Frank Underwood is an English folk and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

musician who is also known for his work in the

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

field. He lives and works in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England.

Biography

Musical activities

Frank Underwood learned classical

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

as a boy and classical

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

in his teens. He also plays

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

and

viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

. He was the leader of the 1970s London-based band

Windsong ''Windsong'' is the ninth studio album recorded by American singer-songwriter John Denver, which was released in September 1975. Denver's popularity was at its peak by this time. The album contained the songs " I'm Sorry" and " Calypso," wh ...

, which featured

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...

prior to her involvement with

The Tourists ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and fame with the

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...

. In the early 1980s he played guitar and sang in a folk/ragtime/blues duo in north Oxfordshire, England, with fiddler

David Favis-Mortlock David T. Favis-Mortlock is an English geomorphologist and musician. Born David Mortlock on 27 August 1953, he grew up in Barking, Essex, UK, later moving to Basildon New Town, where he attended Barstable School. He studied environmental sciences ...

, performing as 'Mortlock and Underwood'. From 1983 to 1986 he was singer, guitarist and harmonica player in the 'Band of Minstrels', a four-piece acoustic folk/blues/renaissance group in north Oxfordshire. He plays and has taught guitar,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

and

. A strong interest in the cultural life of England at the time of

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

led him to establish an Austen group in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and to team up with Gillian Tunley in an ensemble called 'Austentation', since augmented by the addition of Angela Mayorga on guitar and voice, and other guests. Underwood studied lute in Oxford with

Lynda Sayce Lynda Sayce is a British lutenist and theorbo player, known also as a scholar of musical history and a writer on the history of the lute and theorbo. Brought up in Sandwell where she trained in the youth orchestra Originally trained as a flautist, ...

and Edward FitzGibbon, and viol with Susanne Heinrich. He played lute, harpsichord and viola da gamba in Oxford-based

Early Music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

consorts Westron Wynd and La Joysance. He has been invited over the course of several years to play keyboards at Jane Austen festivals in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, England. Underwood was commissioned to write and perform music to honour the 1980s UK visit of Bishop Desmond Tutu of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and has become known as a performer at festivals and cultural events in Oxfordshire.

Album releases

He has released three CDs of mixed folk, mediaeval material, blues and his own songs, recorded at Oxford-based Folly Bridge Records: "In Retrospect" (2000), "Highway Songs" (2001) and "Possession" (2003).

References

External links

His recent recordings and appearancesJaneaustenproject.orgAustentation.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwood, Frank Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) English folk singers Living people English male singer-songwriters English buskers