root salad James & Sweeney
Hannah James & Sam Sweeney are precociously talented and deservedly busy. Derek Schofield profiles.
L
ong-term musical collaborations are quite common in folk music, but when the individuals in question are only 23 and 24, and yet have been performing together for about half their lives, it’s a bit more out of the ordinary. Especially so when they tell you about the first time they met. “He was terrified of me,” giggles Hannah James of her musical partner Sam Sweeney. “She was scary,” Sam laughs, “I’d never met any other folk musicians of my own age” – he was then 12 – “she had a big, glittering accordeon, black glasses with no glass in them, hennaed waist-length hair and weird clothes.”
First appearances can be deceptive, and soon they were playing music togeth- er in Kerfuffle, a band that continued until 2010, but which has a Christmas reunion tour this year.
For both Sam and Hannah, folk music has been part of their lives since birth. Han- nah’s parents, Julie and Alan, met at a folk club, with Julie founding the Derby shire- based Appalachian dance group, Feet First. When she took 11-year-old Hannah to a workshop she was running for the Fos- brooks group in Stockport, Liza Austin- Strange, the dynamic leader of this remark- able school and community-based folk dance and music ensemble, decided that Hannah should join. Liza handed Hannah an accordeon, and she developed her exist- ing clog skills in the ‘fast and furious’ Fos- brooks’ style. Soon, there was the Folk- works Summer School and then she entered the In The Tradition competition in Derby.
Sam started playing fiddle at Castle Donington primary school, on the Leices- tershire-Derbyshire border, learning tunes by ear from records. At 10, he won the Wiltshire Young Folk Award, leading to main stage appearances at Chippenham, Trowbridge and Devizes festivals. At the Folkworks Summer School, Sam saw, but didn’t speak to, the “scary” Hannah, but after they had both taken part in the Derby competition, organiser Mick Peat suggested they play some tunes together in the foyer of the venue. The following weekend, Hannah’s dad drove her down to Sam’s house and the two youngsters played tunes all day. With the addition of Sam’s brother, Tom, on bass, and Chris Thornton-Smith on guitar, Kerfuffle was born. Festival and club bookings followed, as well as several albums. “I never had to get a paper round,” Sam remembers!
The band lasted through their school years and beyond. After A-levels, Hannah went on Newcastle’s folk and traditional music degree, but left during the second year. Sam, a year younger, lasted just four
A
weeks on the same course. Wondering how he was going to earn a living, he went to see his former head teacher. The same day, Bellowhead’s manager, Mark Whyles, offered him a six-month trial to replace fid- dle player Giles Lewin. Membership of Jon Boden’s Remnant Kings and Fay Hield’s band quickly followed. Meanwhile, after studying music in Finland, Hannah joined the Demon Barber Roadshow as a clog dancer. Although she’s now left the Road- show to pursue dance projects where she has more individual input, Hannah’s a member of the all-female trio Lady Maisery and is also touring with Maddy Prior.
longside these other
combinations, Sam and Hannah started to work as a duo in 2008. Sam says “We sorted out a repertoire very quickly and made an album, Catches & Glees. It was fun, but we were still used to arranging tunes for four people.” Inevitably, the recently-released second album, State And Ancientry, is a more rounded production, showing signs of the confidence and greater musical maturity that have come from their other collaborations. “The duo has great variety, that’s our strength. We can do English, Scandinavian, songs, tunes, clog dancing, fast, slow…” says Sam. “All the other projects we do have fed into our new material – it’s much more adventurous musically. We’ve approached the tune sets in a completely different way. The tune Hole In The Wall is actually by Henry Purcell. We only found that out after we’d recorded it – it’s in the Playford collection, they were friends! We’d never have played that tune three years ago; we’d have rushed past it, and thought it sounded a bit classical. Now we’ve found a way of being comfortable playing tunes
like that. With The Bonny Miller/Strike A Bell – two tunes from The Great Northern Tune Book – we scored out the harmony. We’d never scored out anything using Sibelius or manuscript paper before. That was completely new.”
The songs on the new album, all sung by Hannah, are largely drawn from Topic’s The Voice Of The People series and the Edwardian collectors, Cecil Sharp and Ralph Vaughan Williams. She’s been singing William Taylor a cappella for a cou- ple of years: “We could do nothing with the instruments that would have enhanced the story or the setting of the song. Hannah had already changed the mode and time signature, but we suddenly put it alongside a French waltz that Han- nah has been playing for years, and it works; we really like it!” Sam exclaims.
For both Sam and Hannah, the duo is a great contrast to their other musical commitments. With Bellowhead, Sam’s individual skills are competing with ten other musicians, and with the other bands, he’s an accompanying musician. They both relish the opportunity to shine as individu- al musicians in the duo. Sam: “People are there to listen to your tone, it’s so bare and stark.” Hannah echoes Sam, “It’s the same with singing, especially in the songs with just the fiddle accompaniment; even compared with Lady Maisery where I am blending with two other voices.”
They’ve never really toured as a duo before – gigs have been fitted around their busy schedules – but after a tour in May and some gigs in June, they’ll be blocking out some time in the Autumn when, if recent experience is anything to go by, they’re sure to attract capacity audiences.
www.hannahandsam.co.uk F 17 f
Photo: Elly Lucas
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