 | Various Artists | Southern Byways (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3008 |
| 77 | Jimmy Cooper And Friends | Jimmy Cooper Dulcimer Player (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3009 |
| 77 | Harbour Lites Steel Band | Harbour Lites (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3010 |
| 77 | Gutta Percha & The Balladeers | The Woolston Ferry | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 0011 |
| 78 | Tim Laycock And Others | Lydlinch Bells (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3012 |
| 78 | Watercress Line | So Ride With Me | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 1013 |
| 78 | Various Artists | Hampshire - A Musical Portrait (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3014 |
| 79 | Bob Pearce Blues Band | Colour Blind (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3015 |
| 80 | Dave Townsend And Others | The Mellstock Quire (Album) | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 3016 |
| 80 | Eling Tide Mill | Flour Of The Forest | FOREST TRACKS | FT | 1017 |
