Lisa Knapp
Blacksmith
There U R
Salisbury Plain
Mojo Folk Album of the Year 2007
Nominated for two 2008 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
Lisa Knapp emerged in 2007 as a highly distinctive artist from one of the most creative and active underground music scenes of recent times, the alternative folk scene. She merges a radiant style of traditional folk and self-penned song, with fiddle, hammer dulcimer, strings, banjo and sonic delights from the technological age.
Lisa was born and grew up in South London’s Tooting area. Her musical development led her through drum and bass, teenage raves, acid house and an electric guitar bought to learn Jimi Hendrix songs. Then, in her teens, she came across folk music when she heard a friend’s record collection. She listened to the extraordinary voices and the vivid stories of Annie Briggs, Shirley Collins, Martin Carthy and Pentangle and she was hooked. Soon, a wide-eyed Lisa found herself drawn to the London folk clubs.
“At the time I was completely out of step with my friends and was one of the few young people there. Yet there was a special, all-inclusive vibe within the club that felt right to me.”
She dug her School-learnt violin out of the loft and started to play again, joining workshops and classes, playing at Irish sessions at Tir Na Nog in Wandsworth and Kilkenny Tavern in Wimbledon and doing floorspots at folk clubs leading to a festival performance. [Lisa] ‘It went really well and I thought, ‘I could do this’’.
Then, just as everything was falling into place, Lisa was diagnosed with a brain tumour. With her world turned upside down, she was forced to put music on the back burner for a number of years. Then, encouraged by her partner, Irish multi-instrumentalist and producer Gerry Diver, she gradually returned to music and recorded her version of the traditional song ‘Blacksmith’ for Gerry’s debut album ‘Diversions’. Influential rock producer Youth (The Verve/U2) heard the track playing in a studio on London’s Denmark Street.
[Lisa] ‘It was completely by chance. At the time he was running an alternative folk night in Portabello with Simon Tong from the Verve. He offered to work with me.
In early 2006 Lisa started to record tracks for her own debut album, ‘Wild And Undaunted’, discovering a way to voice the material which was all her own. Included on the album is a version of ‘Blacksmith’ remixed by Youth as well as three original songs resulting from his encouragement to develop her own writing. However, the album is above all a collection of folk songs, old and new.
What the press say about Lisa Knapp and ‘Wild And Undaunted’
‘A major discovery’ Mojo
‘Surely headed for great things’ The Guardian
‘It’s easy to see why this young singer is the toast of the folk scene…her vocals, like those of Anne Briggs, come across as strange and stirring as a spring day.’ The Observer
‘Expect this record to be championed as one of the top releases of the year.’ Folking.com
‘Destined to be in line for plenty of folk award plaudits come the end of the year.’ BBC online
‘Never has a debut album been this outstanding’ Subba-Cultcha
‘Knapp’s spidery, emotive voice is likely to prick up anyone’s ears…Knapp sounds like a young Maddy Prior with the girlish inflection of Bjork…The title track is particularly special.’ Uncut
‘Striking’ Q Magazine
‘The best debut I’ve heard in a long time’ Songlines
‘The sexiest folk album of the year’ Word
Album of the month – May/June 2007 HMV Choice
Tracks from ‘Wild And Undaunted’ have been played on BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 6 Music, Radio Scotland and Radio Wales as well as several local stations across the UK. To date Lisa has done live sessions/interviews for The Huw Stephens Show (Radio 1), The Mike Harding Show (Radio 2), The Andy Kershaw Show (Radio 3) and Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone (6 Music).
Following a busy festival season in summer 2007 when Lisa played festivals including Cambridge Folk Festival, Larmer Tree Festival, The Big Session, Green Man Festival, The Spitz Festival of Folk and many others, and in autumn 2007 played venue dates around the UK as well as doing a three month London residency at The Magpie’s Nest in Islington.
In November 2007 Lisa was nominated for two BBC Folk Awards 2008 – The Horizon Award for best newcomer and The Best Traditional Track Award for ‘Blacksmith’ and in December ‘Wild And Undaunted’ became the Mojo Folk Album of the Year. In May 2008 Lisa was invited to take part in the Shirley Collins residency on London’s Southbank. Reviews of the performance raved about Lisa:
‘Lisa Knapp[‘s] a cappella Salisbury Plain radiated shimmering ethereality’ The Times
‘Young fiddle-player and vocalist Lisa Knapp spellbound the audience with a voice that had the clarity of a peal of bells’ The Financial Times
‘Lisa Knapp’s stunning unaccompanied Salisbury Plain was a passionate highlight’ The Telegraph
In 2009 Lisa toured Scotland in a double headline tour with James Yorkston. In autumn 2009 she took part in a special collaborative project with Leafcutter John which saw the two artists develop music inspired by the history of the British canals, which was then toured on a canal boat up the Grand Union Canal from London to Birmingham.
Lisa Knapp is now working on the follow up to her debut album.
