Seth Lakeman defends his art...

Folk. It's all the rage, apparently. Bob Dylan's 'Modern Times' has got the critics foaming at the mouth, while a bunch of new upstarts are proving it's not just for old men with fiddles: it's for young men with fiddles too. So we've invited one of them -
the-not-entirely-unpleasant-to-the-eye Seth Lakeman - to explain to us why folk rocks (to coin a phrase)…

Hello, Seth Lakeman. Your topic for debate is:

Folk: why should we care?

You have 60 seconds to defend your chosen genre. The clock starts… now!


Right. Hello. So, the first thing I want to say is that folk is not dull. It's important to root around and realise the wealth of musical history there is in Great Britain. And legends too, especially where I'm from in Dartmoor. It's an important thing for kids to realise: it's not boring, it's like 'Lord Of The Rings' or Harry Potter, you can really get carried away in the fantasy.

Plus the instruments are so much easier to enjoy and create music with. I can play electric stuff as well, but in terms of writing songs and enjoying what you're playing, it's important to start with acoustic instruments. And, um… you won't wake up the neighbours!

I grew up playing music, born and bred; my family all play acoustic music and write songs, so it was a pretty heavy influence on me. It's not really about being against Americanisation, but it's pretty natural for me to write about where I'm from. And there's lots of other people doing it as well - forget Bob Dylan, try Cara Dillon, who's my sister-in-law from Northern Ireland. So it's an exciting time…

We'll have to stop you there, your time is up.

…And buy my album, 'Freedom Fields', out in all good record shops now…

That's enough, Lakeman. And give us our soapbox back...