Jenn Butterworth

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Jenn Butterworth
Jenn Butterworth at the Arran Folk Festival, June 2019
Jenn Butterworth at the Arran Folk Festival, June 2019
Background information
Born1983 (age 40–41)
Halifax, West Yorkshire
OriginGlasgow, Scotland
GenresScottish folk music
Instrument(s)guitar, singing
Years active2003–present
Websitejennbutterworth.co.uk

Jenn Butterworth is an acoustic folk guitarist and singer based in Glasgow, Scotland, who was awarded the title "Musician of the Year" at the 2019 Scots Trad Music Awards,[1] and was nominated for the same title at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.[2] She was a founder member of Kinnaris Quintet, who won the Belhaven Bursary for Innovation in Scottish Music at the 2019 Scots Trad Music Awards.[3]

Early life[edit]

Butterworth was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire[4] and grew up near Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway. She had fiddle lessons at school from the age of eleven,[5] and started to teach herself the guitar from about the age of thirteen. She would go to festivals with her father and play in sessions.[6] At first she played fiddle in sessions, but then started to sing, accompanying herself on the guitar.[7] In 2000 she moved to Glasgow to study the BA (Hons) Applied Music at the University of Strathclyde, and has remained in Glasgow.[8]

Career[edit]

Butterworth had started playing with Anna Massie while they were both students and for the first few years after graduating she was recording and touring as part of Massie's band.[9][10] She was a member of the Rachel Hair Trio,[11][12] has made two albums with Claire Hastings, and has numerous studio and live accompaniment credits, including having accompanied Liz Carroll at the 2019 Scots Fiddle Festival.[13] In 2015 Butterworth was part of the music project Songs of Separation, together with ten women folk musicians from Scotland and England including Eliza Carthy, Karine Polwart and Mary Macmaster. Their album, created in just six days on the Isle of Eigg, won the 'Best Album' category in the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.[14]

She is the regular accompanist for fiddler Ryan Young, a partnership which began when Young was a student at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where Butterworth is a lecturer, and had nobody to accompany him for his final performance. Young is known for his virtuosic and semi-improvised performance, so when Butterworth accompanies him she may know what tune he is going to play but not how many times through, or with what variations and key changes. She has to improvise in the moment, which she thinks makes the performance more exciting,[15][16] at the same time holding to Young's preferred harmonies, which can be quite proscriptive.[17] She comments "You have to give and take a lot with your accompanist, a conversation".[5]

In contrast to the projects in which she is an accompanist, Butterworth considers her duo with Laura-Beth Salter, mandolin player and singer with a background in old-time and bluegrass, to be central to Butterworth's own creative output. The duo showcases the two musicians' eclectic influences and interests. Colin Irwin in his Guardian review of Jenn and Laura-Beth's 2017 album Bound called Butterworth an "outstanding guitarist" and noted the duo's "clever, intricate, genuinely exciting and perfectly executed instrumental tunes".[18] Dave Beeby's review praises the clarity of the two voices, and how well they blend together.[19]

The partnership of Butterworth and Salter also led to the creation of Kinnaris Quintet, comprising the duo and three fiddlers, Aileen Reid, Laura Wilkie and Fiona MacAskill. The band has an energetic driving sound, which Butterworth supports with a stomp box and various effects pedals. The fRoots magazine review of their debut album Free One (2018) observed the key contribution of Butterworth's guitar: "the Butterworth rhythmic powerhouse pushes things on with a restless urgency that keeps you on the edge of your seat".[20] Kinnaris Quintet was awarded the 2019 Belhaven Bursary for Innovation in Scottish Music. At £25,000, the bursary is the largest music prize in Scotland, equalled only by the Mercury Prize.[3][21]

Butterworth met harmonica player Will Pound at a folk session in 2018. Their live improvisations during the subsequent COVID-19 lockdowns became a 'viral TikTok sensation' according to Newbury Today.[22] They released their first album, A Day Will Come, in 2020.[23]

Since summer 2018, Butterworth has played a Martin D-41 Standard Series Sunburst guitar. She almost always plays in standard tuning.[15]

Teaching[edit]

In 2012, Butterworth was appointed Lecturer in Practical Studies in the Traditional Music department of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she teaches guitar and ensemble.[8] She also teaches guitar at the Glasgow Folk-music Workshop[24] and the Scottish Music Academy.[25] She is musical director of the Hidden Lane Choir, a women's community choir in Glasgow.[8]

Butterworth was the winner in the Scots Trad Music Awards category "Music Tutor of the Year" in 2015.[26]

Campaigning[edit]

Butterworth is on the board of The BIT Collective, an organisation dedicated to overcoming equalities issues in the Scottish Traditional Arts,[27] which created the #TradStandsWithHer campaign to call out sexual harassment in the Scottish traditional music scene.[28][29] She has organised events including the "Woman Stays On" open mic sessions in which every act must include at least one woman.

