The director of Fairport's Cropredy Convention tells Tim Hughes how the long-running event remains fresh while still appealing to its hardcore fans

It's going to be Madness in the north Oxfordshire countryside tonight.

No, really, it is, for the Baggy Trousers and House of Fun stars, one of the best-loved bands of the 80s, take to the stage later this evening to headline the first night of a music festival which has become one of the best-loved fixtures of the musical year.

Cropredy Festival has been going for 37 years, beginning life as a farewell show for the folk-rock band Fairport Convention.

They didn't stay away for long, returning year after year for a gathering which has survived drought, deluge, tragedy, illness, drunkenness and all manner of raucous behaviour to become an annual date for its legions of fans – many of whom return, without fail, to this hallowed hillside not far from Banbury.

Now correctly named Fairport's Cropredy Convention, it sticks to tradition, while moving slightly with the times. So it still has just the one stage (last week's Wilderness festival, by contrast, had at least 16 separate stages and venues), and it is always bookended by Fairport themselves – the band playing an acoustic show to start the festival today, and ending with a rousing extended set on Saturday night – culminating, as always, in a massed sing-along to their anthem Meet on the Ledge.

But while it started out as a folk, or at least folk-rock, event, it is now a very different beast.

This year's festival has prog, rock, bluegrass, 60s pop, ska, reggae and acoustic singer-songwriters as well as folk. And Madness, of course.

"We've got a great line-up" says festival director Gareth Williams. "We've been chasing Madness for years but this year they are available, which is brilliant."

Other worthy names include Hayseed Dixie, The Bootleg Beatles, Steeleye Span, Ralph McTell, Babylon Circus, Headspace, Willie & The Bandits, Lifesigns, Sound of the Siren, The Pierce Brothers, Coco & The Butterfields Gryphon and Maia – as well as the Fairport lads Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Ric Sanders, Chris Leslie and Gerry Conway – and guests.

So how does Gareth and the Fairporters come up with a set to keep everyone satisfied – bearing in mind there is only one stage?

"We've got to keep the people that have been coming for years happy, while keeping things fresh – and never resting on our laurels.

"I don't particularly like the term 'eclectic', but that's what it is. You have to make it as attractive as possible particularly since we went up to three days in 2000.

"If you are selling a three-day ticket, you have to give them something of value.

"Take Madness. You know you are going to get a show, and it's all about fun. A band like that cuts across age groups and keeps everyone happy and will be very well received."

they follow a litany of stellar opening night headliners including Emmylou Harris, Bellowhead, Squeeze, UB40, Status Quo and Alice Cooper.

The festival – properly known as Fairport's Cropredy Convention – begins at 4pm today with the ringing at Cropredy parish church of the Fairport Convention Festival Bell, itself paid for by the festival.

"Everyone can hear it... if the wind is blowing in the right direction," says Gareth. "And then Fairport begin their acoustic set, to start the festival."

So who is Gareth particularly excited about? "I look forward to the bands I have never seen before," he says.

"Everybody knows the big bands, because they come many times, but I like the up-and-coming acts, like Maia. At any other festival they would be looking at playing a beginners' tent in a far flung field in the middle of nowhere, playing to 12 people. But not at Cropredy where there is only one stage, and it is 60ft by 40ft.

"New bands are always appreciative and always get a positive reception, leaving them with eyes like dinner plates.

"It can be sink or swim playing on such a massive stage, but I have never seen a young band fail – you can always tell that by the queues afterwards at the signing tent. For many it springboards their careers, and they go on to big things, like Ahab.

"And it means we can pick and choose some great acts."

He also said having one stage meant more people visited the fringe event in the village, with live music in pubs and food sold by local good causes.

"We bring a lot of money into the village," he says. "And we want to keep them happy."

After a number of wash-out years, including a torrential downpour for last year's Emmylou Harris set, Gareth is glad the weather is this year playing ball – even though the dry weather presents its own challenges.

"The ground is like concrete," he says. "I need tungsten-tipped tent pegs this year.

"But it's going to be great, with blue skies which are going to last. And we are due a dry year. The last time the Bootleg Beatles played there was horizontal rain – but still nobody left."

Despite the sun, this year will be a poignant one, it being the first since Fairport former member Dave Swarbrick died.

The virtuoso fiddle player passed away in June, aged 75. He had been ill for some time – the Daily Telegraph famously printing his premature obituary in 1999, after he was admitted to hospital in Coventry with a chest infection.

'Swarb' made light of the slip, joking: "It's not the first time I've died in Coventry." At the following year's Cropredy he printed off and sold signed copies of his obituary to fans.

Gareth said a Swarb tribute was inevitable.

He said: "I can't give anything away, but Swarb will be remembered. We don't want to do anything too big though. It's too soon. It will be subtle now but then we'll be putting on a big party to remember him, with all the people he played with, in the future. It's what he wanted."

He added: "It is really sad, but wasn't unexpected. He had been ill for year. He had a double lung transplant about 12 years ago and they only gave him five years to live then.

"It's a shame he won't be here for the 50th anniversary of the band next year."

While the first festival-goers enjoy their first tankards of ale this afternoon, Gareth admits he'll be too busy to stop. "My favourite time of the festival is Sunday morning,when it's finished," he laughs.

"I never have a chance to enjoy it but everyone else does, which is why generations of them come back."

"Still, you can't be complacent and you only need to screw up once – though we never have!"

Fairport's Cropredy Convention runs from today until Saturday. Tickets on the gate. Go to fairportconvention.com for full line-up and more details