Here’s a hit single from back in the early Seventies that I had completely forgotten about – an a cappella cover of Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush.

I was reminded of it after 50-odd years after seeing a Facebook post by Billy Bragg, who posted a list of favourite singles he had compiled on a mixtape – cassette, obviously – in his childhood.

I don’t think I ever knew , or would have guessed, that the harmony trio were not American but from the North East of England – by the banks of the Tyne in Gateshead.

A kind of cross between Peter, Paul and Mary and Crosby, Stills and Nash, Prelude consisted of Brian Hume (vocals, guitar), his wife Irene (vocals) and Ian Vardy (guitars, vocals).

They graduated from the folk circuit to the pop charts when they included this song on their 1973 debut album How Long Is Forever, becoming a hit single on both sides of the Atlantic.

The inspiration came when they were standing at a bus stop in Stocksfield and started singing it together and, including it in their act in the folk clubs, they it became a crowd favourite.

Even then, Hume said, they never considered it as a single, and only included it on the album “as an afterthought.”

Somewhat predictably after what was seen as something of a novelty record, they never had another hit in their own name – though they did sing the backing vocals on Ralph McTell’s Streets Of London.

And their version of After The Gold Rush was back in the charts after being re-released in 1982.

Vardy left the band in 1985, leaving Irene and Brian to carry on as a duo until 1987, when they were joined by Jim Hornsby (guitar, dobro and vocals), Tony Hornsby (bass and vocals) and Ian Tait (drums and percussion).

By 1993, the Hornsbys and Tait had left and Prelude continued as a duo once more. Until they were rejoined in 2008 by Vardy, and a series of fourth members including, at one point, Steve Cunningham – who I saw playing with Lindisfarne the other day.

And I’m delighted to learn that they are still performing to this day.