10 of the Best UK Folk Music Artists

UK folk music has a long and storied history, with many great artists continuing the tradition today. Here are 10 of the best UK folk music artists.

Kate Rusby

Kate Rusby is a Yorkshire-based singer and songwriter who has been performing since 1996. She is one of the most popular contemporary folk artists in the UK, and has been nominated for multiple awards. Her 2005 album Underneath the Stars won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Album of the Year, and she has twice been nominated for the Mercury Prize. Kate’s music is heavily influenced by traditional British folk songs, and she has released several albums of traditional material as well as original songs.

Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy MBE is an English folk musician and singer, brought up in a family of celebrated folk musicians. She has been nominated fourteen times for BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and has won the award three times.

Eliza’s musical style is distinctly English – a blend of traditional folk music with contemporary themes and influences. She has toured with her band, the Wayward Band, and as a solo artist all over the world. Eliza has also worked with a number of high-profile musicians, including Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, Ryan Adams, and Mumford & Sons.

Seth Lakeman

Seth Lakeman is one of the most successful British folk artists of recent years. A highly skilled fiddle player, he has also won critical acclaim for his songwriting and guitar playing. His 2006 album Kitty Jay was nominated for the Mercury Prize, and he has gone on to release six more albums, with his most recent, The Hands of Time, coming out in 2016. He has also collaborated with many other leading names in the folk scene, including Damian O’Kane and Kathryn Roberts.

The Levellers

The Levellers are a folk-punk band who formed in Brighton, England in 1988. Their music is a mixture of folk, punk, and rock, and their lyrics are often political in nature. The band has released ten studio albums, three live albums, three compilations, two EPs, and one single. They continue to tour throughout the UK and Europe.

The Young’uns

The Young’uns are a three-piece English folk group from Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of England. The band is composed of brothers Sean and Michael Coogan, and David Eagle. They were nominated for Best Group in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2014, and won the Horizon Award for Best Emerging Artist at the same ceremony. Their second album, Another Man’s War, was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

The Unthanks

The Unthanks are an English folk group originally from Northumberland, now based in Newcastle upon Tyne. The group is led by sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank, with Adrian McNally as musical director and producer. The band has toured extensively throughout Europe and North America.

The Imagined Village

The Imagined Village is an English musical collective founded in 2007. The group’s music is a mix of traditional English folk, world music, and contemporary pop. The Imagined Village has released three albums: “Bending the Dark” (2008), “Empire and Love” (2010), and “The Richer Veins” (2011).

The band has toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe, and North America. In 2012, the group performed at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

The Imagined Village is composed of a rotating cast of musicians, but the core members are Simon Fuller (vocals, guitar), Ben Coleman (fiddle), and Andy Cutting (accordion).

The Staves

The Staves are an English folk rock trio consisting of sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor. The sisters grew up in Watford, Hertfordshire and began writing and performing together as teens. Their intimate harmonies and introspective lyrics have garnered comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel and The Civil Wars. The Staves have released two studio albums, “Dead & Born & Grown” (2012) and “If I Was” (2015), both of which received critical acclaim. In 2016, the trio collaborated with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver on the album “From a Blackout to a Bright Light”, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album.

The Mummers

The Mummers are a British folk music group from Lincolnshire, England. The group is known for their traditional style of music and for their use of traditional instruments, such as the accordion, fiddle, and melodeon. The Mummers have been performing together for over 20 years and have released five studio albums.

The Transports

The Transports is a modern folk music supergroup, formed in 1997 by singer and songwriter Mike Heron (formerly of the Incredible String Band) and singer Tim Hart (of Steeleye Span). Though only active for a few years, the Transports released two albums and a handful of singles before disbanding.