Seth Lakeman

After Equation entered a period of partial inactivity in 2001, Seth Lakeman seemed the member of the group least positioned for a thriving solo career. While his brothers Sam and Sean formed productive partnerships with their respective partners and fellow Equation members Cara Dillon and Kathryn Roberts, few expected the band’s high-energy fiddle player and guitarist to rapidly emerge as one of the most prominent figures on the British folk circuit and to extend his reach well beyond typical genre boundaries. Following the group’s slowdown, he contributed supporting fiddle to sister-in-law Cara Dillon, yet the striking landscapes of Dartmoor in southwest England prompted him to compose songs rooted in the region’s abundant legends and folklore. His sole aim in issuing his debut solo release, The Punch Bowl—captured in brother Sean’s kitchen alongside other Equation alumni and issued on his own iScream imprint in 2002—was to generate enough notice for occasional folk-club bookings; the record vanished without impact. Lacking sufficient credibility or a distinctive vocal presence to command attention with traditional material, and with his original songs appearing too derivative to attract listeners outside Equation circles, the album failed to register.

Lakeman held scant hope that his follow-up, Kitty Jay from 2004, would perform any differently. Once more tracked on a minimal budget in his brother’s kitchen, it explored Devon’s store of legends more deeply and received its official introduction through an unusual performance before inmates at the austere Dartmoor Prison near his home. In contrast to its predecessor, however, Kitty Jay unexpectedly captured widespread attention. Its title track recounted the grim tale of a servant girl driven to suicide after local ostracism following her pregnancy by the squire’s son, prompting visitors to seek out her roadside grave. At the same time, Lakeman landed on the shortlist for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize alongside Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, Magic Numbers, Hard-Fi, KT Tunstall, and eventual victors Antony and the Johnsons. His fervent rendition of “Kitty Jay” during the ceremony, together with his warm, unaffected manner with journalists, drew an expanded audience both to himself and to the folk tradition he embodied.

Lakeman quickly became the emblematic figure of “nu folk,” and although Freedom Fields had already been recorded in the same unadorned fashion as the earlier albums, EMI moved in 2006 to place him on its Relentless label, overseeing remixes and a reissue. Backed by major-label resources, he entered an unfamiliar realm of singles, remixes, videos, daytime television and radio promotion, and extensive touring. He adapted readily, embracing the opportunity for a larger sonic palette and assembling a band that featured brother Sean on guitar and Irish percussionist Cormac Byrne of the trio Uiscedwr on bodhran.

After securing broader recognition and modest U.K. chart entries with “The White Hare” and “Lady of the Sea,” Lakeman’s rapid ascent provoked doubt within a folk community conditioned to view crossover achievements warily. Even so, his approach—an inventive blend of traditional repertoire, buoyant pop elements, and classically inflected fiddle—cultivated an entirely fresh, youthful listenership for the music, an outcome many predecessors had sought without success. Recognition followed at the 2007 BBC Folk Awards, where he received Album of the Year for Freedom Fields and Singer of the Year, although controversy arose when the apparently self-penned “The White Hare” appeared among nominees for Traditional Track of the Year. His fourth album, the rock-leaning Poor Man’s Heaven, surfaced in 2008 with drum sounds reminiscent of Led Zeppelin; he then shifted to Virgin, another EMI imprint, for the 2010 release Hearts & Minds.

Once his EMI agreement concluded, Lakeman chose to issue his sixth album, 2011’s Tales from the Barrel House, through the small independent Honour Oak; the record peaked at number 63 on the U.K. album chart. Unfazed, he maintained a busy touring schedule, including a 2013 collaboration with the BBC Concert Orchestra, five selections from which appeared as an EP. For his subsequent project he signed with Cooking Vinyl. Word of Mouth, scheduled for early 2014, was introduced by the spare, atmospheric single “Portrait of My Wife.” Few artists navigate the contrasting spheres of pop and folk with lasting success, yet Lakeman sustained his equilibrium through energetic delivery, distinctive style, and unaffected charm. His 2016 follow-up, Ballads of the Broken Few, highlighted the close-harmony vocals of Devon-based all-female folk trio Wildwood Kin. Cut with minimal instrumentation around a single microphone in a vintage manner, the album brought an additional soulful dimension to his direct, grounded songwriting. Lakeman devoted much of 2017 to touring with Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, carving out time early the following year to return to the studio. While tracking his ninth solo album, 2018’s The Well-Worn Path, he enlisted producer Ben Hillier, bassist and longtime associate Ben Nicholls, guitarist Kit Hawes, drummer Evan Jenkins, and sister-in-law Kathryn Roberts on backing vocals. The next year he participated in the theatrical work This Land, which traced the pilgrims’ voyage from Plymouth to America, and issued an accompanying album, 2019’s Pilgrim’s Tale.