John Michael Kirkpatrick (born 8 August 1947) is an English musician, best known as a player of free reed instruments. In London John Kirkpatrick was born in Chiswick, London, England. As a child he sang in the choir and played piano. In 1959, he joined the Hammersmith Morris Men, in the second week of their existence, beginning a career-long love of folk music. In 1970, he became a regular at a folk club in the Roebuck pub in Tottenham Court Road and led the resident group, Dingle's Chillybom Band. The club hosted a film show of Morris dancing and Ashley Hutchings turned up. It was the beginning of a long musical relationship. In 1972 he teamed up with Ashley and others on the album Morris On. In 1972, Kirkpatrick recorded his first solo album Jump at the Sun which included Richard Thompson on acoustic guitar. In Shropshire In 1973, Kirkpatrick moved to Shropshire and married Sue Harris. After seeing a dance team called Gloucestershire Old Spot Morris Dancers, he formed Shropshire Bedlams to perform local dances in the Border Morris style. In the early weeks some girls turned up and rather than have a mixed morris team, Harris took the girls aside to form Martha Rhoden's Tuppenny Dish; both teams are still flourishing and celebrated their fortieth anniversary in 2015. By this time Kirkpatrick was an expert player of melodeon, Anglo concertina, and button accordion. Ashley Hutchings' project Battle of the Field floundered when the Albion Country Band broke up. They had recorded not quite enough material for an album. Kirkpatrick had appeared on several of the tracks with Martin Carthy and offered to record two extra tracks with his wife in 1973. It was not released until 1976 but is highly regarded. Harris sang and played oboe and hammered dulcimer, an unusual combination. In 1974, Kirkpatrick and Hutchings produced a themed album The Compleat Dancing Master, a history of English country dancing. In 1976, he teamed up with Carthy for Plain Capers, a collection of morris dance tunes. Steeleye Span In 1977, Steeleye Span recruited both Kirkpatrick and Carthy, partly to replace fiddler Peter Knight. Kirkpatrick appearing on the albums Storm Force Ten and Live at Last; in concert with them, he would perform solo morris dances. In the same period, Kirkpatrick released two albums as a duo with Sue Harris. He became part of Richard Thompson's backing band