Seth Lakeman

Troubadour Seth Lakeman has played all over the world and worked with all sorts of folk greats during his career so far. A man whose sound is constantly evolving, his latest album Ballads of the Broken Few has an Americana slant to it. I spoke to him ahead of his date at Open this month, about working with the legendary produced Ethan Johns, the best young folk players coming up through the ranks and capturing the lives of everyday people through song.

You began playing music with his parents and brothers at an early age, and in fact went on Saturday Swap Shop! Was it inevitable that you’d end up being a musician do you think?

I guess, yeah, it did seem pretty natural. Nothing was forced in terms of education, but everthing’s worked out!

You released an album with your brothers in the 90’s and then joined Kate Rusby and Kathryn Roberts who both now also have successful careers and made three albums and toured Europe. I guess that folk is founded on community playing and collaboration and continues to be so in 2016?

Yeah of course, that’s where it all stems from. It can come from family or community.

When you made your first solo album in 2002, The Punch Bowl, were you apprehensive about it being just you, or was it more exciting?

I was definitely apprehensive because I wasn’t really a singer. I was just experimenting with a few songs and my own direction. I was pretty unsure if it was going to be successful or if I was going to have any kind of career from it. It was all very much a sideline – I was writing songs for other people and playing fiddle in other people’s bands at the time.

Kitty Jay in 2004 was recorded in your brother’s kitchen for less than £300 but reached silver status in the UK. Was that surprising to you, that it did so well with so little money spent on it?

It wasn’t necessarily what it was dressed up in, it was more about what it represented and the style that it was carving which was a combination of that traditional folk background with pop or rock sensibilities. It was a mixture of styles but it all worked together well.

You’ve toured with Jools Holland, Billy Bragg and the Levellers amongst others. What’s the best bit of advice you’ve been given by another musician?

I worked with Ethan Johns most recently and he always says “less is more”, and there are a lot of cheats and tricks that music can offer people but generally if you want to see and feel what the true organic art form of music is, it’s important to have that honest and raw approach.

I know you play several instruments, but which other ones are you keen to learn?

Oh always! Music is a bit of an exploration and I’m always trying to work with new instruments. On this new record I was working with the viola and electronic tenor, so quite a different sound.

Freedom Fields went gold, one if the biggest selling traditionally folk based albums ever in the UK. After that album did you feel a certain pressure to maintain this level of sales?

It was exciting and there’s always pressure, cos you always want to do the same thing again but that’s something you can’t really recreate so it was more trying to experiment as a band at that point. Then you’re thrown into the idea of playing songs that are similar as well. I didn’t necessarily want to keep the template the same as I always want to move forward and evolve so the next record was very different. It’s a natural process.

Your latest album Ballads of the Broken Few sounds a bit more influenced by American folk and blues. Which Americana artists do you particular enjoy listening to?

I’ve been listening to Dirk Powell but also quite a bit to the album Raising Sands by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, that sort of sound.

Your new album was produced by Ethan Johns who’s worked with Ryan Adams, Tom Jones and Paul McCartney. How was that process for you?

Yeah it was brilliant, we’ve become very very good friends and have struck a good relationship for the future. I’ve played in his band as well. He’s very much from the rock and singer songwriter world whereas I come from a folk background but we met somewhere in the middle and it was perfect really.

I went to the Cambridge Folk Festival this year and was pleased so see so many young people and groups playing. I know you worked with Wildwood Kin on this album – which other new folk acts would you suggest we check out?

Oh yeah! There’s a great artist, Winter Mountain, Luke Jackson is superb, Sam Kelly is brilliant..there are some great young artists coming up now.

You worked on the Full English Project at Cecil Sharp House where the folk archive is housed – can you tell us a bit more about what that involved?

That was fascinating. It was one of those projects where we weren’t quite sure where it was going to head because there are 25,000 songs to choose from! I went through the archive and could only just skim the surface but I did find a lot and am still using it as a source. It opened my eyes and ears to the more traditional roots, and I used a couple of the Broadside Ballads to write songs on the new record. It was a joy to be part of, and a very educational project.

Word of Mouth was a collection of stories you recorded about colourful characters from the West Country where you’re from. How important to you is it to not only preserve the traditional folk songs of the UK but also create new ones as Chris Wood does?

Yeah it is, folk music is about people and a reflection of their lives, celebrating that in song. Word of Mouth was very much about that. It was very much singer/songwriter in style so it had a modern feel but trying to breathe some life into these people, some of them heroes and some of them everyday folk who have worked hard in life. It was a varied demographic of the West Country.

You’re playing with a full band at Open here in Norwich but some of the gigs on this tour you’re playing solo. Are there particular songs from the new album that you prefer to play solo or with a band?

On this tour we’re playing with Wildwood Kin on five or six songs from the new material but also generally this whole tour is with the band. I do a couple of songs solo, and that’s a moment that brings it back to you and what you’re trying to say whereas singing with the girls is more about the vocals and sentiment, and with the band it’s more about rhythm. So it’s a varied selection of songs.

What’s been your most memorable gig so far? I know you’ve played in some amazing venues.

I’ve been very lucky! We’ve played at an amphitheatre in Libya, on a lakeside in Malawi, in Nova Scotia, Singapore, Nova Scotia..it’s been quite a journey so far!

Seth Lakeman plays at OPEN on 11th December. Tickets available from ueatickets.ticketabc.com