Cancelled Broadside Ballads

Lisa Knapp - voice, fiddle, autoharp
Marry Waterson - voice
Nathaniel Mann - voice, bowed banjo, electronics and meat cleaver
Barney Morse Brown – cello w/ pedals
Laurence Hunt – percussion

Three of the UK’s most innovative, award-winning folk artists reinvent a collection of broadsides – daily song sheets sold for pence - giving a rare insight into Britain’s history. Delving into the collection at the Bodleian Libraries and beyond, Lisa Knapp, Marry Waterson and Nathaniel Mann lead a five-piece band, bringing broadside ballads to life for a new generation
Marry Waterson is a singer, songwriter and visual artist with four critically acclaimed albums released on One Little Indian. As with her mother, Lal Waterson, Marry’s interior playground sees real life refracted through the myths, legends and proverbs that shape what Van Morrison once termed the “folk memory”.
Singer and fiddle player Lisa Knapp’s music is steeped in the mysterious customs of Old England, but is far from nostalgia. Her modern manipulation of sound across three lauded records, with guests from Shirley Collins to Graham Coxon, creates a tension between then and now which is where Lisa’s music sparks.
Nathaniel Mann is a performer, experimental composer and sound artist. Well known for his work within Dead Rat Orchestra and his compositions and performances involving instrument making, ethnography, folklore and storytelling. Collaborations include working with filmmakers, visual artists, a pigeon fancier and a swordsmith.

Produced by Sound UKCommissioned by Sound UK and OCM
Funded by Arts Council England
Supported by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford