Jim Moray (born 1981) is an English folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer.

Recording artist

While studying classical composition at the

Birmingham Conservatoire The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides professional education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly res ...

, Moray released the home-recorded ''I Am Jim Moray'' EP. During 2002 he appeared at the

Glastonbury festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

and the

Cambridge Folk Festival The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival, established in 1965, held on the site of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is known for its eclectic mix of ...

gaining notice in the music press. A nomination for the "Horizon Award" 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 ...

2003 followed before he began work on his first full-length album, '' Sweet England''. The album was recorded in his bedroom while completing his final year of study. ''Sweet England'' was released in June 2003 on his own Niblick Is A Giraffe record label. At the

in 2004 he was presented with the Album of the Year Award for ''Sweet England'' and the Horizon Award for best newcomer. He was also nominated twice in the Best Traditional Song category for ''

Early One Morning "Early One Morning" (Roud V9617) is an English folk song with lyrics first found in publications as far back as 1787.Patrick M. Liebergen, Singer's Library of Song: Medium Voice (Alfred Music Publishing, 2005) , 164. A broadside ballad sheet in t ...

'' and '' Lord Bateman''. Moray recorded and released the single ''Sprig of Thyme'' in May 2004, and in the autumn appeared on 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 ...

's ''Big Session Volume 1'' album. This gained yet more Folk Award nominations in 2005, including one for ''Cuckoo's Nest'', which was sung, produced and mixed by Moray. After a long gestation period, Moray's eponymous second album was released on 1 May 2006. Moving away from the electronic sound of ''Sweet England'' it features a more orchestral sound and denser song structures. On 6 July 2007, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' featured ''Sweet England'' in its "Cult Classic" series, affirming its impact and influence on the modern folk scene. Jim Moray's third album, ''Low Culture'', was released on 14 July 2008. On this album Jim makes use of African kora, the

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 ...

and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and

mbira Mbira ( ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and p ...

thumb-piano. ''Low Culture'' won the

fRoots ''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occa ...

Critics Poll Album of the Year 2008 and was also the ''

MOJO Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

'' Folk Album of the Year 2008. It was also nominated for the Album of the Year Award in the BBC Folk Awards 2009. On 1 February 2010 it was announced that Jim Moray's fourth album ''In Modern History'' would be given away as a

covermount Covermount (sometimes written cover mount) is the name given to storage media (containing software and or audiovisual media) or other products (ranging from toys to flip-flops) packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper. The name comes from the ...

CD with the June edition of ''

Songlines A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia which mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dr ...

'' magazine, with a street date of 30 April 2010. It was also announced that the album would be available in a deluxe box set and standard editions on 7 June 2010. Moray's fifth studio album ''Skulk'' was released on Bandcamp with no build-up or warning in January 2012 going straight to number 1 on the Bandcamp chart. It received a full release on 9 April 2012. Moray received three nominations in the

for Best Album, Folk Singer of the Year and Best Traditional Track (for Lord Douglas), winning the latter category. Along with singer and guitarist Sam Carter, in 2014 Moray launched a new band named False Lights to play traditional music with electric instruments. Their album Salvor, produced by Moray, was released in February 2015 and they announced headline shows at Folk East, Trowbridge Village Pump and Homegrown festivals. Moray's sixth album ''Upcetera'' was released on September the 30th 2016, featuring orchestral arrangements blended with electric rhythm section, electronic soundscapes and, on several tracks,

viol 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 ...

played by Damon Albarn and Nico Muhly collaborator Liam Byrne. It was nominated for Best Album and Best Original Track for ''Sounds Of Earth'' at the 2017

, at which he also performed the opening track ''Fair Margaret And Sweet William''. On Moray's seventh album ''The Outlander'' he explored a more stripped down style of playing and arranging influenced by the

British folk revival The British folk revival incorporates a number of movements for the collection, preservation and performance of folk music in the United Kingdom and related territories and countries, which had origins as early as the 18th century. It is particul ...

of the 1960s and 70s and featuring

Bellowhead Bellowhead is an English contemporary folk band, active from 2004 to 2016, reforming in 2020. The eleven-piece act played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide range of musical style ...

fiddle player

Sam Sweeney Sam Sweeney (born 27 February 1989 in Nottingham) is a multi-instrumental English folk musician. Career Sweeney was introduced to folk music as a child via his parents' record collection and taught himself to play traditional pieces by ear. ...

on six tracks. It was released on 11th October 2019 and was Moray's first album to be released on vinyl as well as CD and download.

