Helen Lindley
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helenlindley.bsky.social
Helen Lindley
@helenlindley.bsky.social
1.2K followers 150 following 490 posts
Sings folk songs. Plays fiddle. Writes songs & tunes. Reviver of old songs (see Sing Yonder books & In The Roud podcast). Hear my music on Bandcamp & YouTube.
https://helenlindleymusic.com/
Posts Replies Media Videos
helenlindley.bsky.social
Another @intheroud.bsky.social recording with @mattquinnmusic.bsky.social completed (this might be linked with my previous post!). Out soon for you all to listen to!
#InTheRoud #folksong #Podcast
Image shows Helen Lindley and Matt Quinn recording an episode of the In The Roud podcast. Helen is wearing a pink jacket and sits on the left of screen in front of a microphone whilst Matt, also in front of a microphone, wears a blue shirt and a set of over the ear headphones. Both have shelves of books behind them and Helen also has a fiddle, a concertina and a keyboard behind her.
November 19, 2025 at 12:30 AM
helenlindley.bsky.social
I finished writing/re-setting a folk ballad last night and recorded it today. This one was a request and one of the harder ones to complete. There were 5 historical text versions to consult and no known tune. After several lyric rewrites and similar number of melody revisions, it's done!
#folkmusic
Image shows a laptop screen with a music recording programme on the display. There are visual soundwaves in blue against a black desktop. The song was written by a real person with pen, paper, a voice, and occasionally a fiddle. Proudly none of that AI stuff got anywhere near it!
November 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
This might amuse you @elizacarthy.bsky.social, overheard when leaving the venue last night.

Man to partner/friend, "As you know it ain't my kind of music, but I enjoyed it. She's folk royalty ain't she? She's good. Never 'eard of 'im though. But 'e were quite good too."

I'm still chuckling 😂🤣
November 16, 2025 at 12:43 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
That was a wonderful night at Stamford Corn Exchange Theatre for The Wassail tour of @elizacarthy.bsky.social and @jonboden.bsky.social. Eliza reciting a Marriott Edgar monologue made me cry a little. But it was all brilliant and I recommend you see the tour if you can! More info at thewassail.com
Image shows a stage with 3 microphones at the front and 3 lit-up Christmas trees at the rear. There are also 3 fiddles, a guitar, a concertina, and 2 melodeons. Image shows Eliza Carthy standing at the front of a stage with an arm outstretched. She was pretending to hypnotise the audience. Behind her is Jon Boden standing with a concertina in his hands. Image shows Eliza Carthy and Jon Boden singing on a stage. Jon is holding a concertina. Behind Eliza is a Christmas tree. Image shows Eliza Carthy and Jon Boden on a stage. Jon is playing a concertina and Eliza is playing fiddle. Behind Eliza are 2 Christmas trees.
November 15, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Reposted by Helen Lindley
morrisfolkchoir.bsky.social
Sat 29th Nov, 7pm start (doors 6.30pm): Drive The Cold Winter Away - album launch concert and ceilidh.

Singing songs from our new album, and more, then a ceilidh with music by The Horace Mouse Band.

Venue: St Paul's West Hackney, N16.

Tickets £12/£8/£7: www.tickettailor.com/events/morri...
gig poster with similar info to post text
November 14, 2025 at 1:17 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
There are still tickets available for The Wassail with @elizacarthy.bsky.social and @jonboden.bsky.social tomorrow (Saturday 15th November) 7.30pm at #Stamford Corn Exchange here in Lincolnshire. It'll be a brilliant night so come if you can! 🌲🎅🦛

www.stamfordcornexchange.co.uk/the-wassail-...
The Wassail with Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden - Stamford Corn Exchange Theatre
Eliza Carthy and Jon Boden combine their considerable talents and reputations within the UK folk scene, for a nationwide wassail, wishing good health to all across key venues.
www.stamfordcornexchange.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 2:44 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
I finished the first draft of the latest folk song re-setting last week. Time for the second draft. And then there's the melody to compose, although thankfully I have some voice recordings saved on my phone of some suggestions.
#folksong
Image shows a yellow pencil on a blank page of a A4 lined notepad. To the left, on a sheet of the same paper, are some partiall-obscured song lyrics. To the right is a blue cardboard folder.
November 14, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Reposted by Helen Lindley
hutchinsondave.bsky.social
“It's five thousand miles to Rome. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.”

