Sam Sweeney

Sweeney was introduced to folk music as a child via his parents' record collection and taught himself to play traditional pieces by ear.^[1] He started playing the fiddle at age six, and first performed as a soloist at folk festivals in 2001.^[2] From 2002 to 2010, he was part of the East Midlands-based folk band Kerfuffle, playing fiddle, viola, and cajon, and singing.^[3] When Kerfuffle disbanded, Sweeney continued playing with accordion player and singer Hannah James as the duo Hannah James and Sam Sweeney.

From 2008 to 2016, he became a member of the award-winning eleven-piece folk band Bellowhead, playing fiddle and English bagpipes, as a replacement for former member Giles Lewin. Sweeney played with Bellowhead until their final gig in May 2016 at Oxford Town Hall.^[4]

He has toured with Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings, playing both drums and fiddle, sometimes simultaneously.^[5] He is also a member of Fay Hield's band, originally named the Fay Hield Trio but as of 2012 called Fay Hield & The Hurricane Party,^[3] and took part in The Full English album and tour in 2013.

Together with Andy Cutting and Rob Harbron, he formed English folk supergroup Leveret in 2015.^[6]

Sweeney helped set up the UK's National Youth Folk Ensemble,^[1] an EFDSS programme that introduces young people to folk music through schools, community settings and residential courses. He was appointed inaugural Artistic Director of the Ensemble in 2015.^[7]

In 2018, he started his solo career with the album The Unfinished Violin.^[8][9] Two years later in 2020, he followed it with his second album Unearth Repeat.^[10] Then, he released an album called Escape That in 2022. That album was used as support to Bellowhead reuniting for a November 2022 tour for the tenth anniversary of the band's album Broadside. He also played alongside his Bellowhead bandmates during the tour. The band decided to reunite after doing a virtual concert during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sweeney has won a number of awards including the 'In The Tradition' award and the 'Wiltshire Folk Association Young Folk Award', which he won for two years in succession. He was also a nominated in the 2004 BBC Young Folk Awards.^[11] In 2007 he won one of five BBC Performing Arts Fund bursaries to help him start his musical career.^[3] Sweeney was nominated for the 'Musician of the Year' award at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and won this award at the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.^[12] His album Unearth Repeat was voted "Album of the Year" for 2020 by Bright Young Folk readers with almost the 36% of the votes.