lisa knapp

Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver take us Track-by-Track through their new album Hinterland – a gloriously free-spirited album and the perfect example of folk’s potential for reinvention.

With Hinterland, Gerry Diver and Lisa Knapp wanted to create something ‘raw and real and unrestrained,’ something that flies in the face of the notion that folk music is a static form…this gloriously free-spirited album is the perfect example of folk’s potential for reinvention. 

Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver share their new single and video, Train Song. Both the visuals, by Marry Waterson, and arrangements are woven together so unconventionally that those everyday scenes take on a magical curiosity as if noticing them for the first time.

Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver announce Hinterland album and share ‘Hawk and Crow’ single and video. For us, this isn’t just a folk song—it’s a conversation with the past, an ode to nature, and a glimpse of storytelling at its finest.

Since it is May Day, we revisit conversations with folk artist and May enthusiast Lisa Knapp to briefly explore customs such as Padstow May Day celebrations, Jack in the Green traditions, rituals, and some of Lisa’s favourite folk songs related to May.

Watch the stunning new visualiser video from Hack-Poets Guild for ‘Something to Love Me’, taken from their forthcoming debut album, Blackletter Garland, which is out this week on 10 March.

Hack-Poets Guild features three of the finest musical minds that the British folk scene has to offer, and on Blackletter Garland, an album that is more than the sum of its parts, they demonstrate the possible futures of folk music, all of them varied and vibrant.

Our Song of the Day comes from Hack-Poets Guild (Marry Waterson, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann) with Ten Tongues. Watch the accompanying animated video by Marry Waterson.

Lisa Knapp, Marry Waterson and Nathaniel Mann join forces as the Hack-Poet’s Guild and knock the ball out of the park with their lead single ‘Daring Highwayman’.

Through 100 years of film and TV footage, Arcadia explores the changing face of the British countryside and our relationship to the land and each other. It takes in folk carnivals and masked parades, harvesting, communes and raves, mechanisation, fires, floods and much more.

The Folk Effect returns on 16 June at 7pm featuring some of the finest names in UK folk, including Ríoghnach Connolly, Kate Young, Ellie Gowers, Lisa Knapp, Gwilym Bowen Rhys and Jackie Oates.

Lisa Knapp will be performing Till April is Dead this week on Thursday, 8th November at London’s The Albany. It promises to be a very special evening as she will be performing with a full band. Not to be missed.

Lisa Knapp’s Branch of May sequel ‘The Summer Draws Near’ is available via digitally for the first time. Opting for a more pared-back approach her voice is brought to the fore highlighting her ability to balance the skills of singer and storyteller – We look forward to more tales from the May Queen.

This week’s Folk Show features rituals, Cuckoos, poachers, Lapwings, Gypsies and a Golden Plover to name just a few of the themes that crop up in the folk songs we’ve pulled together. We’ve also got a sneak peek at some advance releases from Martin Simpson, Tom Russell, The Young’uns and Mairearad Green and Mike Vass plus more.

We talk to Lisa Knapp about her latest album Till April Is Dead – A Garland Of May and talk in-depth about the rituals celebrated in May and why it has always held such power over the imaginations of singers and writers.

Unlike Lisa Knapp’s previous releases, Till April Is Dead: A Garland Of May is an entirely different beast, not only because of the unity of its concept but because it seeks to understand old songs and traditions in modern and often highly original ways. It is a real step forward from a genuinely groundbreaking artist.

The latest in our Lost in Transmission Series features new music from Lisa Knapp, Brigid Mae Power, Sam Amidon, Holy Modal Rounders, Toby Hay, David Allred, Peter Broderick and more.

Shirley Collins’ Lodestar performance at the Barbican is fresh and contemporary and avant-garde at times. The assembled musicians are nothing short of brilliant, the arrangements are in turns atmospheric, joyous, stirring and thrilling.