"The moment had come. For the first time in, possibly 5 years, Seth was back sharing a stage with Cara and the other Lakeman brother, Sam" – Mary Stokes
Seth Lakeman and Cara Dillon band member Brian Finnegan at London’s East Wintergarden. Photo by David aka Thief. More photos on the Broken Bridge Cara Dillon forum »
St Patrick’s Day last week saw Seth back on stage with brother Sam and sister-in-law Cara Dillon for the first time since he left their band to embark on his own solo career. Mary Stokes reviewed the gig for ReviewArtists.com and other fans were there to capture the magic night on video for the rest of us to enjoy.
Spencer the Rover
Seth and Cara perform Spencer the Rover from her award-winning album, Hill of Thieves. There’s another version from Thief123 here on YouTube along with plenty more fantastic videos from the night.
Benji Kirkpatrick talks to the folk music website Bright Young Folk about joining the Seth Lakeman band prior to the gig at London’s Union Chapel on 24 May 2009.
Benji will be a permanent new fifth member, joining Sean Lakeman (guitar), Ben Nicholls (double bass) and Simon Lea (percussion). It is unclear whether he will play all the forthcoming festival dates or not, as some clash with existing committments to his other bands, Faustus and Bellowhead.
This is the first of a two part interview. In the second part at www.brightyoungfolk.com he discusses his solo work and recent album Boomerang (amazon | itunes).
Update 21 May: Benji Kirkpatrick played support at Minack Theatre on Tue 20 May, but for the rest of the tour will be playing as part of the main band and not as a support act. There will, apparently, be no support act for most of the dates except Bath and possibly Barnstaple.
Sorry for the confusion. I still thoroughly recommend Benji’s solo album though ;-)
Benji Kirkpatrick will play support for all bar two dates on Seth’s forthcoming UK tour, which kicks off in Birmingham this Sunday, 17 May at the Minack Theatre on Tue 19 May. Support for Birmingham on 17 May will be from Megson and Nancy Elizabeth, with local band Inu appearing at Bath on 3 June.
Benji Kirkpatrick:
Support at Minack Theatre, Tue 19 May
Band member all other tour dates
Perhaps best known as founder member of Bellowhead and Faustus, committments to which have left little time for his own solo career, Benji is a gifted player of guitar, bouzouki and banjo as well as a singer/songwriter. A long-time collaborator with Seth Lakeman, they toured as a duo and as a trio with Oysterband’s Jon Jones in Seth’s pre-Mercury Music Prize days, and Benji has guested on most of Lakeman’s albums, with Seth returning the favour on Benji’s 2008 solo album, Boomerang.
Where Bellowhead and Faustus deliver new takes on traditional material, Benji’s solo work sees him follow in the footsteps of Nick Drake and Richard Thompson with original, self-penned contemporary songs which reflect his traditional roots but are never purely "folk". Boomerang struggled to achieve the exposure it deserved after Benji’s committments to Bellowhead and Faustus left little time to tour with it. Still, he’s recently managed to pack in a few solo dates with fellow former Seth Lakeman band member Cormac Byrne (bodhran) and Sam Norman (double bass).
After playing support at Minack Theatre on 19 May as a solo artist, Benji will be joining Seth’s regular band of Sean Lakeman (guitar), Ben Nicholls (double bass) and Simon Lea (percussion) for the rest of the tour.
Here’s Benji – joined by Seth Lakeman on fiddle, and Megson’s Su Hanna – at one of his few solo dates of 2008:
Megson & Nancy Elizabeth:
Birmingham Symphony Hall, Sun 17 May
Support at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall will be provided by folk duo Megson, and singer Nancy Elizabeth.
Megson are highly rated folk duo Stu Hanna and Debbie Hanna-Palmer. They have released three albums since coming together in 2004, including 2008’s critically acclaimed Take Yourself a Wife, which earned 4-star reviews from The Guardian and Songlines magazine.
In the incestuous world that is folk music, Stu Hanna of was producer on Benji Kirkpatrick’s album, Boomerang.
Nancy Elizabeth is a contemporary singer/songwriter from Manchester, with a vaguely Dido-esque vocal style that contrasts to the strong folk vein of the other support acts for the tour. Her most recent solo album is 2007’s Battle and Victory, but she also appears in more recent collaborations on James Yorkston’s When the Haar Rolls In and with Susumu Yokota on mother.
Members of local Bath folk act, Inu, will be support at Komedia on 3 June. Marick Baxter (Flutes and Whistles)
Louise Baxter (Guitar and Vocals) and Beth Porter (Cello) play strong, fairly straight renditions of Irish traditional music (and none the worse for it). They have a new album out, The Thousand Mile Journey, which you can buy from their website.
jmccool14 managed to get his hands on the original 1996 music video for the Equation single ‘He Loves Me’, and has shared it on YouTube. Featuring Seth, Sam and Sean Lakeman with Kathryn Roberts and Cara Dillon on vocals.
Seth and Sam look terribly young. Sean doesn’t seem to have aged a day.
You can catch Sean Lakeman and Kathryn Roberts in a rare performance as a duo at Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Sam Lakeman and Cara Dillon meanwhile are busy touring their new album, Hill of Thieves, at venues and festivals across the UK and beyond all summer – see www.caradillon.co.uk.
According to the festival blog, Sean Lakeman and Kathryn Roberts will appear as a duo for the first time in several years at the 2009 Shrewsbury Folk Festival. The duo will play on Saturday 29 August with Seth headlining the same night.
Sean and Kathryn toured folk clubs and released two albums – as well as being nominated for Best Duo at the BBC Folk Awards – between the slow demise of original band, Equation, and the burgeoning of Seth’s solo career which has since kept Sean busy with producing and guitar duties. Shrewsbury will be a rare opportunity to catch the couple on stage together again.
The duo’s two albums, 1 and 2, are still available including, amazingly for an indie production, on Spotify.
Seth Lakeman: Unofficial 