Bird in the Belly are a

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

-based

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

collective, consisting of alt-folk musician

Jinnwoo Ben Webb, known by the stage name Jinnwoo, is a Brighton-based musician, artist and writer. Music career After gigging pubs and clubs for numerous years, Jinnwoo independently released his debut EP ''Your Baby'' in 2014, as well as featuring o ...

(Ben Webb), folk duo Hickory Signals (Laura Ward and Adam Ronchetti), and producer and multi-instrumentalist Tom Pryor.

History

In August 2016,

announced he was working with a new folk collective called Bird in the Belly. Bird in the Belly stated their objective as a band was to uncover forgotten or overlooked British songs, stories, and poems, and reintroduce them into the current folk music canon. The band released their debut single "Horace in Brighton" in November 2017. The lyrics are based on a poem by Horace Smith, detailing his day trip to Brighton in 1813. The band's debut album ''The Crowing'' was released in March 2018. The album consisted of songs the band had found in archives and libraries, set to contemporary folk music by the band. The ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' selected it as "Album of the Week" and described it as "Folk album of the year so far". Their second album, ''Neighbours and Sisters'', was released in October 2019, preceded by the singles "Robin & Starling" and "New Gate Stone". In addition to songs made from archived lyrics, the album features a song written by Ward detailing myths around

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

, and a song written by Jinnwoo which tells the story of

James Pratt and John Smith James Pratt (1805–1835), also known as John Pratt, and John Smith (1795–1835) were two London men who, in November 1835, became the last two to be executed for sodomy in England.Cook ''et al'' (2007), p. 109. Pratt and Smith were arrested in ...

, the last men in England to be executed for sodomy. In March 2020, "Horace in Brighton" featured as one of

Chris Riddell Chris Riddell ( ) (born 13 April 1962) is a South African-born British illustrator and occasional writer of children's books and a political cartoonist for the ''Observer''. He has won three Kate Greenaway Medals - the British librarians' ann ...

's song choices on BBC Radio 4"s ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

''. In November 2020, Folk Radio UK announced that Bird in the Belly member Tom Pryor had produced the forthcoming album ''Cats of Coven Lawn'' by

Frankie Armstrong Frankie Armstrong (born 13 January 1941) is an English singer and voice teacher. She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work. Her repertoire ranges from traditional ballads to m ...

. The first single "Life Lived Well" featured band member Laura Ward. In February 2022, the band released their third full-length album, ''After the City''. The album was the band's first concept album, based on the 1885 post-apocalyptic novel ''After London'' by nature writer

Richard Jefferies John Richard Jefferies (6 November 1848 – 14 August 1887) was an English nature writer, noted for his depiction of English rural life in essays, books of natural history, and novels. His childhood on a small Wiltshire farm had a great influ ...

. They took passages from the book directly, and created a backstory to the plot of the novel using

broadside ballad A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between the ...

s, plague poetry, and

Lancashire Cotton Famine The Lancashire Cotton Famine, also known as the Cotton Famine or the Cotton Panic (1861–65), was a depression in the textile industry of North West England, brought about by overproduction in a time of contracting world markets. It coincided wi ...

poetry. Neil Spencer, reviewing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', gave the album four out a possible five stars and described it as "(an) album of well-realised ambition". The album was listed at number 4 in ''Mojo'' magazine's best folk albums of 2022 list.

Film

In 2018 the band was working on a documentary film about the album-making process, and looks at the current British folk music scene as a whole. Involved in the project are

June Tabor June Tabor (born 31 December 1947 in Warwick, England) is an English folk singer known for her solo work and her earlier collaborations with Maddy Prior and with Oysterband. Early life June Tabor was born and grew up in Warwick, England. As ...

Stick in the Wheel Stick in the Wheel are a band with its origins in working-class East London, UK. It consists of vocalist and artist Nicola Kearey and Ian Carter, their producer, arranger and Dobro player. They bring a contemporary approach to folk music with raw ...

The Rails The Rails is a folk rock band from London, England, composed of husband and wife James Walbourne and Kami Thompson. Thompson and Walbourne first met during the recording sessions for ''Versatile Heart'' by Thompson's mother Linda Thompson in 2 ...

, Naomi Bedford,

Lisa Knapp Lisa Knapp (born 1974 in Balham), is an English folk singer, songwriter, fiddle player and multi-instrumentalist. Her singing voice has been described as "crystal clear" and reminiscent of Anne Briggs or Jeannie Robertson. Two of her three album ...

, Gerry Diver,

Fellside Records Fellside Recordings is a British independent record label, formed by Paul Adams and Linda Adams in 1976 in Workington, Cumbria, and still run by them. Paul Adams toured semi-professionally with the Barry Skinner Folk Group in his teens. He an ...

Ian A. Anderson Ian A. Anderson (born 26 July 1947, in Weston-super-Mare, England) is an English people, English magazine editor, folk musician and Radio presenter, broadcaster. Country blues, The Village Thing and "psych folk" Anderson first performed in h ...

and Rob Young.

Discography

Albums

Features and appearances

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Brighton and Hove 21st-century British artists English folk musical groups Living people Year of birth missing (living people)