Bryony Griffith

Bryony Griffith, (born 1977 Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England), is an English fiddle player and singer, specialising in English traditional songs and tunes. She is best known for her work with the Demon Barbers[1] and a cappella quartet Witches of Elswick.[2]

Bryony Griffith
Background information
Born1977 (age 43–44)
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England
Genrestraditional songs, traditional tunes
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsViolin, piano, voice, viola
Years active1993–present
Associated actsDemon Barbers, Witches of Elswick
Websitehttp://bryonygriffith.com/

Early life

Griffith was born into a musical family, learning the piano alongside the violin. She was educated at King James's School, Almondbury, followed by Greenhead College, and studied French and Spanish at University of Hull.[3] In her early teens, she joined the ceilidh band Bedlam and played in folk music venues and festivals around the United Kingdom.[4] As part of her degree, she spent a year in Vannes, Brittany, teaching English and studying traditional Breton music. She later became a musician for Dog Rose Morris dancers and The Newcastle Kingsmen rapper dance team.[4] With Dog Rose Morris, she appeared on the BBC programme Later…With Jools Holland.[5][6]

Career

In 2000 Griffith relocated to Newcastle upon Tyne, and flat-shared with Becky Graham (née Stockwell) and Gillian Tolfrey. A year later they were joined by Fay Hield. All four had a background in traditional music, and Hield and Tolfrey studied at the University of Newcastle's recently set up traditional music degree scheme. Against this background, they formed a cappella quartet Witches of Elswick.[7][8] Two albums followed – Out of Bed in 2003[9] and Hells Belles in 2005[7] – and a seven-piece collaboration with a cappella trio Grace Notes (entitled Witchnotes[10]) was an occasional concern. By 2005, core members – including Griffith – had moved away from Newcastle upon Tyne and the group did a final tour in 2007.[11] Witchnotes continued to make occasional festival appearances until 2008.[12]

The Demon Barbers, with Griffith in their ranks alongside fellow Bedlam member Will Hampson (melodeon), formed in 2001.[13] The group are known for fusing traditional folk instruments with drums and electric bass guitar, and energetic live performances (as The Demon Barber Roadshow) showcasing traditional dance styles in theatrical styles. As a core original member, Griffith has featured on their recordings Uncut (2002),[14] Waxed (2005),[15] +24db ep (2008),[16] The Adventures of Captain Ward (2010)[17] and Disco at the Tavern (2015),[18] taken part in live shows Time Gentlemen Please,[19] The Lock In[20] and DBXL,[21] and won the Best Live Act gong at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2009.[22] The band were also nominated for the same award in 2011.[23]

Away from band duties, Griffith released a duo album with now-husband Hampson in 2011 (Lady Diamond),[24] which received five star reviews and won Best Debut at the 2012 Spiral Earth Awards.[25] She also recorded her debut solo album Nightshade,[26] which was released in 2014 and featured solo fiddle tunes and songs with sparse backing. The album was one of the Top 10 Folk Treats in The Daily Telegraph[27] and a runner-up in the 2014 fRoots Critics Albums of the Year.[28] A follow up, Hover, featuring Griffith's take on traditional English fiddle tunes, was released in 2018.[29]

In addition to performing, Griffith leads music, singing and dance workshops all over the United Kingdom, both at folk festivals and summer schools.[30] She runs and arranges music for The Shepley Singers,[31][32] a mixed-voice community choir performing traditional songs,[33] and teaches violin in Yorkshire schools.

Other projects have included The Full English learning programme with The EFDSS and the National Coal Mining Museum at Shawlands Primary School in Barnsley and The Full English Extra with EFDSS,[34] The NCMME, Wakefield Music Services and schools in the ex-mining town of Featherstone in West Yorkshire. The Full English project was nominated for Best Musical Initiative Award at the 2015 Music Teacher Awards for Excellence and in March 2016 the EFDSS resource bank won the Best Digital/Technological resource at the Music Teacher Awards.[35]

In 2017 Griffith joined Paul Sartin, Jim Causley and Jackie Oates to produce The Wanton Seed, a concert series celebrating the reissue of the song books Marrowbones (EFDSS 2007) and The Wanton Seed (2015) and mark the launch of Southern Harvest the new omnibus edition of The Foggy Dew and The Constant Lovers.[36] She also joined Kate Locksley, Ewan McLennan and John Kirkpatrick to produce The Theatre Ballads – a piece blending historic ballads with puppetry and illustration – for Cecil Sharp House in London, and was created by Horse and Bamboo Theatre,[37] and became a Musician in Residence at the National Coal Mining Museum for England, Yorkshire, as part of an EFDSS scheme.[38] She has become a senior lecturer on the BA (Hons) Music (Folk) degree course at Leeds College of Music, which took its first students in September 2018.[39]

Partial discography

With Bedlam[40]

  • 1994 Bus Stop (Selwyn Music SYNMC 0001)
  • 1995 Fair Field, No Favour (Selwyn Music SYNMC 0002)
  • 1997 Four Play (Selwyn Music SYNMCD0003)
  • 2000 Evolution of the Lazy Tongue (Selwyn Music SYNMCD0004)

