When Dave Cousins completed 2023 Strawbs album The Magic Of It All, he was determined it wouldn’t be their last. Sadly his death in July 2025, aged 85, ended a story that began in 1964. Ahead of that album launch, he looked back with Prog on the band’s colourful career, touching on the personal and business struggles he’d faced while making the record.
“The Strawbs’ farewell album?” says Dave Cousins. “Who told you that?” The esteemed prog folk act’s sole constant since they formed in London in 1964, Cousins is referring to The Magic Of It All, the new LP he made in Cape Town, South Africa.
