Martin Simpson

Nominated for Best Album ‘Purpose and Grace’, Musician of the Year and Best Traditional Track ‘Lakes of Ponchartrain’ – BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012

Martin has been nominated an astounding 26 times in the eleven years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards - more than any other performer - with 10 consecutive years as nominee for Musician of The Year, which he has won twice. 2008 saw an incredible 5 nominations for "Prodigal Son' and 2 wins, whilst in 2010 he had an unprecedented 6 nominations for his CD, "True Stories" and a win for Best Traditional Track, "Sir Patrick Spens".

For many years the multi-talented singer-guitarist-songwriter Martin Simpson was a 'musician's musician' to be found just outside of the spotlight as he provided peerless musical support to some great folk artists while also making acclaimed solo albums dominated by his superb guitar playing.

Simpson spent several years working in America, but on his return to the UK in 2002 he began to focus on his own career and was rewarded with honours at the BBC Folk Awards (for albums including Prodigal Son and True Stories) and appeared on TV shows like 'Later With Jools Holland'.

His new CD, Purpose + Grace marks a bold and confident step for Simpson. Building upon the strengths of his previous albums, he conceived the whole project over a number of months and invited some of his favourite musicians to bring their stellar talents to the recording sessions and recruited three great singers - Dick Gaughan, June Tabor and newcomer Fay Hield - to share the lead vocals on the recording.

The album’s central thread is of course Martin’s guitar and banjo accompaniment, but there are new sounds in his instrumental palette such as the lap slide on ‘Barbara Ellen’, while Richard Thompson contributes his peerless electric guitar to three tracks, BJ Cole, Jon Boden and Will Pound add pedal steel, fiddle and harmonica and Andy Cutting and Andy Seward provide the musical foundation along with Keith Angel

Purpose + Grace takes its very apposite title from the great American songwriter Yip Harburg (composer of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’, ‘Brother Can You Spare A Dime’ and ‘Only A Paper Moon’) - “I am one of the last of a small tribe of troubadours who still believe that life is a beautiful and exciting journey with a purpose and grace well worth singing about.”

The material shifts from Anglo-American ballads, Scots and English traditional songs to new compositions from Bruce Springsteen, Richard Thompson, the afore mentioned Yip Harburg and Martin Simpson. There is a great sense of honouring the ancestors here, both in general and specific terms, Mike Waterson and Banjo Bill Cornett are the subjects of the two Simpson originals,

Central to the whole project is the new Simpson composition based upon the words of Banjo Bill Cornett of Hindman, Kentucky, from a 1958 home recording.

Cornett makes a heartfelt exposition of the beauty and purpose of traditional music-making: “This is Banjo Bill Cornett, I’m at home today, thirteenth day of February 1958. Here by myself, nobody but me around and that’s when I usually play the banjo and sing and whatever. My children grew up, and they fell for this rock’n'roll music – honky tonk music whatever you might call it. I don’t like that and I catch them all gone, my wife gone and then I carry on to suit my own self and I’m a making this record to give somebody – I don’t know who I’ll give this recording to, I want to give it to someone who will keep it and if there’s any people after I’m gone who’d like to hear my carrying on as far as my singing and banjo playing is concerned, I’d like them to keep it."

From aching solo guitar and voice to extremely funky full band tracks, this is a broad sweep of a record, but one which flows and builds to create a very big picture.

Meanwhile, this autumn Martin will be seen in another important role on the Sky Arts TV series 'First Love' mentoring the actor Stephen Mangan (star of Episodes and Green Wing) who has returned to his first love playing acoustic guitar with a lot of help from Martin.


“One of the virtuoso instrumentalists of the English music scene” ‘Sounds better than ever’ **** 4 Stars The Guardian

“Simpson has become a fine interpreter of traditional and other songs, as well as a notable writer of his own.” The Times

‘Simpson’s latest is a potent blend of the highest calibre…Simpson has never sung or played better’ Acoustic Magazine

‘A cracking follow up to 2009’s True Stories’ The Sun

‘One of our finest traditional musicians, Simpson’s latest album offers a roving overview of his talents’ **** 4 Stars Uncut

‘An excellent collection of material drawn from both sides of the Atlantic handled with loving care by Simpson and aided by some of the biggest names in folk’
**** 4 Stars Maverick