Grace Petrie (, born 24 July 1987) is an English

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

singer-songwriter and guitarist from

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, England. She was hailed in ''

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 ...

'' as "a powerful new songwriting voice" in 2011.

Biography

Grace Petrie began performing in 2006 as a solo vocalist and acoustic guitarist, and self-released an eponymous album that year, followed in 2007 by second album ''Feeling Better''. In 2010, the advent of the Conservative-led coalition government following the (UK)

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

influenced Petrie, who is a socialist, feminist, and lesbian, towards an increasing emphasis on politically focused songwriting, from a left-wing perspective. She made her debut appearance on

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

's Leftfield stage at the invitation of

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is ...

in summer 2010, and widely praised third album ''Tell Me A Story'' followed, including signature song "Farewell to Welfare". In 2011, Petrie toured with comedian

Josie Long Josie Isabel Long (born 17 April 1982) is a British comedian. She started performing as a stand-up at the age of 14 and won the BBC New Comedy Awards at 17. In 2006, Long won the If.comeddies Best Newcomer award at the Edinburgh Festival Frin ...

. Fourth album ''Mark My Words'' followed, including the song "Emily Davison Blues" – a comment on media reaction to the 2011 riots. A special film directed by Chris Shepherd for the song "Rise" from the same album was screened on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

as part of the TV series ''Random Acts''. In 2012, Petrie took part in the "Anti-Capitalist Roadshow" alongside Roy Bailey,

Robb Johnson Robb Jenner Johnson (born 25 December 1955) is a British musician and songwriter who has been called "one of the last genuinely political songwriters". He is known for his mix of political satire and wit. He has his own record label, Irregular ...

Leon Rosselson Leon Rosselson (born 22 June 1934, Harrow, Middlesex, England) is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, i ...

Peggy Seeger Margaret "Peggy" Seeger (born June 17, 1935) is an American Folk music, folk singer. She has lived in Britain for more than 60 years, and was married to the singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl until his death in 1989. First American period Seeg ...

and others. She has also performed gigs with other political folk artists such as

Chris T-T Chris T-T (born Christopher Thorpe-Tracey, 16 September 1974) is a retired English singer-songwriter based in Brighton. In a 20-year career he released 10 studio albums, two live collections and a number of collaborations. He is also a speaker, ...

David Rovics David Stefan Rovics (born April 10, 1967) is an American indie singer/songwriter. His music concerns topical subjects such as the 2003 Iraq war, anti-globalization, anarchism, and social justice issues. Rovics has been an outspoken critic of ...

and

Dick Gaughan Richard Peter Gaughan (born 17 May 1948) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs. He is regarded as one of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters. Early years Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Roy ...

, as well as political indie/punk rock bands like

Thee Faction Thee Faction are a British garage rock/garage punk band from Surrey, England, noted for their explicit socialist agenda. They refer to their music, which incorporates elements of garage rock, pop and rhythm and blues as "Socialist RnB". Th ...

and

Colour Me Wednesday Colour Me Wednesday are an English indie pop/pop punk band from West London, England, built around sisters Jen and Harriet Doveton. The band are noted for their melodic guitar pop, politicised lyrics and DIY punk method, including producing thei ...

. left, Petrie at the Purbeck Valley Folk Festival in 2021 In 2013, Petrie released her fifth album ''Love is My Rebellion'' with new backing band The Benefits Culture, consisting of Jess Greengrass (percussion) and Caitlin Field (bass). Petrie has made an annual appearance at Glastonbury since 2010 as well as regularly playing festivals such as Towersey,

Greenbelt Festival Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...

Latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

and others. She has toured nationally with

Emmy the Great Emma-Lee Moss (born 4 November 1983), known by her stage name Emmy the Great, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released four studio albums, ''First Love (Emmy the Great album), First Love'', Virtue (Emmy the Great album), ''Virtue'', ...

and comedian

Robin Ince Robin Ince (born 20 February 1969) is an English comedian, actor and writer, known for presenting the BBC radio show ''The Infinite Monkey Cage'' with physicist Brian Cox (physicist), Brian Cox, and his stand-up comedy career. Education After ...

, and has made several appearances on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''

The Now Show ''The Now Show'' is a British radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, which satirises the week's news. The show is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. The show used to feature regular appearances by J ...

''. In 2014, a live concert recorded at St. Pancras Old Church was released on CD and DVD. In 2015, she released the album ''Whatever's Left''. In 2016, Petrie along with numerous other celebrities, toured the UK to support

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

's bid to become

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Discography

Albums

*''Grace Petrie'' (2006) *''Feel Better'' (2007) *''Tell Me A Story'' (2010) *''Mark My Words'' (2011) *''Love is My Rebellion'' (2013) *''Live at St. Pancras Old Church'' (2014) *''Whatever's Left'' (2015) *''Heart First Aid Kit'' (2017) *''Queer as Folk'' (2018) *''Connectivity'' (2021) -

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

number 37

EPs

*''There's No Such Thing as a Protest Singer'' (2016)

References

External links

Official websiteBandcampNov 2011 interviewDec 2013 interviewJan 2014 interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrie, Grace 1987 births Living people English women singer-songwriters English folk musicians English socialists Political music artists English LGBT singers English LGBT songwriters Feminist musicians English sceptics 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers British lesbian musicians 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people Lesbian singers Lesbian songwriters