Seth Bernard Lakeman
(born 26 March 1977) and brought up in the village of Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon, is an English folk singer, songwriter, and musician.
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SETH LAKEMAN TICKETS
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Career
Seth Lakeman began playing music with his parents and two brothers Sean and Sam at an early age.
As
The Lakeman Brothers, the three brothers released their critically acclaimed debut album
Three Piece Suite
in
1994. Later that same year they were invited by two Yorkshire based singers
Kathryn Roberts and
Kate Rusby to join them as a backing group on a tour of
Portugal. After the tour the five musicians became a permanent group and called themselves
Equation.
[1] The group swiftly garnered much praise and hype and signed a record deal with
Time Warner in 1995. After three full albums ('Return to me' in 1996, 'Hazy Daze' in 1998, 'The Lucky Few' in 2000), and touring around the UK, Europe and the USA, Lakeman left Equation in
2001. He joined his brother Sam and Sam's wife
Cara Dillon and appeared on Dillon's acclaimed, self titled debut album, which featured Seth on fiddle, guitar and vocals.
[2] The album won two awards at the 2002
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
[3]
In
2002 Lakeman released his first solo album,
The Punch Bowl, which received wide critical acclaim including a review in
fRoots magazine which said: "The songs don't just glide smoothly by.....they get their claws into you".
Kitty Jay, Lakeman's second solo album was released in
2004. The title track of the album tells the story of
Jay's Grave, a well known location on
Dartmoor. The album was recorded for a cost of less than £300.
[4] That same year he collaborated with Devon singer-songwriter
Steve Knightley and young local singer Jenna Witts on the album
Western Approaches
.
A sell out UK tour in Autumn 2005 followed his
Mercury Music Prize nomination, after which Lakeman and his band (regularly brother Sean (guitar), Ben Nichols (bass), Andy Tween (drums), toured extensively with folk-rock giants
The Levellers, who took to closing their set with a "fiddle off" between Lakeman and Levellers' fiddler Jon Sevink. Other support tours with
Billy Bragg and
Jools Holland brought Lakeman's music to a wider audience.
In March 2006 Lakeman began a UK tour in order to promote his new album
Freedom Fields which was released on
iScream. He then changed to a major record company called
Relentless and released his new single
Lady of the Sea
in early August 2006.
In 2007, he played at the
SXSW festival in Texas,
Hyde Park Calling, the
Glastonbury Festival, The
V Festival,
WOMAD Charlton Park in Wiltshire, the
Edmonton Folk Music Festival, the Cornbury Music Festival,
Fairport's Cropredy Convention, the
Towersey Village Festival and provided support for
Tori Amos on her European tour.
On 18 April 2008, Lakeman appeared on stage with
Jethro Tull on their 40th anniversary tour at
Colston Hall in Bristol before the start of his own UK tour later that month and going on to tour the festival circuit throughout the summer. His fourth album,
Poor Man's Heaven was released on 30 June 2008. It includes
Solomon Browne
, a tribute to the courage of the men who lost their lives in the
Penlee lifeboat disaster.
[5]
In August 2008, Lakeman was one of the acts playing at the
Greenbelt Festival in
Cheltenham,
England, to over 18,000 people.
The festival tour continued in 2009; notably with an appearance at the Bath Fringe festival on June 3, playing at the newly renovated Komedia venue to a capacity crowd who enjoyed renditions from Poor Man's Heaven and other albums as well as a wealth of new material.
On September 13 2009, Lakeman will be performing at the Harvest At Jimmy's Food & Music Festival at
Jimmy's Farm, Suffolk.
Awards
- In July 2005 Lakeman was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for Kitty Jay
. [6]
- On 5 February 2007 Lakeman won Singer of the Year
and Best Album
awards at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards [7].
Style of music
Seth Lakeman's primary musical instruments are the
violin, the
tenor guitar, the
banjo and the
viola.
Discography
| Name
| Type
| Date of release
| Remarks
|
| as principal performer
|
| The Punch Bowl
| Album
| 2002 Re-release: 2004-06-07
|
|
| Kitty Jay
| Album
| 2004 Re-release: 2005-08-01 and 2006-10-09
| UK chart position: 100.
|
| Freedom Fields
| Album
| First edition: 2006-03-20 Re-release: 2006-08-21
| UK chart position (2006-08-27) 32.
|
| The Bold Knight
| Single
| 2005
| Released on CD single.
|
| Lady Of The Sea (Hear Her Calling)
| Single
| 07/08/2006
| UK chart position (2006-08-07) 52. Released on CD single and 7" vinyl.
|
| The White Hare
| Single
| 2006-10-21
| UK chart position (2006-10-30) 47. Released as a two part CD single and limited edition white vinyl 7".
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| King & Country
| Single
| 2007-02-05
| Released only as a 7" vinyl single.
|
| Poor Man's Heaven
| EP
| 2007-10-22
| Four-track EP (Poor Man's Heaven; Race to be King; How Much (Live); Lillywhite Girl) released on CD single and double 7" vinyl.
|
| Poor Man's Heaven Live EP
| EP (Download)
| 2008-04-22
| Free EP release as a download from the official website , featuring live versions of five tracks (Poor Man's Heaven; Lady Of The Sea; Haunt You; Blood Red Sky; and Bold Knight) recorded at Shepherd's Bush Empire in October 2007.
|
| Poor Man's Heaven
| Album
| 2008-06-30
| UK chart position (2008-07-06): 8
|
| The Hurlers
with Sound of a Drum
| Single
| 2008-06-30
| Limited edition 7" vinyl release.
|
| Crimson Dawn
| Single
| 2008-07-06
| Download only.
|
| Solomon Browne
| Single
| 13/10/2008 (TBC)
|
|
| in The Lakeman Brothers
|
| Three Piece Suite
| Album
| 1994
|
|
| with Equation
|
| In Session
| Promotional Only E.P.
| 1995
|
|
| Return to Me
| Album
| 1995–1996 2003-03-24
| Recorded in 1995–1996, album was shelved days before release and finally issued in 2003.
|
| Hazy Daze
| Album
| 1998-02-02
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|
| The Lucky Few
| Album
| 1999 2003-11-17
|
|
| The Dark Ages E.P.
| E.P.
| 2001 2004-06-14
| As guest musician
|
| First Name Terms
| Album
| 2002 2004-06-07
| As guest musician
|
| with Cara Dillon
|
| Cara Dillon
| Album
| 2001-07-16
|
|
| Sweet Liberty
| Album
| 2003-09-22
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|
| with Steve Knightley and Jenna Witts
|
| Western Approaches
| Album
| 2004-09-27
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|
|
|
| Choc Ice Cove
| Album
| 2007-09-21
|
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References
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/jun/27/filmandmusic1.filmandmusic15
- http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wbfixqq0ld6e~T2
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/folkawards2008/previouswinners.shtml
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3555632/Seth-Lakeman-to-the-sea.html
- http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/sftw/article1408108.ece
- http://www.xfm.co.uk/article.asp?id=106755
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6333059.stm