Fairport Convention and The Stranglers is one of the more unlikely collaborations you'll hear this year!

Richard Thompson and Hugh Cornwall — (Image credit: Gus Stewart/Redferns/Getty Images)

Former Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell has teamed up with members of Fairport Convention, including the band's former guitarist Richard Thompson to record a cover of The Nashville Teens 1964 hit Tobacco Road.

The recording, which also features Fairport Convention members Dave Pegg on bass and Dave Mattacks on drums, features on a compilation album entitled Think Loud 4 Parkinson's, which was released earlier this year. The quartet have just released a brand new video for the song

“In 1964, I went with Richard to see Chuck Berry at the Astoria Finsbury Park, and on the bill were the Nashville Teens, then The Animals, then Moody Blues, Swinging Blue Jeans, then Chuck B," explains Cornwell. We heard three recent number ones that night: Tobacco Road, House Of The Rising Sun and Go Now. My first ever rock concert, I was impressed”.

Think Loud 4 Parkinson’s was put together by former Stranglers and Big Country manager Ian Grant, who was motivated to begin the project, alongside music producer Paul Mitchell, in response to his own experience with Parkinson’s disease. Support has come from all over the music world, including Ozzy Osbourne and The Who's Pete Townshend.

“My interest in Parkinson's arose because my beloved father-in-law Edwin Astley, composer, died in great distress of progressive supranuclear palsy which is loosely related to Parkinson's," The Who guitarist has said. "Then, a very close friend, James Morgan, another composer, revealed he has Parkinson's. Since then. I have tried to help raise awareness around this awful illness, and the really terrible side effects of the large amount of necessary drugs every day, and the incredible pain they ameliorate. Many people don’t realise how much pain Parkinson's can cause."

You can buy the Think Loud 4 Parkinson's compilation here.

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Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.