With Witches of Elswick

  • 2003 Out of Bed (Fellside FECD180)[9]
  • 2005 Hell's Belles (Selwyn SYNMCD0006)[7]

With Demon Barbers

  • 2002 Uncut (DJC Records DJC019)[41]
  • 2005 Waxed (DJC Records DJC026)[42]
  • 2008 +24db ep (Demon Barber Sound DBS001)[43]
  • 2010 The Adventures of Captain Ward (Demon Barber Sound DBS003)[44]
  • 2015 Disco at the Tavern (Demon Barber Sound DBS006)[45]

With Rachel Unthank & The Winterset

With various artists

As Bryony Griffith and Will Hampson

  • 2011 Lady Diamond (Selwyn Music SYNMCD0007)[48]

As soloist

  • 2014 Nightshade (Selwyn Music SYNMCD0008)[49]
  • 2018 Hover (Selwyn Music SYNMC0009)[29]

References
  1. "The Demon Barbers – Maverick English Folk". The Demon Barbers. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  2. "The Witches Of Elswick — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos at Last.fm". Last.fm. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  3. "About – Bryony Griffith". Bryony Griffith. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  4. "Bryony Griffith | Folk Band | Gig Listings – Artist Listed on Folk and Honey". Folkandhoney.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  5. McKinlay, Ross. "Dogrose Morris". Selwynmusic.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 March 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  6. "Dogrose on Jools Holland". YouTube. 2 August 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  7. "The Witches of Elswick". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  8. "The Witches Of Elswick – Artist Directory | TeamRock". TeamRock. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  9. Jones, Chris. "BBC – Music – Review of The Witches Of Elswick – Out Of Bed". Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  10. "Bryony Griffith — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos at Last.fm". Last.fm. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  11. "Singers.com – Witches of Elswick World Music A Cappella Group". Singers.com. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  12. Spiegel, Max. "Grace Notes(UK group)-tell me about them". Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  13. "History of The Demon Barbers – The Demon Barbers". The Demon Barbers. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  14. iWeb. "The Demon Barbers - Uncut at propermusic.com". Propermusic.com. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  15. "Waxed by The Demon Barbers". Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  16. iWeb. "The Demon Barbers - +24DB at propermusic.com". Propermusic.com. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  17. Irwin, Colin. "BBC – Music – Review of The Demon Barbers – The Adventures of Captain Ward". Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  18. "The Demon Barbers – Disco at the Tavern | Folk Radio UK". Folk Radio UK. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  19. http://kleber.net, Kleber Design Ltd -. "The Demon Barbers: Time Gentlemen Please!". World Music Network. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  20. "The Lock In Dance Show – Promotional Video". YouTube. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  21. "The Demon Barbers XL – Disco at the Tavern – Discounted tickets for dance groups! 30th May Doncaster – The Sword Dance Union". The Sword Dance Union. 27 May 2015. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  22. "BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards". Mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  23. BBC. "BBC – Radio 2 – Events – Radio 2 Folk Awards 2011". Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  24. "Lady Diamond – Bryony Griffith,Will Hampson | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  25. "Spiral Awards 2012 Winners – Spiral Earth". Spiral Earth. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  26. "Nightshade – Bryony Griffith – SpiralEarth". Spiralearth.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  27. "The best folk albums of 2014". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  28. "fRoots Albums of 2014". Frootsmag.com. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  29. "Pre-order 'Hover' the brand new English Fiddle album by Bryony Griffith! – Bryony Griffith". Bryony Griffith. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  30. "Teaching – Bryony Griffith". Bryony Griffith. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  31. "Thank-you Shepley Singers". Made in Shepley. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  32. "Shepley Singers | Bryony Griffith and Will Hampson". Bryonyandwill.co.uk. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  33. "Shepley Singers- Ding Dong Merrily On High". YouTube. 6 December 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  34. "404". English Folk Dance and Song Society. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  35. "Shortlist announced for the 2016 Music Teacher Awards for Excellence | Music Mark". Music Mark. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  36. "- The Wanton Seed tour". Francisboutle.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  37. Galton, Bridget. "Part theatre part gig performs ballads of smugglers at Cecil Sharp House". Hampstead Highgate Express. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  38. "Musicians in Museums". The English Folk Dance and Song Society. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  39. "Bryony Griffith". Leeds College of Music. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  40. "Webfeet | English Ceilidh | Bands | Bedlam". Webfeet.org. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  41. "Damien Barber / The Demon Barbers". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  42. "Damien Barber / The Demon Barbers". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  43. "Damien Barber / The Demon Barbers". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  44. "Damien Barber / The Demon Barbers". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  45. "Damien Barber / The Demon Barbers". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  46. "Rachel Unthank & The Winterset – Cruel Sister". Discogs. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  47. "Great Grandson of Morris On". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  48. "Bryony Griffith and Will Hampson". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  49. "Nightshade – Bryony Griffith – SpiralEarth". Spiralearth.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
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