Martin Simpson

‘Some years ago, I went to play in Australia. And of course I was magnificently jet lagged when I got there. I went to a place called Port Fairy where they put me in a little cabin. I woke up the next morning to a sound which I honestly thought had something to do with drugs, because I could not imagine where it was coming from. It was actually an Australian Magpie sitting on the chimney of the cabin, whose song was coming down the chimney, and it was so beautiful. I mentioned it to to one of my Australian friends, and they said, “Oh yeah, mate. An Australian poet said it was like angels gargling in a crystal vase.”’

‘I’m bringing a young guitar player called Louis Campbell, who I’ve known for probably five years now, maybe even a little bit longer. Louis was recommended to me by Sam Sweeney, who, at the time was the head of the National Folk Youth Orchestra that I work with. Louis was studying Guitar at the Royal Northern College of Music. And I said, well, if you think I can be of assistance, I’d love to do it. He came along for ‘lessons’, and I asked him to play. He was clearly just so good, so musical and so himself. Since then, I just watched him grow and grow, and I love to have him play with me.

‘The other musician is Liz Hanks, who is a goddess of the cello. I’ve worked with a lot of cellists in the past. I used to live in Ithaca, New York, where I worked with a cellist called Hank Roberts, who was basically an avant garde jazz player. Then in Santa Cruz in California, I worked with a cellist called Barry Phillips, who had studied Indian music with Ravi Shankar. Liz Hanks lives here in Sheffield, and you’re likely to see her turn up on the television playing with Liam Gallagher, or on Later with Jules, or with Richard Hawley; you name it, she’s pretty much done it. She’s just wonderful to play with.

‘It’s a joy to be able to call on my friends that I believe in.’

‘Skydancers is a colloquial name for hen harriers, that live on grouse moors, their natural habitat. Unfortunately, grouse moors are largely owned by people whose interest is in money and not in nature, and so hen harriers are now a red listed endangered species, thanks to the people who hire gamekeepers to shoot, trap poison and stamp on hen harriers whenever they can, and then pretend that they’re actually supporting conservation, which, of course, they’re clearly not.

‘I was commissioned to write the song by Chris Packham for Hen Harrier Day, and I was very proud to do that. I really love singing the song because I think it does the job very well of stating the reality that here are these incredibly wonderful birds which are threatened. And if the landowners had their way, they’d be extinct.

‘We are capable of restoring nature. In 1975 I saw my first red kite in Mid Wales, and there were only about 30 pairs then. Since then, they’ve been reintroduced, and there’s probably 15,000 pairs now. I saw one peregrine falcon when I was 15 years old. And the last time I was in London, I looked up and saw a peregrine falcon flying by the Houses of Parliament. We can allow these animals to do really well, if we set our minds to it.’

‘Birds are constantly remarkable. I’m very fortunate to live in a part of Sheffield which overlooks the countryside, really high up on the side of the valley. As I look down the valley now, I’m looking at all kinds of bird life going on. There’s bullfinches, long tail tits, gold finches; a collared dove and a heron flew by a little while ago. All of it is joyous, and all of it informs me. I wrote another song called ‘Dark Swift and Bright Swallow’, which is about how the awareness of migratory birds is so important and inspiring. It marks the passage through life.’

‘My father was a very interesting fella. His passions in life were nature, music and sport. I didn’t get any of the sports, but I got the nature and music. We’d just spend massive amounts of time going out, looking at birds, catching butterflies and looking at bugs. He’d be telling me the names of all the plants, because he took complete joy in knowing that stuff, and I do too.

‘My elder brother, who was 12 years older than me, was just completely fascinated by nature and has become a really good nature photographer. And my daughter is now at university studying animal management, conservation and collections. So it’s been a lifelong thing.

I don’t know how I would survive if I didn’t have the input that I have. It’s all there. It’s all around us, if we take time to look.’

‘The most important thing is you’ve got to completely follow your heart. You’ve got to be really aware of the strength of the feelings involved and honour the importance of it. I communicate through songs, about the things that I really care about, because I feel the need to do that, but I hope that it encourages other people to care about those things in the way that I do.’

‘I have to say that Kings Place is one of my favorite venues in the whole of the country. I really, really love it. I love the programming, I love the rooms, it’s just a good thing altogether.

I haven’t played for Kings Place with these musicians before, and I really hope that the audience sees just how very, very fine they are. I think it’s very good music, and I think it’s very moving. I sincerely hope that the audience will go away having been as moved as I am when I play it. That would make me very happy.’