Finally.

That’s what local fans of seminal British folk-rock have probably been thinking as they’ve been counting down the days until Steeleye Span’s upcoming Wednesday, Sept. 23 performance at the Ark.

That’s because this show by Steeleye — who, along with Fairport Convention, more or less “invented” the Brit-folk-rock genre in the late 1960s — is the first Ann Arbor date by the band since 1997.

That long wait is partly due to economics. It’s difficult for a five-piece English band to break even when they fly across the ocean, lugging amps and a drum kit, to play smallish folk clubs in the U.S. — a reality for a folk-rock group that, despite their critical acclaim and “pioneer” status, is still a cult fave here, and therefore doesn’t sell out U.S. theaters. But it’s also partly because, since the late ‘70s, Steeleye has not always been a full-time endeavor for the group’s members.

Some have pursued solo projects or joined other bands, others have left and then returned, and, like Fairport, Steeleye has become well-known for its revolving-door lineup.

However, Steeleye — which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year — is even better known for its innovative, exhilarating hybrid of folk-music lyricism and rock 'n' roll energy and urgency.

And Steeleye’s lineup has actually been stable over the last several years. The current unit has been in place since ’03, anchored by singer and founding member Maddy Prior, who returned in ’02 after a seven-year absence. And still on board after all these years is fiery fiddler Peter Knight, who has been in the band for all but a few years since the early ‘70s.

So, like Prior, he was a key member of the group’s ‘70s lineup that delivered an impressive series of now-classic tracks that energized the Brit-folk repertoire with crunching guitar riffs and a rock-ribbed rhythm section. And always out front were Prior’s soaring vocals, which have long been famous in the folk community for her remarkable high-end range. Among those classic tunes: “All Around My Hat,” “Hard Times of Old England,” “Seven Hundred Elves,” “Alison Gross,” “Thomas the Rhymer,” “Little Sir Hugh,” “Black Jack Davy,” “Elf Call” and many other gems that have been fan faves ever since.

"Black Jack Davy" - Steeleye Span

Prior confirms that, during different phases of the group’s history, “it’s true that we haven’t really been a ‘full time’ group, in the usual sense of the word, because many of us had other endeavors we also pursued.” (Prior herself has released more than 20 solo albums since the late ‘70s.) “But Steeleye has still been the central core of what we do.”

Several times this decade, since the lineup stabilized again, the band has documented its live shows for posterity: Steeleye has released four live albums since ‘01, including its latest disc, “Live at a Distance,” a two-CD set released this year. The group has also released two studio albums since ‘04, the most recent being the stellar “Bloody Men” in ‘06. “Live at a Distance” also includes a live DVD.

“I think we’ve always been more about being a live band, and now that recording technology is better than it was 20 or 30 years ago, live albums sound much better today,” says Prior during a phone interview from her home in Cumbria, a rural area on the English-Scottish border. “Plus, sometimes it’s not until you’ve toured a song for a while that it really comes into its own. And the performances onstage are coming more from emotion, and intuition, as opposed to the more intellectual process that goes into crafting a song in the studio. So we like to capture that.”

Steeleye Span perform “Connaught” for “Live at a Distance”:

Joining Prior and Knight in the Steeleye lineup for most of this decade have been guitarist Ken Nicol (formerly of the Albion Band), bassist Rick Kemp (the producer of Prior's solo discs) and drummer Liam Genockey. Previously, both Kemp and Genockey had done long stints in Steeleye; Kemp in the ‘70s-‘80s, and Genockey in the ‘80s-‘90s.

“But I don’t think Rick will be coming to the U.S. for this tour,” says Prior. “He sometimes gets these pains in the base of his neck, especially on long trips or tours, so it looks like we’ll have Pete Zorn on bass instead.” Ah, such is the interconnectedness of the Brit-folk-rock family: the amazingly multi-talented Zorn (he also plays sax, accordion, concertina and guitar) has served in Richard Thompson’s band (Thompson started out in Fairport) for about 20 years.

For “Live at a Distance” the performances were culled from four concerts between ’02 and ’08 — the group did not include most of its aforementioned “breadwinner” songs. Instead, they dusted off several old tunes that had not been in their live repertoire for many years, and also included a handful of tunes from “Bloody Men.”

“Well, we’d done live albums before with those more popular songs on them,” explains Prior. “So we figured there wasn’t much point in regurgitating the same tunes again for this live album, and we have such a large repertoire of songs” — most of them traditional English tunes that the band has rocked up to such an extent that they’re all but unrecognizable to trad fans who only knew them from their original trad-folk versions. “So, we dropped some of those more popular ones for a while. We like to do that — let songs go fallow for a while, let them green up, and then bring them back.”

So, the group will be dusting off those classic fan faves for the benefit of their ever-patient American fans? “Yes, we might well do some of those again, because we haven’t done them for a while,” says Prior, almost teasingly.

Span-heads are undoubtedly pleased that, since he joined up, guitarist Nicol has practically channeled the distinct, over-driven guitar sound of Bob Johnson, whose muscular riffs powered many of those classic ‘70s tunes.

“I do think Ken has been using Bob’s sound as template since he joined, because Bob was with the group for so long, and that sound is so closely associated with the group’s music. And he really is a marvelous player — he can play anything.”

Currently, the band is at work on another studio album. “It’s a return to what we did on our first album. It’s entirely traditional songs — it won’t include any of our own compositions,” divulges Prior. “It’s a lot of lyrical, romantic ballads, but it will be somewhat different, in that most of them are from the Victorian period” — compared to Steeleye’s typical choice of trad tunes, most of which have dated back 300 years or more.

“But,” adds Prior, as if to assuage the concerns of those who still relish the classic Steeleye sound: “It will still have plenty of electric guitar and drums.”

PREVIEW Steeleye Span Who: Pioneering British folk-rock band that is celebrating its 40th anniversary. What: Inventive, classic, energetic synergy of traditional Brit-folk and rock n’ roll. When: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 8 p.m. Where: The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. How much: $30. Details: 734-761-1451; The Ark web site.

Kevin Ransom is a free-lance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com, and who previously interviewed Maddy Prior in 1997. He can be reached at KevinRansom10@aol.com.