Tim van Eyken (born 7 March 1978) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

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 string ...

ist and melodeon player of

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

descent.

Career

Van Eyken first started playing

penny whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria ...

after seeing

James Galway Sir James Galway (born 8 December 1939) is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". He established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outstan ...

on television. He graduated to playing for his mother, then a member of the Beetlecrushers clog dance team. There was pressure from the team to play something louder, so he learned the melodeon. He first came to prominence in 1998 when he won the

BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is an annual competition for young folk musicians in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1988 as the Young Tradition Award, taking its present name in 1998. Recent winners of the award include Brighde C ...

. In 2000 he was invited to become the fourth member of

Waterson–Carthy Waterson:Carthy were an English folk group originally comprising Norma Waterson on vocals, her husband Martin Carthy on guitar and vocals and their daughter Eliza Carthy on fiddle and vocals. They have a repertoire of predominantly British trad ...

, a position he held until May 2007. He has his own band, Van Eyken, consisting of

Nancy Kerr Nancy Kerr (born 1975) is an English folk musician and songwriter, specialising in the fiddle and singing. She is a Principal Lecturer in Folk Music at Leeds Conservatoire and Newcastle University. She was the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Fol ...

on fiddle, Olly Knight (

Lal Waterson Elaine "Lal" Waterson (15 February 1943 – 4 September 1998) was an English folksinger and songwriter. She sang with, among others, The Watersons, The Waterdaughters and Blue Murder. She was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. In 1998, s ...

's son) on electric guitar, Colin Fletcher on

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

, and Pete Flood on

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

. Their version of the traditional English song "

John Barleycorn "John Barleycorn" is an English and Scottish folk song listed as number 164 in the Roud Folk Song Index. John Barleycorn, the song's protagonist, is a personification of barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it: beer and whisky. ...

" - "Barleycorn" - won the award for Best Traditional Track at the 2007 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. He was a member of the now-defunct group Dr Faustus, together with Robert Harbron,

Benji Kirkpatrick Benji Kirkpatrick (born 1976) is an English folk singer and musician, who plays guitar, bouzouki, mandolin and tenor banjo. A son of folk musicians John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris, he was brought up in Shropshire. Previously a member of Bellowhe ...

, and

Paul Sartin Paul Sartin (20 February 1971 – 14 September 2022) was an English singer, instrumentalist, composer and arranger, specialising in oboe and violin. He was best known for his work with the folk band Bellowhead, but also played with three-piece ...

. In 2008 he appeared at the National theatre in ''

War Horse The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot design ...

'' by

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo ('' né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as '' War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storyte ...

Discography

;Solo albums *''New Boots'' (1998) *''Stiffs Lovers Holymen Thieves'' (2006) In 2009 ''

'' from ''Stiffs Lovers Holymen Thieves'' was included in

Topic Records Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken, ...

70 year anniversary boxed set ''

Three Score and Ten ''Three Score and Ten: A Voice to the People'' is a multi-CD box set album issued by Topic Records in 2009 to celebrate 70 years as an independent British record label. The album consists of a hardback book containing the seven CDs and a paper ...

'' as track four on the seventh CD. ;Tim van Eyken and Robert Harbron *''One Sunday Afternoon'' (2001) ;As a member of

*''Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand'' (2004) *'' Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man'' (2006) ;As a member of Dr Faustus *''The First Cut'' (2003) *''Wager'' (2005) ;As a member of the War Horse Company - Songman *''War Horse CD - Release mid September 08'' (2008)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Eyken, Tim English folk musicians English folk singers English melodeon players Living people 21st-century accordionists 1978 births 21st-century British singers Waterson–Carthy members