“Hit it.”
crobertcargill.bsky.social C. Robert Cargill @crobertcargill.bsky.social · 6d
What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck?

It's the Pope in 1982.
Exactly what it says on the label: The Pope in 1982. He's wearing a black hat, dark RayBans, and looks like he's a member of the Blues Brothers.
November 13, 2025 at 7:43 AM
helenlindley.bsky.social
I am really loving this new album from @leveretband.bsky.social (@samsweeney.bsky.social @andycutting.bsky.social Rob Harbron). I recommend you buy it. Or add it to your Christmas list so someone buys it for you.

leveretband.bandcamp.com/album/lost-m...
#folkmusic
Image shows the new Leveret cd entitled Lost Measures. The cd cover shows a countryside theme.
November 12, 2025 at 12:30 AM
helenlindley.bsky.social
This is such a heart-warming thing. Grassroots venues are the lifeblood of the music industry.
musicvenuetrust.bsky.social Music Venue Trust @musicvenuetrust.bsky.social · 7d
Our huge, heartfelt thanks to Sam Fender, who’s donated his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to Music Venue Trust... after already making sure £1 from every ticket on his recent tour went to support grassroots music venues.
November 12, 2025 at 12:14 AM
helenlindley.bsky.social
Not a bad little folk-related book haul from the charity shop!
#books
Image shows 3 books on a wooden . On the left is a book entitled French Folk Songs and Carols; in the middle is a book entitled Five English Folk Song (R Vaughan Williams); on the right is a book entitled The Ballad of John Clare by Hugh Lupton.
November 8, 2025 at 11:27 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
I see there are still tickets available for @magpielane-oxford.bsky.social at Royal Traditions Folk Club near #Sheffield on 6th December. It's going to be a fabulously festive night as we'll no doubt all do some singing afterwards too.
Get tickets at wegottickets.com/event/645679
#festive
Magpie Lane @ Royal Traditions
At Sheffield The Old Band Room on Sat 6th Dec, 2025
wegottickets.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:58 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
It's that time of year again! Time to rehearse #ChristmasCarols. But even better is that this year I'll be able to sing them in my own village, here in Lincolnshire. It seems my years of travelling to the #Sheffield Carols will indeed serve me well!
#CarolSinging 🎶
Image shows 4 books containing Christmas Carols with post-it page markers. The 4 books are The Sheffield Book of Village Carols, The Faber Book of Carols and Christmas Songs, The Oxford Book of Carols, and English Traditional Songs and Carols by Lucy Broadwood.
November 4, 2025 at 10:43 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
Great news!
The lovely Emily has shared this with me. To those of you who, like me, used the Bodleian Broadside Ballads Archive previously, it's gradually making its way back!

@jenniferballads.bsky.social, I remember you were wanting to know about the return too.

Thank you @bodleian.ox.ac.uk 😊
emilykerr36.bsky.social Cllr Emily Kerr 💚 @emilykerr36.bsky.social · 20d
Looks like the Bodleian’s Broadside Ballads are just now partially back online and available to search on Solo. Apparently there will be a landing page soon @helenlindley.bsky.social @efdss.bsky.social

oxford.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/se...
oxford.primo.exlibrisgroup.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Helen Lindley
cecilsharphouse.bsky.social
Now on sale: the fourth Indoor Festival of Folk.

Featuring the country's finest folk artists: Maddy Prior and Peter Knight, Chris Wood, Lisa Knapp & Gerry Diver, Ellie Gowers, The Magpie Arc PLUS a unique interview with Matthew Bannister and a special guest.

