Helen Lindley

I sing (mainly unaccompanied folk songs from the British Isles although occasionally other places too) and play English folk fiddle. I like writing new tunes for old folk songs where the original tune is no longer known and occasionally write folk-style songs and tunes for other people. I occasionally help out at Sing Yonder Publications, mainly taking unwieldy old folk songs that no one sings any more and/or there are no recorded versions known and I rework them into a more manageable song that even a beginner can sing. Because, let's face it, a 106 verse ballad from 200 years ago can be a bit daunting for most of us. Someone once commented that I rescue folk songs. I don't know about rescue, but I certainly re-work them and create a new setting for some!

I'm passionate about folk music and am a magnet for musical instruments - they seem to find their way into the house! I own a Busson Harmoniflute/flutina from the mid 1800s which I restored. I own a Lachenal Crane Duet concertina which at some point I'll learn to play properly rather than the dabbling self-teaching I currently engage in. I also revisit playing piano/keyboard/guitar (all separately - I'm not superwoman!)

I've been name-checked on Angeline Morrison's thought-provoking Sorrow Songs album, and recorded for Eliza Carthy's Queen of the Whirl album (as one of the Sweet Rosemarys on the Good Morning Mr Walker track). I have re-set songs for the Sing Yonder folk publication, recorded a track for the Sing Yonder album's extended download which is available on  Karl Sinfield's Bandcamp (you get the extended download tracks as an addition when you buy the album). I am a regular contributor to Matt Quinn's In the Roud podcast, often discussing folk song history and/or writing and recording versions of little known folk songs

I  used to organise host The Ballad Room, an occasional online audio-only traditional folk singaround that started as a part of Eliza's Folk Club on the Clubhouse app. You can often find me hanging out at Royal Traditions, a monthly (ish) folk club run by Jon Boden in a village near Sheffield. Or singing and playing in The White Swan in Barrowby near Grantham at the regular Monday night folk sessions. Or performing at events where an unaccompanied singer of folk songs is needed!

And I've recently been asked to join an events group in my village with aim of presenting more folk music events locally.

I love music, books, tea, history, whisky, art, photography, Doc Martens, jackets, and stripy socks. I'm bit (a lot?) of a fidget who sometimes talks too much and have a slight tendency to 'accidental' bossiness. I'm somewhat prone to saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, so saying sorry is a like a hobby!

My EP, Awakening The Lady, of some of my ‘rescued’ ballads was released in 2023 on my Bandcamp, another EP of some of the tracks I've recorded for the In the Roud podcasts will be out in laste 2025, and am also researching and writing 2 folk music albums, which, if I get my act together will hopefully (maybe?!) be out in 2026.

I live with my husband and our 2 teenage children in a village on a hill in west Lincolnshire (yes, we do have hills in Lincs!) about 5 miles from the Leics and Notts borders.