Music: Sam Lee

Jeff Hemmings chats with folk artist and collector Sam Lee

“Everyone says it’s going great… it could go wrong at any moment,” say Sam Lee, who in a very short space of time has become something of household name with the folk and indie-folk fraternities. His debut album last year Ground Of Its Own was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, while the folk roots bible FRoots named it album of the year; and then there were the three BBC2 Folk Awards nominations this year… Where did he come from?

“I didn’t have any kind of musical training,” he says. “I’ve been a music promoter for many years, running a night called Nest Collective, an events company that promotes folk amuse in and around London and beyond.

So I’ve been behind the scenes supporting folk music, and creating platforms for folk music. I fell in love with the music, and the next musical journey, which was my own learning, was doing an apprenticeship to a Scottish traveler, who took me on as his next of kin for his ballads, and then recording and song collecting amongst the Roma Gypsy community and the Irish travellers. I’ve learnt by listening in these musical communities.”

Much misunderstood and maligned over the years, folk music is back, bigger than ever, with thousands or musicians and artists wanting to investigate their cultural and musical roots. “I started listening to recordings made in the ‘50s and ‘60s – gypsies singing these old songs – and was completely taken aback by this very under-appreciated style of music.

I didn’t believe what many academics were saying, that all the oral traditions had died, and no one was singing the old songs. I went out knocking on caravan doors and visiting sites, and asked around, and word of mouth took me place to place. And I often found one or two left in the older generations, these quite prolific singers.”

Lee has spent the last few years recording these songs, and is just about to launch a digital forum featuring these recordings. “It’s a song collectors collective, all the recordings I have built up are about to go live on air, and so will be accessed by the families and communities who have passed the songs on to me.”

Whether via his own recordings and touring, or through his Nest Collective and new digital platform for traditional song, Lee is a steely force of nature, but with a compelling case for the this most ancient of British music. “I try and subvert any assumption about what folk music should sound like or where it should be heard. That’s my mantra.”

Sam Lee, All Saints Church, Tuesday 14 May, 8pm, £14/£10