Chris Wood is an English songwriter and composer who plays

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

and guitar, and sings. He is a practitioner of

traditional A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

English dance music (with a background in English church music), including

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia * St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Man ...

and other

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

s and

ceremonies A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil (secular) ceremoni ...

, but his repertoire also includes much

French folk music As Europe experienced a wave of roots revivals in the 1950s and 1960s, France found its regional culture reviving traditional music. Brittany, Limousin, Gascony, Corsica and Auvergne were among the regions that experienced a notable resurgenc ...

and traditional Québécois material. He worked for many years in a duo with

button accordion A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs categorize it as a free reed aerop ...

melodeon Melodeon may refer to: *Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion *Melodeon (organ) The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reed aerophone, free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal ...

player

Andy Cutting Andy Cutting (born 18 March 1969) is an English folk musician and composer. He plays Diatonic button accordion, melodeon and is best known for writing and performing traditional Folk music of England, English folk and his own original compositi ...

: Wood & Cutting were one of the most influential acts on the English folk music scene. ''

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a British popular music magazine. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ''Q'' was published in print in the ...

'' gave their "Live at Sidmouth" album four stars and put the duo "at the forefront of the latest wave of British music acts". One of his first recordings was playing bass and percussion on "Jack's Alive" (1980) the first album by 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 ...

(at that time called the Oyster Ceilidh Band). Wood is also a member of Wood, Wilson & Carthy, with Roger Wilson and

Martin Carthy Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, as well as later ar ...

. Wood & Cutting, together with piano accordionist Karen Tweed and guitarist

Ian Carr Ian Carr (21 April 1933 – 25 February 2009) was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator. Carr performed and recorded with the Rendell-Carr quintet and jazz-fusion band Nucleus (band), Nucleus, and was an associate professor a ...

, make up the Two Duos Quartet, who have made one album "Half as happy as we". With John Dipper on

and Robert Harbron on

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

s, he is part of the English Acoustic Collective. This is also the name of an organisation which Wood set up in 1999 to link the many threads of his teaching activities, including summer schools based at Ruskin Mill near

Nailsworth Nailsworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England, lying in one of the Stroud Valleys in the Cotswolds, on the A46 road, south of Stroud and about north-east of Bristol and Bat ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. Other projects include "Listening to the River" (a concert project which interweaves recordings of

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

and

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

from the area around the River

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

with live music) and "Glassblower", described as "an industrial ballet". 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 rad ...

2006, the Best Original Song category was won by Wood and storyteller Hugh Lupton for "One in a Million", a modern retelling of a widespread traditional tale in which a lost ring is rediscovered in the stomach of a fish. He was also nominated in three other categories: Best Album (for ''The Lark Descending''), Best Traditional Track ("Lord Bateman"), and Folk Singer of the Year. In 2009, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards recognised Wood as 'Folk Singer of the Year', and ''Trespasser'' was also recognised as Album of the Year. In March 2009, Wood took part in the '' Darwin Song Project'', a multi-artist songwriting retreat organised by the

Shrewsbury Folk Festival Shrewsbury Folk Festival is an annual festival of folk and world music and traditional dance held in the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England. It takes place over four days on and around the UK Late Summer bank holiday weekend (usually th ...

to create songs that had a "resonance and relevance" to Darwin. A CD was released in August 2009. In 2011, Wood again tasted success at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, where he was recognised as Folk Singer of the Year as well as winning Song of the Year for his song "Hollow Point", from ''The Handmade Life'', a song about the shooting of

Jean Charles de Menezes Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

in 2005. In 2012, the singer-songwriter

Joan Armatrading Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading (, born 9 December 1950) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her first major commercial success came with her third and fourth albums, '' Joan Armatrading'' (1976) and '' Show Some Emotion'' (1977), a ...

asked him to appear as support act on the British leg of her Starlight tour. In 2024, he played on

Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Ballard (; ; born 18 June 1961), formerly known as Alf, is an English singer. Noted for her powerful bluesy contralto voice, she came to prominence as a member of the synth-pop duo Yazoo (band), Yazoo (known as Yaz in Nor ...

's tenth studio album Key, appearing on the song "Filigree". The album reached number eight on the UK album charts.

Discography

Unless indicated otherwise, all solo albums, issued by RUF Records; recordings include: * ''Ever Simpler'' * ''Chris Wood & Andy Cutting'' – (1990) RUFCD01 * ''The Old Hat Dance Band'' – (1992) Old Hat Music OH2CD * ''Lisa'' (Wood & Cutting) – (1993) RUFCD02 * ''Live at Sidmouth'' (Wood & Cutting) – (1995) RUFCD03 * ''Lusignac'' (Wood & Cutting) – (1995) RUFCD04 * ''Wood, Wilson, Carthy'' – (1998) RUFCD05 * ''Crossing'' (with Jean-François Vrod) – (1999) RUFCD06 * ''Half as Happy as We'' (Two Duos Quartet) – (1999) RUFCD07 * ''Knock John'' (Wood & Cutting) – (1999) RUFCD08 * ''Ghosts (English Acoustic Collective)'' RUFCD09 * ''The Lark Descending'' (solo) – (2005) RUFCD10 * ''

The Imagined Village The Imagined Village is a folk music project founded by Simon Emmerson of Afro Celt Sound System. A reflection of modern United Kingdom multiculturalism, the music collective syncretizes diverse musical traditions while featuring musicians ...

'' (various artists) – (2007)

Real World Records Real World Records is a British record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1989 by English musician Peter Gabriel and original members of WOMAD. A majority of the works released on Real World Records feature music recorded at R ...

* ''Trespasser'' (solo) – (2008) RUFCD11 * ''Christmas Champions'' (with Hugh Lupton, Robert Harbron, John Dipper, Olivia Ross) LUPTON7 * '' Darwin Song Project'' (various artists) – (2009) Shrewsbury Folk Festival SFFCD01 * ''The Horses'' (with Hugh Lupton) * '' Albion: An Anthology'' – (2009)

Navigator Records Navigator Records is a small independent record label in the United Kingdom, specialising in folk and roots music. It is wholly owned by Proper Music Distribution and was launched in 2008. Musicians who have recorded on Navigator Records incl ...

NAVIGATOR29 * ''The Handmade Life'' – (2010) RUFCD12 * ''None the Wiser'' – (2013) RUFCD13 * ''So Much To Defend'' – (2016)

Compositions

His compositions include: "Coroare"; "Back at Lusignac"; "Elizabeth Clare"; "I Feel a Smile Coming On"; "Lusignac"; "Mrs Saggs"; "The

North Downs Way The North Downs Way National Trail is a long-distance path in South East England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham in Surrey to Dover in Kent, past Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, through the Surrey Hills National Lan ...

"; "The Shouter"; "Ville de Québec"; "Hard"; "Albion: Walk This World" He has written new words for the traditional song: * "Hares on the Mountain" He has written melodies for the following lyrics: * "The Burning Babe" (poem by 16th-century Catholic mystic Robert Southwell) * "One in a Million" (by Hugh Lupton) * "Bleary Winter (by Hugh Lupton)

References

External links

Official website

BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Winners 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Chris Living people 21st-century British male musicians 21st-century English violinists British male violinists English fiddlers English folk musicians English folk singers Oysterband members Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)