Sam Sweeney
title: "Sam Sweeney" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["living-people", "1989-births", "english-folk-musicians", "musicians-from-nottingham", "bellowhead-members", "the-full-english-members"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Sweeney" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Sam Sweeney |
| image | Sam Sweeney.jpg |
| caption | Sam Sweeney performing at the Warwick Folk Festival, July 2011 |
| background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| birth_name | Sam Sweeney |
| birth_place | Nottingham, England |
| birth_date | |
| genre | Folk |
| occupation | Musician |
| years_active | 2001–present |
| associated_acts | Hannah James and Sam Sweeney, Kerfuffle, Bellowhead, Fay Hield, Leveret, Eliza Carthy |
| website | |
| :: |
|name = Sam Sweeney |image = Sam Sweeney.jpg |caption = Sam Sweeney performing at the Warwick Folk Festival, July 2011 |image_size = |background = non_vocal_instrumentalist |birth_name = Sam Sweeney |birth_place = Nottingham, England |birth_date = |genre = Folk |occupation = Musician |years_active = 2001–present |associated_acts = Hannah James and Sam Sweeney, Kerfuffle, Bellowhead, Fay Hield, Leveret, Eliza Carthy |website =
Sam Sweeney (born 27 February 1989 in Nottingham) is a multi-instrumental English folk musician.
Career
Sweeney was introduced to folk music as a child via his parents' record collection and taught himself to play traditional pieces by ear. He started playing the fiddle at age six, and first performed as a soloist at folk festivals in 2001. From 2002 to 2010, he was part of the East Midlands-based folk band Kerfuffle, playing fiddle, viola, and cajon, and singing. 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.
He has toured with Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings, playing both drums and fiddle, sometimes simultaneously. 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, 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.
Sweeney helped set up the UK's National Youth Folk Ensemble,
In 2018, he started his solo career with the album The Unfinished Violin. Two years later in 2020, he followed it with his second album Unearth Repeat. 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
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Sam_Sweeney_with_curved_bow.jpg" caption="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. In 2007 he won one of five BBC Performing Arts Fund bursaries to help him start his musical career. 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. 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
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Band (or ensemble) | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Not to Scale | Kerfuffle | |
| 2004 | K2 | Kerfuffle | |
| 2005 | Sleeping at the Station | (with Charlie Barker) | |
| 2006 | Links | Kerfuffle | |
| 2008 | To the Ground | Kerfuffle | |
| Matachin | Bellowhead | ||
| 2009 | Umbrellowhead | Bellowhead | |
| Lighten the Dark: A Midwinter Album | Kerfuffle | ||
| Catches and Glees | Hannah James and Sam Sweeney | ||
| Keepsakes | (with Sam Carter) | ||
| 2010 | Hedonism | Bellowhead | |
| Looking Glass | (with Fay Hield) | url=http://www.samsweeneymusic.co.uk/Discography/Other/ | title=Discography |
| No Man's Fool | (with Rachael McShane) | ||
| Born to Wander | (with Louise Jordan) | ||
| A New Dawn | Circus Envy | ||
| 2011 | Regret | Circus Envy | |
| 2012 | The No Testament | (with Sam Carter) | |
| State and Ancientry | Hannah James and Sam Sweeney | ||
| Broadside | Bellowhead | ||
| Orfeo | (with Fay Hield) | ||
| 2014 | Revival | Bellowhead | |
| Made in the Great War | Solo | ||
| 2015 | New Anything | Leveret | last1=Zierke |
| 2016 | Old Adam | (with Fay Hield) | |
| How the City Sings | (with Sam Carter) | ||
| In the Round | Leveret | ||
| 2017 | Big Machine | (with Eliza Carthy and the Wayward Band) | |
| Inventions | Leveret | ||
| 2018 | The Unfinished Violin | Solo | |
| 2019 | Diversions | Leveret | |
| 2020 | Variations Live | Leveret | |
| Unearth Repeat | Solo | ||
| 2022 | Escape That | Solo | |
| :: |
References
References
- "Breaking Down Barriers Through The Power of Folk Music : NYO Interviews English Traditional Musician Sam Sweeney". [[National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain]].
- Powlson, Nigel. (13 February 2016). "Derbyshire folk musician and former Bellowhead member Sam Sweeney".
- "Biog".
- "Band".
- "Jon Boden and The Remnant Kings: BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2010 Folk Singer of the Year".
- (22 October 2015). "Sam Sweeney appointed Artistic Director of National Youth Folk Ensemble".
- "Sam Sweeney".
- Jackson, Aaron. (26 September 2018). "Sam Sweeney – ''The Unfinished Violin''".
- "Sam Sweeney 'Unearth Repeat' Tour comes to Stoller Hall Manchester".
- "Sam Sweeney: Intro".
- (31 May 2017). "Award-winning fiddle player Sam Sweeney is back on home turf". [[Buxton Advertiser]].
- Woosnam, Dai. "Kerfuffle "Not To Scale"".
- Koritsas, Debbie. "Kerfuffle "K2"".
- "Kerfuffle - To The Ground".
- "Kerfuffle - Links".
- Spencer, Neil. (14 September 2008). "Folk review: Bellowhead, Matachin".
- "Bellowhead - Umbrellowhead".
- Dow, George. "Kerfuffle - Lighten the Dark".
- "Hannah James & Sam Sweeney - Catches & Glees".
- White, Chris. (October 2010). "Bellowhead Hedonism Review".
- "Discography".
- "Hannah James & Sam Sweeney - State & Ancientry".
- (16 October 2012). "Bellowhead's most defining release to date: Broadside".
- "Sam Sweeney - Made in the Great War".
- Holland, Simon. (20 June 2014). "Sam Sweeney: The Unfinished Violin".
- "Sam Sweeney".
- Blake, Thomas. (5 September 2017). "Leveret: Inventions".
- Nickson, Chris. (2019). "Leveret, Diversions".
- Rough, Billy. (1 December 2020). "Leveret: Variations Live".
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