Artists
who's who and who's doing what?Lisa Knapp
- country:United Kingdom
- style(s):Folk
- label:Ear To The Ground
- artist submitted by:
Spotted simultaneously in 2006 by Ian Anderson (editor of leading folk and roots magazine fRoots) and Nick Luscombe (XFM DJ and music programmer for London's arts hotspot The ICA), on the back of some rough demos on a Myspace page, Lisa Knapp's newly burgeoning fan-base.
perfectly reflects her music. Her re-workings of folk songs, with an added splash of original writing, are fresh and modern and sit happily alongside the nu-folk adventures of Adem, Patrick Wolf and The Fence Collective while being firmly rooted in traditional music.
Vocalist and fiddler player Lisa Knapp grew up in London, fed on a music diet which lurched from house to dance to pop, through The Waterboys to Van Morrison, finally landing her in the unlikely environs of folk music by way of a friend's record collection.
What followed were several years of musical exploration which included countless days rediscovering recordings and books of traditional singers and songs from early 20th century through to the folk revival of the '60s and '70s, by way of the folk music archives at Cecil Sharp House in Camden.
[lisa] 'There was something about those tunes and words. I just couldn't get enough of it. I began to scour local second hand record shops and get hold of anything with traditional songs on, from Pentangle, Dave Burland, The Makems and Paddy Tunney, Nic Jones to Martin Carthy, and a female vocalists from June Tabor, Shirley and Dolly Collins, Anne Briggs to Sandy Denny, along with '70s folk samplers and as many CDs as I could buy of the current successful and obscure performers.'
Meanwhile Lisa became more involved in the traditional folk scene, singing and playing fiddle at folk clubs, including regular performances at Court Sessions Folk Club and a first solo show at Lewes Arms Folk Club. She also played at Irish sessions and guested for Irish fiddler / multi-instrumentalist Gerry Diver at his show at Hammersmith Irish Centre in London.
In 2003 she began recording her own material. The first track she put down was 'Blacksmith', a York Broadside ballad published in 1825 and most famously recorded in the 1971 by Steeleye Span. The track caught the ear of producer Youth (winner of 2 Brit Awards and producer/remixer to The Verve (Urban Hymns), U2, Crowded House, INXS, Paul McCartney and more) who offered to remix the track. The result was a powerful and unforgettably renewed version of this song of unrequited love. The track will be released in 2006 on Youth's folk compilation album titled 'What The Folk Vol. 1' (Butterfly Records).
Continued experimentations led her, in summer 2005, to a summer school led English folk's Chris Wood, as well as taking a vocal master-class with folk legend Shirley Collins. The time spent that summer consolidated her ideas on her musical direction and saw stronger leaning towards English folk music and, inspired by her work with Youth, saw a burst of original song-writing.
[shirley collins on lisa knapp] 'When she sings, you willingly go with her into another world. Lisa certainly has the heart of the matter in her.'
Meanwhile Lisa was invited to be guest vocalist and fiddle player with nu-folk leading lights The Memory Band, newly signed to Peacefrog Records, the label home of Jose Gonzales.
In autumn 2005 Lisa and co-producer Gerry Diver put down the skeleton of what would become her debut album. Early tracks were put up on a Myspace page and interest in her began to grow.
Blacksmith appeared on the covermount CD of the Aug/Sept issue of fRoots magazine. And on Friday 28th July Lisa performed at the monthly Roots And Shoots series at London's ICA, programmed by Nick Luscombe.
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