A Chat with Michael Starkey: Old-Time Music, Touring & Fungi-Inspired Songs

On Saturday, 22nd February 2025, Newhampton Arts Centre welcomes three outstanding musicians—Hannah Read, Vera Van Heeringen & Michael Starkey—for an evening of rich, dynamic, and powerful folk music. Together, they bring a unique blend of Appalachian old-time songs, original compositions, and deep-rooted musicianship, promising an unforgettable night for folk lovers and newcomers alike.

With Hannah and Michael’s celebrated fiddle-banjo interplay and Vera’s renowned multi-instrumental skills, their performances offer both the rhythmic drive of traditional music and the depth of contemporary folk songwriting. As the show approaches, we caught up with Michael Starkey to hear more about their music, their influences, and what audiences can expect from their Wolverhampton gig.

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Tell us a bit about your sound and your influences.

Our sound is heavily influenced by American Old Time music, which has its roots in a mixture of African and European traditions. At the heart of it is the rhythmic interplay between the fiddle and 5-string banjo. The fiddle is often cross-tuned allowing lots of double stopping (playing several strings at once), which creates a rich, drone-type sound. The banjo is played clawhammer style, which is heavily syncopated and again, uses lots of droning on open strings. Together these produce a dynamic and driving sound, which is exciting to listen to and great for dancing!

We are inspired by the current generation of Old Time music pioneers, artists like Nora Brown & Stephanie Coleman, Alison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, Nokosee Fields, Brad Leftwich as well as some of the older musicians and generations past – Plank Road Stringband, Tommy Jarrell, Ola Belle Reed, Hobart Smith.

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How do you stand out from the crowd?

That we know of, there aren’t many musicians performing this music in the UK but also, we are musicians from the UK performing this music. We try to preserve what we love about the music, which comes from across the pond, and present it in our own way, using our own musical voices that have developed, at least initially, through different musical traditions. It’s basically that thing about music as a cultural conversation between different places and times. In that space everyone has the opportunity to recognise tradition and put their own twist on it. As well at working with traditional material, we also bring a lot of our own original music to the show. In these songs and tunes, you can  hear our individual musical voices and the conversations happening with the Old Time tradition.

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What’s on your rider?

Hummus, pitta bread, oranges, rooibos tea, oat milk, zero alcohol beer – pretty rock n roll!

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What’s a song you secretly wish you’d written?

Pretty much every song by Gillian Welch or Adrianne Lenker. Barroom Girls by Gillian Welch for the beautiful imagery. Cell Phone Says by Adrienne Lenker for the line “we’ll meet in dreams by the lilac river” – love it!

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What’s the most unusual venue you’ve ever performed at?

Maybe The Lightship in Blythe, Northumberland? It’s a boat moored at their harbour that used to operate as a mobile lighthouse that could be tugged out into some the most dangerous seas around the UK. It was left anchored out at sea (having no means of self-propulsion) with a small crew, for weeks at a time to warn other boats. Eventually at the end of its working life, it was moved up to Blythe where a group of local volunteers took it on and turned it into a music venue! On our visit to The Lightship, we discovered how big the difference between tides can be. When we loaded in for the show it was high tide and easy to get down the gangway to access the boat. During our performance (unknown to us) the tide went out and the boat dropped by several feet, making the gangway perilously steep for the post-gig load out!

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What’s the most unexpected object or sound that’s inspired one of your songs?

Fungi! Hannah has a whole record (and another one in the works) inspired by the world of mushrooms.

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How do you decide when a song is finished, or is it ever really finished?

It can be quite unpredictable but there’s a process that usually involves writing the material, recording it, playing it live and then gradually refining it through performance (not always in that order but obviously always beginning with writing the material!) Some of the songs/tunes then end up in a pretty fixed state but some don’t seem to ever want to be finished or they just want to keep evolving. It’s great to have a mix of both that you can reach for at a gig, depending on what the moment calls for.

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Do you have any pre-show rituals or superstitions?

A friend of mine has recently got me into these vocal warm-ups, which can be good fun to do with other people. They’re a bit of a laugh, which can help with pre-gig tension. I also like to try and do things that bring me into my body before a show. There can be so much adrenaline sometimes that it’s hard to stay in the moment with what’s happening when you go up underneath the lights on stage.  I want to be there and enjoy the show as it’s happening and not have it all pass me by in a flash!

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What do you enjoy most about touring? What do you dislike the most?

The travel and meeting people is great. We get to go visit places we’d never have even heard of otherwise and there are so many enthusiastic, friendly and welcoming people in the folk music scene. The hours of motorway driving and late night cramming all our gear into hotel elevators not so much.

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What do you think are the biggest challenges facing folk musicians today?

It’s hard for musicians/venues to make it work financially, especially for musicians who are just getting into the scene and looking to establish themselves as touring artists. It’s particularly difficult for those who don’t already have some money to use as a buffer whilst they find their feet as there are a lot of things you need to have in place before you can even get paid gigs. Folk music probably isn’t seen as all that fashionable (!) so it doesn’t tend to attract the same crowds as some other genres. Like other arts, it also suffers from a lack of funding and promotion as a part of our cultural landscape. For example, I (Michael) barely even heard of folk music growing up.

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How do you feel about the fusion of folk music with other genres?

Fusion is great! It might not always be to everyone’s taste but folk music itself is by definition a fusion to begin with. That’s what makes is interesting.

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How do you see the future of folk music?

Mixed. There are a lot of amazing folk musicians out there making amazing music. The challenge is ensuring support for the scene going forwards. However, folk music will continue to evolve and grow whether it’s on or off the stage. It lives in the pubs and people’s kitchens!

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What initiatives or changes would you like to see in the folk music industry to support artists better?

More schemes like the ‘Nights Out’ initiative in Wales, which brings music into communities that don’t usually get access and ensures a decent income for the musicians. There also needs to be more support for small/medium size venues in cities and towns away from London. 

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What would you say to our non-folk audiences to tempt them to come and try our folk programme?

There will be energy, the music appeals to all ages and there will be nothing stuffy about this trio of Hannah, Vera and Michael!

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And finally, why should people come to your Wolverhampton gig?

You probably won’t have heard much music like this before (unless you’re already an Old Time aficionado). It comes from a beautiful tradition that combines elements of folk music from the UK and Africa in the melting pot of the Appalachian mountains. There’s exciting interplay between fiddle, banjo and acoustic guitar as well as moving songs with harmony singing.

 

Thank you so much to Michael Starkey for answering our questions and remember to join us at Newhampton Arts Centre on 22nd February 2025 for an incredible night of folk music!