Chris Wood is an English songwriter and composer who plays fiddle,

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

and guitar, and sings. He is a practitioner of

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

English dance music (with a background in English church music), including

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

and other

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

s and

ceremonies A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''. Church and civil (secular ...

, but his repertoire also includes much French folk music and traditional Québécois material. He worked for many years in a duo with

button accordion A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs categorize it as a free reed ae ...

melodeon Melodeon may refer to: * Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion *Melodeon (organ), a type of 19th-century reed organ *Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts), a concert hall in 19th-century Boston * Melodeon Records, a U.S. record label in the ...

player

Andy Cutting Andy Cutting (born 18 March 1969) is an English folk musician and composer. He plays melodeon and is best known for writing and performing traditional English folk and his own original compositions which combine English and French traditions ...

: Wood & Cutting were one of the most influential acts on the English folk music scene. ''

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series '' The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ...

'' gave their "Live at Sidmouth" album four stars and put the duo "at the forefront of the latest wave of British music acts". One of his first recordings was playing bass and percussion on "Jack's Alive" (1980) the first album by the

Oysterband Oysterband (originally The Oyster Band) is a British folk rock and folk punk band formed in Canterbury around 1976. History Early history The band formed in parallel to Fiddler's Dram, and under the name "Oyster Ceilidh Band" played purely as ...

(at that time called the Oyster Ceilidh Band). Wood is also a member of Wood, Wilson & Carthy, with Roger Wilson and Martin Carthy. Wood & Cutting, together with piano accordionist

Karen Tweed Karen Tweed (born 1963,'Karen ...

and guitarist

Ian Carr Ian Carr (21 April 1933 – 25 February 2009) was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator. Carr performed and recorded with the Rendell-Carr quintet and jazz-fusion band Nucleus, and was an associate professor at the Guildhall ...

, make up the Two Duos Quartet, who have made one album "Half as happy as we". With John Dipper on fiddle and Robert Harbron on

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

s, he is part of the English Acoustic Collective. This is also the name of an organisation which Wood set up in 1999 to link the many threads of his teaching activities, including summer schools based at Ruskin Mill near

Nailsworth Nailsworth is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, lying in one of the Stroud Valleys in the Cotswolds, on the A46 road (the Roman Fosse Way), south of Stroud and about north-east of Bristol and Bath. The parish had a popula ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. Other projects include "Listening to the River" (a concert project which interweaves recordings of

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

and oral history from the area around the River Medway with live music) and "Glassblower", described as "an industrial ballet". At the

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...

2006, the Best Original Song category was won by Wood and storyteller

Hugh Lupton Hugh Lupton is a British storyteller, one of the most prominent figures in the tradition of oral storytelling. Early life and career Lupton was born in 1952, the eldest child of Francis G. H. Lupton and Mary Gee/Lupton. He is the great nephew ...

for "One in a Million", a modern retelling of a widespread traditional tale in which a lost ring is rediscovered in the stomach of a fish. He was also nominated in three other categories: Best Album (for ''The Lark Descending''), Best Traditional Track ("Lord Bateman"), and Folk Singer of the Year. In 2009, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards recognised Wood as 'Folk Singer of the Year', and ''Trespasser'' was also recognised as Album of the Year. In March 2009, Wood took part in the ''

Darwin Song Project ''Darwin Song Project'' is a compilation album, released on 7 September 2009. It features folk artists from the UK and North America, who were tasked with the creation of new songs that had a "resonance and relevance to Charles Darwin". The ar ...

'', a multi-artist songwriting retreat organised by the

Shrewsbury Folk Festival Shrewsbury Folk Festival is an annual festival of folk and world music and traditional dance held in the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England. It takes place over four days on and around the UK Late Summer bank holiday weekend (usually th ...

to create songs that had a "resonance and relevance" to Darwin. A CD was released in August 2009. In 2011, Wood again tasted success at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, where he was recognised as Folk Singer of the Year as well as winning Song of the Year for his song "Hollow Point", from ''The Handmade Life'', a song about the shooting of

Jean Charles de Menezes Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

in 2005. In 2012, the singer-songwriter

Joan Armatrading Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, (, born 9 December 1950) is a Kittitian-English singer-songwriter and guitarist. A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Armatrading has also been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She received ...

asked him to appear as support act on the British leg of her Starlight tour.

Discography

Unless indicated otherwise, all solo albums, issued by RUF Records; recordings include: * ''Ever Simpler'' * ''Chris Wood & Andy Cutting'' – (1990) RUFCD01 * ''The Old Hat Dance Band'' – (1992) Old Hat Music OH2CD * ''Lisa'' (Wood & Cutting) – (1993) RUFCD02 * ''Live at Sidmouth'' (Wood & Cutting) – (1995) RUFCD03 * ''Lusignac'' (Wood & Cutting) – (1995) RUFCD04 * ''Wood, Wilson, Carthy'' – (1998) RUFCD05 * ''Crossing'' (with Jean-François Vrod) – (1999) RUFCD06 * ''Half as Happy as We'' (Two Duos Quartet) – (1999) RUFCD07 * ''Knock John'' (Wood & Cutting) – (1999) RUFCD08 * ''Ghosts (English Acoustic Collective)'' RUFCD09 * ''The Lark Descending'' (solo) – (2005) RUFCD10 * ''

The Imagined Village The Imagined Village is a folk music project founded by Simon Emmerson of Afro Celt Sound System. It is intended to produce modern folk music that represented modern multiculturalism in the United Kingdom and as such, featured musicians from a ...

'' (various artists) – (2007)

Real World Records Real World Records is a British record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1989 by English musician Peter Gabriel and original members of WOMAD. A majority of the works released on Real World Records feature music recorded at ...

* ''Trespasser'' (solo) – (2008) RUFCD11 * ''Christmas Champions'' (with Hugh Lupton, Robert Harbron, John Dipper, Olivia Ross) LUPTON7 * ''

'' (various artists) – (2009) Shrewsbury Folk Festival SFFCD01 * ''The Horses'' (with Hugh Lupton) * '' Albion: An Anthology'' – (2009)

Navigator Records Navigator Records is a small independent record label in the United Kingdom, specialising in folk and roots music. It is wholly owned by Proper Music Distribution and was launched in 2008. Musicians who have recorded on Navigator Records incl ...

NAVIGATOR29 * ''The Handmade Life'' – (2010) RUFCD12 * ''None the Wiser'' – (2013) RUFCD13 * ''So Much To Defend'' – (2016)

Compositions

His compositions include: "Coroare"; "Back at Lusignac"; "Elizabeth Clare"; "I Feel a Smile Coming On"; "Lusignac"; "Mrs Saggs"; "The

North Downs Way The North Downs Way National Trail is a long-distance path in southern England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham to Dover, past Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, along the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Be ...

"; "The Shouter"; "Ville de Québec"; "Hard"; "Albion: Walk This World" He has written new words for the traditional song: * "Hares on the Mountain" He has written melodies for the following lyrics: * "The Burning Babe" (poem by 16th-century Catholic mystic Robert Southwell) * "One in a Million" (by Hugh Lupton) * "Bleary Winter (by Hugh Lupton)

References

External links

Official website

English Acoustic Collective

Andy Cutting's website

BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Winners 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Chris Living people 21st-century British male musicians 21st-century violinists British male violinists English fiddlers English folk musicians English folk singers Oysterband members Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)