Rosie Hood is a young singer songwriter from Wiltshire, best known for her love of traditional music.
From an early age Rosie has been fascinated by the folk songs of her native Wiltshire, researching local archives and developing a broad repertoire of trad songs.
She was a finalist in the 2011 New Roots competition for young musicians, and won both the Open Mic Competition at the 2011 Shrewsbury Folk Festival and the 2012 Fred Jordan Memorial Award (for Traditional singing) before being awarded a BBC Performing Arts Fellowship to work with the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) at the end of last year.
The singer songwriter will now collaborate with the EFDSS over the course of 2015 to help develop her professional and artistic abilities. She’s the second folk artist to receive a fellowship in the last three years after Maz O’Connor was the recipient of an award in 2013. While she’s a rapidly emerging artist in her own right, she also performs as part of the Dovetail Trio, an acclaimed outfit adding a contemporary sheen to trad sounds. We find out what makes her musical self tick in our 30 seconds interview…
I first started writing music because…
I actually first started writing tunes out of necessity! When researching traditional songs I frequently find great songs that don't have a tune recorded (either written down or an audio recording) so if I want to perform them then I need to write tunes for them. I've also been arranging traditional songs for a number of years starting with editing some longer ballads to make them more listener friendly!
I have been making music since…
For as long as I can remember really. There's been singing and music in the evenings with my family and our friends for my whole life and I apparently used to fall asleep under the table and wake up to sing the choruses of the folk songs! I started playing violin when I was seven and then began performing as a singer with a folk/rock band at school aged about 16. I've been performing as a solo traditional singer since the beginning of 2011.
My music is…
(Mostly traditional) folk music. Though I'm excited to work on my songwriting over my year's fellowship with the English Folk Dance and Song Society so that may develop soon...
You'll like my music if you listen to...
Traditional music or songs with a story. Frankie Armstrong, Bella Hardy, Cara Dillon, Nancy Kerr, Martin Carthy, Emily Portman...
My favourite venue is…
Wow that's very difficult! There are so many great folk clubs out there who are massively supportive to young, emerging folk musicians, including myself ... too many to choose from I'm afraid!
Music is important because…
It's universal. And unifying.
My biggest inspiration is…
Probably right now the fiddle-singer Nancy Kerr.
My dream collaboration would be…
There are a lot of people I want to work with but I'm hoping to find my perfect collaborators during the fellowship over the coming year.
To try me out, listen to my song…
Lord Lovel. Lots of versions exist of this traditional ballad with a rather sad ending...
If I wasn’t making music I’d be…
Disappointed but I think I'd still be in a creative field - my degree was in illustration and I do a bit of freelance work so probably that.
In 10 years time I want to be...
Firmly established in the English folk music scene - to be well known and respected as a folk musician.
rosiehood.co.uk
twitter.com/rosiehood
Check out this performance from the Dovetail Trio below...
From an early age Rosie has been fascinated by the folk songs of her native Wiltshire, researching local archives and developing a broad repertoire of trad songs.
She was a finalist in the 2011 New Roots competition for young musicians, and won both the Open Mic Competition at the 2011 Shrewsbury Folk Festival and the 2012 Fred Jordan Memorial Award (for Traditional singing) before being awarded a BBC Performing Arts Fellowship to work with the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) at the end of last year.
The singer songwriter will now collaborate with the EFDSS over the course of 2015 to help develop her professional and artistic abilities. She’s the second folk artist to receive a fellowship in the last three years after Maz O’Connor was the recipient of an award in 2013. While she’s a rapidly emerging artist in her own right, she also performs as part of the Dovetail Trio, an acclaimed outfit adding a contemporary sheen to trad sounds. We find out what makes her musical self tick in our 30 seconds interview…
I first started writing music because…
I actually first started writing tunes out of necessity! When researching traditional songs I frequently find great songs that don't have a tune recorded (either written down or an audio recording) so if I want to perform them then I need to write tunes for them. I've also been arranging traditional songs for a number of years starting with editing some longer ballads to make them more listener friendly!
I have been making music since…
For as long as I can remember really. There's been singing and music in the evenings with my family and our friends for my whole life and I apparently used to fall asleep under the table and wake up to sing the choruses of the folk songs! I started playing violin when I was seven and then began performing as a singer with a folk/rock band at school aged about 16. I've been performing as a solo traditional singer since the beginning of 2011.
My music is…
(Mostly traditional) folk music. Though I'm excited to work on my songwriting over my year's fellowship with the English Folk Dance and Song Society so that may develop soon...
You'll like my music if you listen to...
Traditional music or songs with a story. Frankie Armstrong, Bella Hardy, Cara Dillon, Nancy Kerr, Martin Carthy, Emily Portman...
My favourite venue is…
Wow that's very difficult! There are so many great folk clubs out there who are massively supportive to young, emerging folk musicians, including myself ... too many to choose from I'm afraid!
Music is important because…
It's universal. And unifying.
My biggest inspiration is…
Probably right now the fiddle-singer Nancy Kerr.
My dream collaboration would be…
There are a lot of people I want to work with but I'm hoping to find my perfect collaborators during the fellowship over the coming year.
To try me out, listen to my song…
Lord Lovel. Lots of versions exist of this traditional ballad with a rather sad ending...
If I wasn’t making music I’d be…
Disappointed but I think I'd still be in a creative field - my degree was in illustration and I do a bit of freelance work so probably that.
In 10 years time I want to be...
Firmly established in the English folk music scene - to be well known and respected as a folk musician.
rosiehood.co.uk
twitter.com/rosiehood
Check out this performance from the Dovetail Trio below...