Sat 7 Feb bit.ly/4qC4y0c
Indoor Festival of Folk
A day-long winter feast of music and very special guests under Cecil Sharp House’s historic roof, co-hosted by EFDSS and folk rock supergroup The Magpie Arc.
bit.ly
October 28, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Helen Lindley
churchcat.bsky.social
I've been in France working on final edits of the next book of short stories -- should have signed, numbered, first ed. copies to sell online by late Nov. Im signing copies at The Portico Library, Manchester on the evening of December 18th. Early doors.
October 28, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Helen Lindley
dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social
& re Facebook, I'll sometimes post one thing that hits the algorithm & someone will pop in & say something like "I remember you. Why don't you write books any more?"

I've written eight books since 2017.

What kind of chance do we stand when robots are spreading lies about who we are and what we do?
dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 22d
The way Instagram's algorithm is now, there's about as much point in someone like me having 35,000 followers there as there would be in selling 35,000 tickets for a rock concert in New York then sitting on a Welsh mountain, playing six songs, unaccompanied, on an old banjo with two strings missing.
October 28, 2025 at 9:14 AM
helenlindley.bsky.social
Get tickets too see this daft pair* on their Wassail tour!

(*they're both very lovely 🤗)
October 28, 2025 at 3:08 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
#Sheffield
boronchem.bsky.social Ben Partridge @boronchem.bsky.social · 21d
A PhD position is available in my group, researching the synthesis and reactivity of azetidine boronic esters.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

This is part of Sheffield's EPSRC Doctoral Landscape Award competition, where applicants will be interviewed and the top candidates offered a position.
October 28, 2025 at 3:02 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
Time to get back into the folk songwriting/resetting again as there's a deadline to meet!
#FolkMusic
Image shows a black and white photo of a folder, some lined paper with writing on it and a pencil. A few words of writing are visible. These are "wooed the lady", "father's hall", and "bower". In the background is a mug with a campervan image on it on a placemat. Next to the mug is another placemat with the words "Let me just drop everything and fix your shit" printed on it.
October 25, 2025 at 11:05 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
Book tickets at www.stamfordcornexchange.co.uk/the-wassail-...
October 22, 2025 at 10:43 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
Looking forward to @jonboden.bsky.social & @elizacarthy.bsky.social doing Wassail stuff on 15th Nov at Stamford Corn Exchange Theatre. I spent many happy hours as a child there as Mum was a regular performer. I never performed there and haven't even been back since I was 12, so it'll be emotional!
Images shoes Eliza Carthy (left) and Jon Boden (right) sitting to advertise their Wassail Tour.
October 22, 2025 at 10:41 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
It was so good to see the wonderful @jackieoates.bsky.social at Royal Trads last night; a beautiful voice and one of life's truly lovely people.
Thanks to @jonboden.bsky.social and volunteers for hosting. I love playing & singing with this crowd and shall miss everyone when the club takes a break.
Image shows Jackie Oates singing at a microphone. She is wearing a blue sleeveless dress and is performing at The Old Band Room at Dungworth near Sheffield.
October 12, 2025 at 6:28 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
Last weekend was great fun. My birthday present (from back in June) from my sister was for the two of us to watch Les Misérables at Sondheim Theatre in London. I've wanted to see it for years and it did not disappoint. Stunning and moving and everything I hoped it would be!
#LesMisérables
Image shows the outside signage for Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre, London. Image shows the backdrop and stage for Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre, London.
September 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
helenlindley.bsky.social
I absolutely love being involved in this and it's a privilege to be among such a wonderful bunch of people. If you love folk songs, it's well worth listening to.

Thanks to @mattquinnmusic.bsky.social for his dedication in creating the @intheroud.bsky.social podcasts 🤗
intheroud.bsky.social In The Roud - A Folk Song Podcast @intheroud.bsky.social · Aug 11
And that's it for S4.

A huge thanks: @pdcawley.bsky.social, Chris Foster, Steve Gardham, Sandra Kerr, John Kirkpatrick, Kirsty Law, Amy Leach, @helenlindley.bsky.social, @rachaelmcshane.bsky.social, Ruth Perry, Brian Peters, Nora Rodes, Steve Roud and Barbara Snape.
Season 5 starts on 1st October!!
August 17, 2025 at 9:48 AM