Steve Ashley has influenced the evolution of British folk music for nearly four decades. A member of the short-lived Albion Country Band in the early '70s, Ashley has continued to perform in a variety of settings. In addition to leading his own bands, Ragged Robin and the Steve Ashley Band, he performed with a duo in the 1980s that he shared with future Fairport Convention multi-instrumentalist Chris Leslie. His harmonica playing can be heard on albums by Plainsong, Marc Ellington, Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, and Mike D'Abo. While Folk Roots claimed that "Ashley's freshness and vigour are constants," Melody Maker declared that he was "one of the finest singer/songwriters in Britain, if not the entire English-speaking world."