Discography[edit]

Tracks re-issued on compilations are not listed.

With Anna Massie
  • 2003 Glad Company[9]
  • 2006 The Missing Gift[10]
With the Rachel Hair Trio
With Claire Hastings
  • 2016 Between River and Railway[30]
  • 2019 Those Who Roam[31]
With Jenn and Laura-Beth
With Kinnaris Quintet
Other collaborations

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Winners Announced for MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2019". Hands Up for Trad. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  2. ^ "BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Winners and Nominees 2019". BBC. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Glasgow band first all-female group to win top music prize". BBC News. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Jenn & Laura-Beth: About". Jenn & Laura-Beth. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  5. ^ a b Buck, Trevor (January 2020). "Jenn Butterworth". The Living Tradition. No. 132. pp. 16–18.
  6. ^ Thoumire, Simon (7 April 2020). "Spending a moment with guitarist Jenn Butterworth". Simon Thoumire podcast (Podcast). anchor.fm.
  7. ^ McGrail, Steve (November 2001). "Where are the young singers?". The Living Tradition. No. 45.
  8. ^ a b c "Staff profile: Jenn Butterworth". Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Anna Massie: Glad Company". Discogs. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  10. ^ a b Zierke, Reinhard. "The Missing Gift". Mainly Norfolk. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  11. ^ a b Wilson, Mike (5 September 2012). "Rachel Hair Trio: No More Wings" (review). Folk Radio UK. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  12. ^ a b Holland, Simon (17 July 2015). "Rachel Hair Trio: Trì" (review). Folk Radio UK. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  13. ^ Adams, Rob (9 November 2019). "Liz Carroll on playing The Scots Fiddle Festival". The Herald. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  14. ^ "The Winners of the 2017 Folk Awards". BBC. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  15. ^ a b Campbell, Cams (17 June 2019). "Jenn Butterworth" (podcast). Acoustic Guitar IO. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  16. ^ "Music review: Ryan Young with Jenn Butterworth". The Scotsman. 12 September 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  17. ^ Morris, Benedict (27 February 2019). BENEDICT MORRIS' 'BACKERS': EPISODE 1 - JENN BUTTERWORTH (video). YouTube. Event occurs at 6:30.
  18. ^ a b Irwin, Colin (June 2017). "Jenn and Laura-Beth: Bound (review)". fRoots (408): 63.
  19. ^ a b Beeby, Dave (June 2017). "Jenn and Laura-Beth: Bound (review)". The Living Tradition. No. 119.
  20. ^ a b Walton, Bob (Winter 2018). "Kinnaris Quintet: Free One (review)". fRoots (423): 101.
  21. ^ Jobson, Jonny (12 December 2019). "Kinnaris Quintet look to a bright future after rollercoaster year". The National. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  22. ^ Lee, Trish (6 September 2023). "TikTok sensations kick off ACE Space gigs". Newbury Today. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  23. ^ a b "Will Pound's new album to celebrate the music of Europe". Spiral Earth. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  24. ^ "Jenn Butterworth". Glasgow Folk-music Workshop. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  25. ^ "Jenn Butterworth". Scottish Music Academy. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  26. ^ McFadyen, Neil (7 December 2015). "MG ALBA SCOTS TRAD MUSIC AWARDS – LIVE REVIEW AND WINNERS". Folk Radio UK. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  27. ^ "The BIT Collective: About". Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  28. ^ Ferguson, Brian (22 August 2020). "Campaign launched to protect women from sexual abuse and harassment in Scots trad music scene". The Scotsman. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  29. ^ "Women speak out over Scottish trad music scene 'misogyny'". BBC News. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  30. ^ Loreto-Miller, Sol. "Between River & Railway" (review). Bright Young Folk. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  31. ^ "Claire Hastings: Those Who Roam". Discogs. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  32. ^ Wallace, Maria (25 April 2017). "Jenn & Laura-Beth: Bound" (review). Folk Radio UK. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  33. ^ Jeffries, Dai. "Jenn & Laura-Beth: Bound" (review). folking.com. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  34. ^ Armstrong, Sharon (18 September 2018). "Kinnaris Quintet: Free One" (review). Folk Radio UK. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  35. ^ Zierke, Reinhard. "Laura-Beth Salter: Breathe". Mainly Norfolk. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  36. ^ Ainscoe, Mike. "Songs of Separation" (review). Bright Young Folk. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  37. ^ Motteram, James. "Mac Ìle: The Music of Fraser Shaw" (review). Bright Young Folk. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  38. ^ Mele, Michele. "Symbiosis III" (review). Bright Young Folk. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  39. ^ Mele, Michele. "Time to Fly" (review). Bright Young Folk. Retrieved 14 October 2020.

External links[edit]

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