Lewis Wood

To say that Lewis Wood is talented is a massive understatement. He is a folk violinist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and record producer from Worcester, currently based in South Oxfordshire. He has gained a reputation as a talented musician on the English folk scene, particularly with the trio Granny’s Attic. His playing draws mostly from the English Fiddle tradition, with influences from European and North American folk, as well as jazz and contemporary music. While being respectful to these traditions, he is also keen to push their boundaries, both through his interpretations of traditional music and his tune writing.

In 2009, he co-formed Granny’s Attic with school friends Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne and George Sansome. They have gone from strength to strength, being nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2014, and releasing the acclaimed albums Off The Land (2016), Wheels Of The World (2019), and The Brickfields (2021).

Since starting his Music degree at the University of Southampton in 2013, he has concentrated much of his efforts into playing for dance. His duo with Helen Gentile from Threepenny Bit focuses on tunes from all over Europe, both played as concert material and for dancing. In 2020 they released the live balfolk album Alors, On Danse!

In 2022 Lewis released his first solo album Footwork, consisting of original tunes written for different styles of English Step Dancing. It features the feet of six of the country’s best step and step clog dancers, each a leading exponent of their regional style. He also launched a live show bringing together these varied traditions and the experiences of those who have lived and breathed them, all set to the tunes written for the album. Performing alongside Lewis in this show are dancers Simon Harmer and Toby Bennett, multi-instrumentalist Aaron Horlock, and narrator Georgia Lewis. The show will continue to tour in 2023.

In his spare time, Lewis plays for (and occasionally dances with) several Morris sides, listens to weird jazz and cheesy pop, doomscrolls, and reads the plots to films on Wikipedia.