Sue Harris

For other people named Susan Harris, see Susan Harris (disambiguation).

Sue Harris is an English musician classically trained as an oboeist, but best known for her folk music performances with the hammered dulcimer.

Harris is fluent in reading and writing music and switched from her original instrument, the oboe, to the dulcimer in the mid-1970s. In making that switch, she became one of the foremost performers on that folk instrument, though at the time it seemed just a matter of expediency. She was married to John Kirkpatrick, a prominent melodeon virtuoso in England, was pregnant with their first son, and found herself unable to maintain the breath control needed to play the oboe. She performed on both instruments with the Albion Country Band on their debut album Battle of the Field (1976), and also recorded and performed as one half of a duet with Kirkpatrick. Harris has also performed with Richard and Linda Thompson, and has been a composer for the BBC on various broadcast plays, as well as for live theatre. She is also a singer and has written music for choral groups. More recently, in 2008 she was leader of the "Wild Angels Community Choir" in Welshpool, Powys, Wales.

Discography

Solo albums

• Hammers and Tongues (1978)
• Pastorela (2002)

Albion Country Band

• Battle of the Field (1973)

The English Country Blues Band

• No Rules (1982)

John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris

• The Rose of Britain's Isle (1974)
• Among The Many Attractions at the Show will be a Really High Class Band (1976)
• Shreds and Patches (1977)
• Facing the Music (1980)
• Ballad Of The Black Country (1981)
• English Canals (1981)
• Stolen Ground (1985)

In 2009 Topic Records included in their 70-year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten The Rose Of Britain’s Isle / Glorishears from The Rose Of Britain’s Isle as track thirteen on the second CD.

Martin Wyndham-Read, Sue Harris and Martin Carthy

• The Old Songs (1984)

Various artists - Sue Harris, Old Swan Band et al.

• This Label is Not Removable (2007)
• Plain Capers - Morris Dance Tunes from the Costwolds (2007)

Tufty Swift

• Hammers, Tongues And A Bakewell Tart (2007) (CD reissue of Hammers and Tongues)

External links

• Pastorela
• Choir leader