Lisa Knapp & Gerry Diver
About Lisa Knapp & Gerry Diver
Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver stand at the adventurous edge of contemporary folk, transforming English and Irish traditions through fearless interpretation, vivid storytelling and richly inventive sound. Partners in life and music, they have collaborated for nearly two decades, but “Hinterland”, released in March 2025, is their first album under joint billing: the culmination of a creative conversation shaped by knowledge, restless curiosity and an instinct for surprise.
Knapp is one of Britain’s most distinctive folk voices: an award-winning singer, fiddler, composer and interpreter of traditional song. Her 2007 debut “Wild & Undaunted” earned three BBC Folk Award nominations, while “Two Ravens” later won Best Original Song. Albums “Hidden Seam” and “Till April Is Dead” confirmed an artist who can make archival material feel startlingly present, weaving field recordings, spoken word and contemporary sound into the old songs.
Manchester-born to an Irish family, Diver is a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, composer and visionary producer. His acclaimed “Speech Project” reimagined recorded Irish voices, while his career encompasses collaborations with Christy Moore, Shane MacGowan, Damon Albarn and Tom Robinson, alongside screen work including “Death and Nightingales” and “Pixie”.
Hinterland
On Hinterland, Knapp’s luminous, untamed voice meets Diver’s fiery fiddle, piano, banjo, electronics and meticulous production. Traditional ballads, original songs and tunes move between city streets, wild woods, ancient ritual and half-remembered histories. “Train Song” turns a journey across England into rhythmic spoken-word cinema; “Star Carr” summons an 11,000-year-old Yorkshire past; “Long Lankin” becomes a gothic tour de force.
Awarded five stars by The Observer, BBC Music Magazine and Songlines, Hinterland was hailed by The Guardian as “Folk at its most exalted.” In concert, Knapp and Diver create something intimate yet cinematic, raw yet intricately crafted: music grounded in inheritance but alive to the modern world. Their performances make tradition feel immediate, uncanny and thrillingly open-ended.
Since releasing Hinterland, Lisa and Gerry have toured extensively in England, Wales, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, with festivals including Shambala, Broadstairs, Manchester Folk Festival, Cork Folk Festival, Bristol Folk Festival, Belfast Fleadh, Sidmouth Folk Festival, Other Voices, Féile an Phobail, Hartlepool Folk Festival, and Mananan Festival.