Jez Lowe

Renowned among northern England's leading singer-songwriters, Jez Lowe has placed material on seven solo releases as well as three albums by his band the Bad Pennys. Additional artists who have recorded his songs range from Fairport Convention and the Tannahill Weavers to the Black Family and Gordon Bok. More than twenty performers have recorded his signature piece, "Back In Durham Jail."

Although Irish and Scottish music shaped his earliest influences, Lowe developed his own approach after immersing himself in the traditional repertoire of England's North East. Compositions such as "The Famous Working Man," "The Honest Working Way," and "Workhouse" address the hardships of the British working class, while pieces including "These Coal Days," "Black Diamonds," "Pit Boy," and "A Small Coal Song" examine conditions in the coal-mining communities.

Lowe first drew notice in the late '70s through a duo with Ged Foley, a performer on Northumbrian pipes, guitar, and vocals. Once Foley entered the Battlefield Band in 1980, Lowe moved forward both alone and in partnership with hurdy-gurdy specialist Jake Walton; that collaboration concluded in 1989 when Lowe established the quartet the Bad Pennys. Its present members are Billy Surgeoner (fiddle, keyboards, whistle, vocals), Jez Luton (bass, keyboards, vocals), and Judy Dinning (keyboards, guitar, vocals).

Lowe's third album, Galloway, first issued in 1985, was later augmented with selections from his self-titled 1980 debut and re-released in 1996. Black Shift, a 1992 collection spanning recordings made between 1980 and 1986, followed.