Bryony Griffith is an English fiddle player and singer from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire with a rich repertoire of English dance tunes and songs.
Her career in folk music started in the acclaimed ceilidh band Bedlam in her teens and took her all over the UK festival scene. She later became musician for Dog Rose Morris, appearing on Jools Holland, and still plays for one of the country’s premier rapper teams, The Newcastle Kingsmen. She sang in the much-missed a cappella group The Witches of Elswick and was a founder member of the BBC Folk Award-winning Demon Barbers.
In 2017 she was appointed as Senior Lecturer in vocals and fiddle on the new Folk, Roots and Blue Music degree at Leeds Conservatoire and was made Professor of Performance in Folk Music in 2026.
In 2011 Bryony and her husband Will Hampson released a duo album ‘Lady Diamond’ which received 5 star reviews and award nominations, winning ‘Best Debut’ in the 2012 Spiral Earth Awards.
Bryony’s debut solo album ‘Nightshade’ was released in 2014 and saw her stepping away from the comfort of a band to showcase solo fiddle tunes and songs. With only occasional accompaniment from Jack Rutter on guitar and herself on piano and strings, the arrangements are intimate and honest.
Nightshade placed in the Top 10 Folk Treats in The Telegraph and was a runner-up in the 2014 fRoots Critics Albums of the Year.
2018 saw the release of ‘Hover’, Bryony’s solo album of purely traditional fiddle tunes, recorded by Ian Stephenson at Simpson Street Studios, Northumberland and featuring him on guitar and double bass. Bryony is among the few fiddle players whose repertoire draws almost exclusively on traditional English tunes, with a particular passion for the more uncommon dance tunes of her native Yorkshire and surrounding counties. English fiddle albums are scarce and Hover was a significant and unique move, being the only album of solo traditional English fiddle music at the time. The album received 5* reviews and award nominations including the Fatea Instrumentalist of the Year and fRoots editor’s Album of the Year.
In 2019 she started working with fellow Yorkshire musician and singer Alice Jones, researching, performing and recording traditional material from their native Yorkshire. Their debut album ‘A Year Too Late and a Month Too Soon’ was released in 2022 to wide critical acclaim and they released ‘Wesselbobs’, an album of rare traditional Yorkshire Winter songs, in 2023. More info about the duo, including reviews and gig dates can be found at https://bryonyandalice.com/
Cds and merch available here: Products | Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones
Digital downloads available here: Bandcamp Music | Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones
Another ongoing collaboration is ‘The English Fiddle Ensemble’ with English fiddlers Ross Grant, Jim Boyle and Rosie-Butler Hall. In 2025 they released their debut album ‘Engrained’, with a mission to celebrate and share the wealth and variety of English dance tunes, and the importance of the village musicians in centuries gone by. The material is drawn largely from 18th and 19th century manuscripts but also includes tunes that have been adopted into the English tradition more recently.
Cds and digital download available here: Engrained | The English Fiddle Ensemble
“It is such an outstanding and major contribution to English fiddle playing that it should be heard throughout the land and considered the high water mark of England’s music”. Joe Crane Folk Radio UK
“…sublime...her touch and tone is almost an affirmation of time-honoured values of folk music”. Colin Irwin – Mojo Magazine
“Bryony Griffith has established herself as one of the most powerful and distinctive vocalists to emerge in the past decade. English folk music at its absolute best”. R2 Magazine
“A solo album of great power and magnificence. She sings beautifully and knows how to kick out a song and does it brilliantly. Wow, what a great voice.” Mike Harding
“Fantastic! Such a lovely style and choice of material.” Norma Waterson