Note Productions present

Sam Lee & Friends

Thursday 27th Novemvber 2014, 8pm
Tickets: €20
Available here

“Sam Lee is one of very few to achieve a real emotional punch with moving simplicity”
“Sam Lee is one of very few to achieve a real emotional punch with moving simplicity”
  – The Wire

Sam Lee burst onto the music scene in 2012 with his aptly named debut album, ‘Ground of its Own’. This startlingly original work garnered instant acclaim, an Album of the Year nomination from the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, 3 x BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominations and was awarded fRoots Magazine Album of the Year. The recording was a musical manifesto, reflecting the unusual artistic journey Sam has taken so far.Now in his early 30s, singing was relatively new to Sam until his first encounter with folk song nearly 10 years ago. This discovery of a new world, and a naturally gifted voice, compelled him to abandon his work as a trained visual artist, teacher of wilderness survival, and part-time burlesque dancer to embark on a journey into the old songs of The British Isles.

London born and bred, Sam’s musical training came via a unique four-year apprenticeship under the legendary, late Scottish Traveller Stanley Robertson â?? last of the great ballad singers. Sam became the musical ‘next of kinÃ’ to Stanley’s vast repertoire of songs and an ancient, idiosyncratic Traveller singing craft. Sam has also spent time researching and documenting the music and stories of the Romany Gypsy and Irish Traveller communities.

Sam Leeâ??s impact on the music scene began several years before his emergence as a singer in his role as an award-winning promoter and live events producer. Under the banner of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Club of the Year, The Magpie’s Nest (now ‘The Nest Collective’), Sam and his team played a key role in the resurgence of the current thriving live folk music scene and most crucially, fired up interest in traditional music amongst younger performers and audiences. The Nest Collective continues to be behind many innovative concerts in London and on festival stages throughout the UK.

Regarded as something of a provocateur by some, many see Sam as a pioneer. In 2011, Sam was presented with an Arts Foundation Award by artist Grayson Perry, which for the first time recognised and honoured folk music amongst the art forms. Likewise, his band, Sam Lee and Friends, carve a new acoustic sound with their often homemade instrumentation using unconventional and contemporary arrangements. Together they challenge preconceptions of what traditional folk should sound like.

Sam has continued to reinterpret the stories and songs of the Scottish, Irish Traveller and English Gypsy communities. With his band, the Friends, their distinctive sound has led to collaborations with Secret Cinema and Laura Marling. Sam has participated in talks at 5 x 15, has a regular show on Resonance FM radio and heâ??s also made an appearance in the BBC’s recent series ‘Peaky Blinders’ all of which have propelled Sam Lee and Friends into new and uncharted territories, where they have flourished.

“The band whittle folk in wonderful shapes, giving a flavour of 70s krautrock, while hints of disco and bluegrass added brilliant backing to Lee’s Baritone”
  – Jude Rogers, The Guardian

“Lee’s voice, oddly blithe and light for a baritone, captures the mythic charm of these songs and it’s arrangements, at once vivid yet shrouded, set Ground of Its Own apart.”
  – The Independent

The Sam Lee & Friends tour is supported by an Arts Council of Ireland Touring Award.

Tour Dates

Wednesday 26th November 2014
Moving On Music, Belfast
Tickets €12 (conc €10)
http://movingonmusic.co.uk/events/events/1409/sam-lee-friends.aspx

Thursday 27th November 2014
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin
Doors 8pm
Tickets €20 a/v from www.tickets.ie
www.note.ie

Friday 28th November 2014
Triskel Arts Centre, Cork
Tickets €17 (early bird €15)
http://triskelartscentre.ie/events/2761/sam-lee/