Producer

Aside from all of his own albums Moray has produced other artists, initially from his own studio in Bristol profiled in a

Sound on Sound ''Sound on Sound'' is an independently owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, a ...

feature in 2006. Moray produced and mixed the track "The Cuckoo's Nest" for the Oysterband Big Session in 2004. This was a live album, recorded over two nights, featuring a similar line-up to the tour he took part in in 2003. The track was nominated in the BBC Folk Awards that year. During 2005 Moray produced and performed on James Raynard's debut album ''Strange Histories'', released in September 2005 on

One Little Indian One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In th ...

records. In 2008 he wrote and produced the song ''The Wishfulness Waltz'' for his sister

Jackie Oates Jackie Oates is an English folk singer and fiddle player. Life Oates was born in Congleton in Cheshire in 1983 but grew up in Staffordshire. At the age of 18, she moved to Devon to study English literature at Exeter University and was based in ...

' second album ''The Violet Hour'', as well as playing all the instruments on the track. He subsequently produced and mixed her third album ''Hyperboreans'' which was released in September 2009 and nominated for three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (including best album), and ''MOJO'' magazine's top folk albums of 2009. In 2015 he produced and mixed her sixth album "The Spyglass And The Herringbone" as well as co-writing the majority of the tracks. Moray produced and mixed the debut album ''Roodumdah'' by Kent-based folk-rock band Wheeler Street in autumn 2008. In 2010 he produced and mixed ''Find The Lady'' by Belshazzar's Feast. In 2014 he produced and mixed the second album by singer and songwriter Maz O'Connor, ''This Willowed Light''. They worked together again on her third album ''The Longing Kind''. In the same period he also produced the debut album by London folk band Tir Eolas, ''Stories Sung, Truths Told''. Moray produced ''Salvor'', the debut album by False Lights – his collaboration with Sam Carter, in 2015. The band released ''Harmonograph'', a second album also produced by Moray in 2018. Moray produced Art Brut's fifth album

Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out! ''Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out!'' is the fifth album by Art Brut released on 23 November 2018. The album is the band's first album in seven years after the 2012 release '' Brilliant! Tragic!''. The lead-off single from the album was the epon ...

, after previously collaborating with lead singer

Eddie Argos Eddie Argos (born Kevin Macklin 25 October 1979) is the lead singer of English rock band Art Brut, and writer of comics. Personal life Born in Weymouth, England, Argos later moved to Poole, Dorset as a young child, and has subsequently writ ...

on the lo-fi musical ''The Islanders'' at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013. The album was released by Alcopop! Records in 2018.

Live performer

Moray's early live shows frequently featured video projections and lighting effects, something relatively uncommon in British folk music. During 2001–2003 Moray played as a solo performer, becoming well known for using a laptop and loop pedals live. After the release of ''Sweet England'' in 2003, he began playing with a variety of accompanying musicians, notably drummer Laurence Hunt. This flexible line-up toured extensively as an electric band, with Moray playing electric guitar and supplemented by samples and sequences from laptops onstage. Following the ''Jim Moray'' album, during 2007–2008 Moray's line-up solidified around a core of melodeon player Nick Cooke and violinist James Delarre, frequently performing as an acoustic trio before eventually adding drummer William Bowerman in 2008. Bowerman left the band in summer 2009 to join electro-pop act

La Roux La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album ''La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles suc ...

and was replaced by Dave Burbidge. After puncturing both lungs, Cooke was replaced by

Saul Rose Saul Rose (born 1973) is an English folk melodeon player and singer. Biography Born in Harrow, he first picked up the melodeon after breaking his leg at the age of eleven and was taught his first tunes by his father. After entering the BBC ...

for some festival appearances in summer 2009. In 2012 Moray toured with an expanded "Skulk Ensemble" to play the Skulk album live, with added brass, bass and his sister

on backing vocals. In November 2013 Moray staged a 10th Anniversary Performance of his first album Sweet England at the Union Chapel in Islington, London featuring a string section and special guests including

Bella Hardy Bella Hardy (born 24 May 1984) is an English contemporary folk musician, singer and songwriter from Edale, Derbyshire, England, who performs a combination of traditional and self-penned material. She was named Folk Singer of the Year at the 2014 ...

, Keston Cobblers Club and Maz O'Connor. In 2017 Moray assembled a 10-piece band featuring strings, woodwind and an electric rhythm section to play the music from his Upcetera album on tour. This line up was invited to close the show at the 2017

held at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

. As an opening act or collaborator, Moray has toured with Oysterband,

Eliza Carthy Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson. Life and ca ...

