Benji Kirkpatrick

He met Paul Sartin in 1996 and have been working together in various guises ever since. After a spell playing in a pub called The Three Tuns they joined Tim Van Eyken and Robert Harbron in traditional English folk band Dr Faustus in 1998. His solo debut, Dance in the Shadow, was released in the same year. Dr Faustus put out two records, The First Cut (Fellside 2003) and Wager (Fellside 2005), before disbanding.

Benji was a member of Magpie Lane between 1999 and 2004 and played on two CDs; A Taste of Ale and Six for Gold. Oysterband invited Benji to join them on their Big Session tours of 2001 and 2003. During this time Benji met Seth Lakeman, leading to a number of duo gigs, as well as sessions on each other’s albums. Benji would eventually join the Seth Lakeman band full time in May 2009.

Benji’s second solo album, Half a Fruit Pie (Fellside), was released in 2004. Bellowhead was also formed that year with Benji a founder member.

He picked up where Dr Faustus left off by forming Faustus in 2005 with Saul Rose and Paul Sartin. At the end of 2006 Benji and Paul toured bringing traditional English Music to India and Chennai.

He received the English Folk Dance & Song Society 75th Anniversary Award (Presteigne, Powys) in 2007. His latest solo album, Boomerang, was released in March 2008 consisting entirely of vocal songs and mostly original material.