Interview by Linda Cawley | Picture from Sweet Visitor
Local resident and folk singer Nancy Kerr, a member of The Full English Band, has won ‘Folk Singer of the Year’ at the Radio 2 Folk Awards. Her latest album and solo debut ‘Sweet Visitor’ features a song called “Dark Honey”, which Nancy wrote about the bees in the Burngreave Cemetery.
There are some people who don't approve of folk music awards, as the music is a movement about equality rather than an industry. However, the Folk Awards promote folk music to a wider audience and Nancy says winning an award is “a huge boost”.
Nancy not only finds influences from her musical family of East End London Irish/Scots on her mother's side, Northumbrian father piper and her Australian husband, as well as her sister-inlaw Kate Fagan who she describes as “a very successful singer songwriter and a huge influence on me” but also more locally. Nancy has only lived in Pitsmoor for 5 years but in that time she says “I've gained a massive amount of inspiration – I find it a very inspiring area, because of the many different cultures and the history of the city”. In 2011 she worked with the Pitsmoor-based Melrose Quartet (who were nominated for BBC Best Group last year) to record ‘Santa Georgia’, which is a song celebrating multicultural England, while pushing her son around the area in his buggy.
Amazingly Nancy started playing the fiddle when she was just 5 years old. This Summer as well as touring with ‘The Full English’ during May, including a Sheffield gig on 3rd May Nancy will be doing a fundraiser concert for the Pitsmoor Adventure Playground, which she describes as “such as lifeline to our area”. Nancy also recommends The Dovetail Trio featuring Sheffieldbased Rosie Hood. It seems for folk music Sheffield, and moreover Pitsmoor really is where it's happening!
Nancy's new album ‘Sweet Visitor’, released last July, is a completely self-written album and Nancy's solo debut. It is available on her website at http://nancykerr.co.uk/ as well as in shops. She also has a double A-side single called ‘It was red/Gingerbread’ available to download from Bandcamp.