Music is the family business
KATHRYN Roberts and Sean Lakeman have little doubt about what their twin daughters’s carer choice will be.
As the children of two of the leading figures in a new generation of folk musicians, it seems pretty certain that the Lakeman girls will go into the family business, following not only their parents, but Sean’s brothers Seth and Sam.
"I occasionally ask our girls what they would like to do when they are older and there’s no argument, they view themselves as being involved in music," Kathryn acknowledged.
"On both sides of the family, that’s what everybody does.
"All three Lakeman brothers have sets of twins, so we kind of have a ready made band, and they are all showing a definite musicality because we all have instruments lying around and if they want to pick them up and have a play, they can."
In doing so, they are just following an older family tradition.
"My mum and dad are both music teachers," Kathryn explained.
"We would be at festivals every weekend and it seemed to be the natural thing to get into music. I did have a small teenage rebellion when I remember saying I really wanted to be a doctor, but somewhere I got talked into music and just carried on."
Back then, before the Lakemans and their peers breathed new life into the English folk scene, it was less usual to see young people involved in folk music
"Mine and Sean’s generation, we were the next lot of kids from the original revivalists," Kathryn explained.
"When we got into it, there were maybe 20 to 25 of us, all of the same age, but there seemed to be very few people of that age in the audience, so we all tended to hang out together — because otherwise it would have meant hanging out with our parents."
Which was why Kathryn and her then singing partner Kate Rusby gravitated towards the Lakeman brothers when they found themselves sharing the bill at Sidmouth Folk Festival.
"We couldn’t see anyone else our same age, so we decided: we’ll hang out with them — they look alright," she recalled.
So when she and Rusby were invited to a festival in Portugal and it was suggested that it might be nice to bring a backing band, they turned to the Lakeman brothers’ trio. That led them to combine forces as the band Equation.
A number of line-up changes were to follow with Rusby replaced by Irish singer Cara Dillon, who was also destined to marry one of her bandmates, middle Lakeman brother Sam. However, as the band spent more time in America than home, Kathryn and Sean found themselves missing the intimacy of playing to folk clubs and arts centres, so they started playing shows as a duo.
However, with the arrival of the twins and Sean busy producing and playing with younger brother Seth as his solo career took off after his second solo album Kitty Jay was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, the couple had to put their duo work on hold.
Eventually the couple found time to record an album at Sean’s own studio.
"It was very relaxed, with no pressure, but when it was released, it was received really well and we quickly got back on the touring circuit," Kathryn said.
With a new album, Tomorrow Will Follow Today, released earlier this year and Sean no longer playing in Seth’s band, the couple have now struck a nice balance between their musical career and family life.
She and Sean, who were named Duo of the Year in the 2015 Spiral Earth Awards, have not lost their taste for playing the more intimate shows, such as the ones scheduled for this month’s Highland tour.
"Like a lot of people we tend to visit the big towns, but we’re playing in Cromarty and down the side of Loch Ness and we’ve got a couple of days off on the Isle of Skye," she said.
"I’m really excited about that because if it’s beautiful weather, we can get out and explore, and if it’s absolutely tipping down, it’s a good opportunity to knuckle down and think of new material — I’m expecting it to be quite inspirational."
Tomorrow Will Follow Today has won praise from the music press, who have also noticed a new political edge to the couple’s original songs.
"We’ve reached a stage where we’re not afraid to venture an opinion. And I often think the way to affect even a small amount of change is not to preach to the converted," Kathryn said.
"If you can maybe slip the occasional political comment into a set of songs that are otherwise quite innocuous, it’s our own little way of trying to assert a small change of opinion without ramming it down people’s throats."
• Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman’s Highland tour will take them to The Drouthy Cobbler, Elgin, on Thursday 8th October; Blairbeg Village Hall, Drumnadrochit on Friday 9th; the Aros Centre, Portree on Saturday 10th; and Cromarty Old Brewery on Tuesday 13th.
