Sam Sweeney

For other people named Sam Sweeney, see Sam Sweeney (disambiguation).

Sam Sweeney (born 27 February 1989 in Nottingham) is a multi-instrumental English folk musician.

Sam Sweeney
Sam Sweeney performing at the Warwick Folk Festival, July 2011
Background information
Birth name	Sam Sweeney
Born	(1989-02-27) 27 February 1989 (age 36) Nottingham, England
Genres	Folk
Occupation	Musician
Years active	2001–present
Website	www.samsweeneymusic.com

Career

Sweeney was introduced to folk music as a child via his parents' record collection and taught himself to play traditional pieces by ear.^[1] He started playing the fiddle at age six, and first performed as a soloist at folk festivals in 2001.^[2] From 2002 to 2010, he was part of the East Midlands-based folk band Kerfuffle, playing fiddle, viola, and cajon, and singing.^[3] When Kerfuffle disbanded, Sweeney continued playing with accordion player and singer Hannah James as the duo Hannah James and Sam Sweeney.

From 2008 to 2016, he became a member of the award-winning eleven-piece folk band Bellowhead, playing fiddle and English bagpipes, as a replacement for former member Giles Lewin. Sweeney played with Bellowhead until their final gig in May 2016 at Oxford Town Hall.^[4]

He has toured with Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings, playing both drums and fiddle, sometimes simultaneously.^[5] He is also a member of Fay Hield's band, originally named the Fay Hield Trio but as of 2012 called Fay Hield & The Hurricane Party,^[3] and took part in The Full English album and tour in 2013.

Together with Andy Cutting and Rob Harbron, he formed English folk supergroup Leveret in 2015.^[6]

Sweeney helped set up the UK's National Youth Folk Ensemble,^[1] an EFDSS programme that introduces young people to folk music through schools, community settings and residential courses. He was appointed inaugural Artistic Director of the Ensemble in 2015.^[7]

In 2018, he started his solo career with the album The Unfinished Violin.^[8][9] Two years later in 2020, he followed it with his second album Unearth Repeat.^[10] Then, he released an album called Escape That in 2022. That album was used as support to Bellowhead reuniting for a November 2022 tour for the tenth anniversary of the band's album Broadside. He also played alongside his Bellowhead bandmates during the tour. The band decided to reunite after doing a virtual concert during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Awards

Sam Sweeney with curved bow

Sweeney has won a number of awards including the 'In The Tradition' award and the 'Wiltshire Folk Association Young Folk Award', which he won for two years in succession. He was also a nominated in the 2004 BBC Young Folk Awards.^[11] In 2007 he won one of five BBC Performing Arts Fund bursaries to help him start his musical career.^[3] Sweeney was nominated for the 'Musician of the Year' award at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and won this award at the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.^[12] His album Unearth Repeat was voted "Album of the Year" for 2020 by Bright Young Folk readers with almost the 36% of the votes.

Discography

Year	Title	Band (or ensemble)	Ref
2003	Not to Scale	Kerfuffle	[13]
2004	K2	Kerfuffle	[14]
2005	Sleeping at the Station	(with Charlie Barker)	[15]
2006	Links	Kerfuffle	[16]
2008	To the Ground	Kerfuffle	[17]
	Matachin	Bellowhead	[18]
2009	Umbrellowhead	Bellowhead	[19]
	Lighten the Dark: A Midwinter Album	Kerfuffle	[20]
	Catches and Glees	Hannah James and Sam Sweeney	[21]
	Keepsakes	(with Sam Carter)	[15]
2010	Hedonism	Bellowhead	[22]
	Looking Glass	(with Fay Hield)	[15]
	No Man's Fool	(with Rachael McShane)	[15]
	Born to Wander	(with Louise Jordan)	[15]
	A New Dawn	Circus Envy	[15]
2011	Regret	Circus Envy	[15]
2012	The No Testament	(with Sam Carter)	[15]
	State and Ancientry	Hannah James and Sam Sweeney	[23]
	Broadside	Bellowhead	[24]
	Orfeo	(with Fay Hield)	[15]
2014	Revival	Bellowhead	[25]
	Made in the Great War	Solo	[26]
2015	New Anything	Leveret	[6]
2016	Old Adam	(with Fay Hield)	[15]
	How the City Sings	(with Sam Carter)	[15]
	In the Round	Leveret	[6]
2017	Big Machine	(with Eliza Carthy and the Wayward Band)	[6]
	Inventions	Leveret	[27]
2018	The Unfinished Violin	Solo	[9]
2019	Diversions	Leveret	[28]
2020	Variations Live	Leveret	[29]
	Unearth Repeat	Solo	[10]
2022	Escape That	Solo