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 ...

, Richard Thompson, Ani Di Franco,

, The

Cecil Sharp Project The Cecil Sharp Project was a multi-artist, residential commission to create new material based on the life and collections of the founding father of the English Folk Revival Cecil Sharp. The residential took place in March 2011, immediately fol ...

and

John McCusker John McCusker (born 15 May 1973) is a Scottish folk musician, record producer, and composer. An accomplished fiddle player, he had a long association as a member of the Battlefield Band beginning in the 1990s and was later a band member and p ...

. He also performed as Orpheus in

Anaïs Mitchell Anaïs Mitchell (; born March 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. Mitchell has released eight studio albums, including ''Hadestown'' (2010), '' Young Man in America'' (2012),

's folk opera, ''

Hadestown ''Hadestown'' is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell. It tells a version of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat, goes to work in a hellish industrial underworl ...

'' in January 2011 at the Union Chapel in London. In 2012 Moray wrote and performed music for the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...

produced show ''The Islanders'', a collaboration with Art Brut frontman

, and writer and performer

Amy Mason Amy Mason (born 17 May 1982) is a British comedian, novelist and theatre maker from Bristol, England. Her debut novel ''The Other Ida'' won the 2014 Dundee International Book Prize. Early life and education Mason grew up in Poole, Dorset where sh ...

Discography

Performer

*''I Am Jim Moray'' (EP) (2001) *''Sweet England'' (2003) *''Sprig of Thyme'' (single) (2004) *''Jim Moray'' (2006) *''Barbara Allen'' (vinyl single) (2006) *''Low Culture'' (2008) *''Lucy Wan'' (single) (2009) *''In Modern History'' (2010) *''A Beginners Guide'' (compilation) (2010) *''Big Love'' (single) (2011) *''Skulk'' (2012) *''Upcetera'' (2016) *''The Outlander (2019)

Producer or guest musician

*''Glance'' –

Rose Kemp A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

(piano and programming) (2003);

later provided additional vocals for the album ''Jim Moray'' *''Big Session Vol. 1'' –

(vocal/guitar/piano and production/mixing) (2004) *''Strange Histories'' – James Raynard (production/mixing and vocal/bouzouki/concertina/piano) (2005) *''The Violet Hour'' –

(production/song-writing and guitar/tenor guitar/double bass/drums/piano on the track "The Wishfulness Waltz") (2008) *''Roodumdah'' – Wheeler Street (production/melodeon/keyboards) (2009) *''Hyperboreans'' –

(production/bass/guitars/keyboards) (2009) *''The Mother of All Morris'' –

Ashley Hutchings Ashley Stephen Hutchings, MBE, sometimes known in early years by his nickname, "Tyger" Hutchings (born 26 January 1945) is an English bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founding member of t ...

(vocal/guitar on track "Black Joke") (2009) *''Find The Lady'' – Belshazzars Feast (production/mixing) (2010) *''Cecil Sharp Project'' – contributed tracks "Dear Kimber" and "Earl Brand" (2011) *''Revenge of the Folksingers'' – (Concerto Caledonia) (vocal on tracks "My Lord of Marche Pavem", "The Foggy Dew", "Delighted/The Lincolnshire Poacher") (2011) *''This Willowed Light'' – Maz O'Connor (production/mixing) (2014) *''The Spyglass And The Herringbone'' –

(production/mixing/arrangements) (2015) *''Stories Sung, Truths Told'' – Tir Eolas (production/mixing) (2015) *''Salvor'' – False Lights (production/mixing/writing/performance) (2015) *''Hadelin'' – Chris Foster (production/mixing/performance) (2016) *''Harmonograph'' – False Lights (production/mixing/writing/performance) (2018) *''

'' - Art Brut (production/mixing) (2019) *''Vivaldi Sleep'' –

Orchestra Of The Swan Orchestra of the Swan is a British professional chamber orchestra based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. It is Resident Orchestra at the Royal Birmingham ConservatoireThe Courtyard Hereford Warwick Hall and the Stratford Play House with reg ...

(vocals, arranging) (2021) *''Labyrinths'' –

(vocals, arranging) (2021)

References

External links

www.jimmoray.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moray, Jim English folk musicians Living people 1981 births Alumni of Birmingham Conservatoire English folk singers 21st-century multi-instrumentalists Musicians_from_Bristol