Sam Lee

Sam Lee

Sam Lee is a London-based folk musician born in 1980. He works as a singer, song-collector, promoter, radio host, TV personality and teacher, and performs with Sam Lee & Friends. His music is placed within folk, alternative folk, contemporary folk and indie folk.

Background

Lee begins as a visual artist, a teacher of wilderness survival and a part-time burlesque dancer before turning fully to folk song after his first encounter with the tradition. That experience leads him to focus on the songs and singers of the Gypsy Traveller community and other living folk traditions.

He spends four years apprenticed to the late Scottish Traveller Stanley Robertson, who is described as one of the great ballad singers. Through that apprenticeship, Lee becomes closely associated with Robertson’s repertoire and develops a reputation as a performer of traditional material.

Work as a performer and collector

Lee is both a singer and a collector of songs. With his band, he presents traditional songs through unusual instrumentation and arrangements, and his work challenges expectations about how traditional folk music sounds. His role as a promoter and radio host also places him within the wider folk scene, alongside his performance work.

Other roles

In addition to music, Lee is a teacher and has worked in television. His career combines performance, collecting, and advocacy for folk tradition, with a particular emphasis on the preservation and re-presentation of songs from travelling communities.