Steve Knightley

Based in the West Country of England, Steve Knightley has since the 1980s developed a writing rooted in British acoustic folk, roots music and a narrative songwriting attentive to places, social history and the rural world. After a spell on the London rock scene, he returns to the southwest of England and in 1994 co-founds Show of Hands with Phil Beer, a duo that became the main framework of his career, blending English folk, Celtic influences and contemporary songs. Parallel to this group work, Knightley pursues a solo career where a deep voice, spare arrangements and a constant attention to ordinary people, landscapes and the political or economic tensions of their era dominate. Several of his songs circulated widely in the British folk repertoire, among them Country Life, nominated for BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2004, and Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed, awarded at the same ceremony in 2010. Knightley has also developed participatory touring formats, such as Grow Your Own Gig launched in 2014, designed for local venues and communities. His work also extends to writing, outreach and projects related to historical memory, confirming Knightley’s singular place in the contemporary English folk landscape.