Nancy Kerr talks to SuffolkNews ahead of her gig with The Magpie Arc at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds

Cross-border folk rock band The Magpie Arc are gearing up for a special evening of music in Suffolk. Cameron Reid chats to the lead vocalist of the band and BBC Folk Singer of the Year, Nancy Kerr, who is looking forward to returning to a town she says she loves on November 4.

"I did have a very wild night in Parliament once," Nancy Kerr recalls.

"We launched an album in the Speaker's House and then there were members of parliament playing and singing. It was an absolutely brilliant night in an unexpected setting."

Although playing in the Houses of Parliament has been a stand out moment for the 47-year-old singer, so far over her career the thing she loves most is that she has always had freedom to make her own choices.

The passion and the roles her parents have in traditional music was a factor in Nancy's decision to begin gigging from a young age and why folk music is so deeply ingrained in her blood.

She said: “In this climate, being able to have a career where I’ve never had to really compromise or been put in a box is a special achievement for me.

“My husband and I are often on the road and play together. Being able to do that, I don’t take it for granted at all.

"And what I have in my family is special. When I was younger, I had a lot of access to a whole world of music and again, I definitely don’t take that for granted either.”

Nancy’s mother Sandra Kerr is an English folk singer who co-wrote the music for a former popular children's television series, Bagpuss. She is also the director of two folk choirs, been involved in BBC Radio programmes and taught in the music department at Newcastle University for 17 years.

Her father Ron Elliott was also a traditional musician and a Northumbrian Piper. Nancy’s husband James Fagan has been performing with her as a folk duo for decades after he moved from Australia in 1995.

Together, the couple have released seven albums and won BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 'Best Duo' in both 2003 and 2011.

Nancy’s love for folk music helped her get the opportunity to perform at the Houses of Parliament in November 2015. Four artists, including Nancy, were commissioned to use 750 years of Parliamentary democracy, and 800 years since the sealing of Magna Carta, as a catalyst for creating new songs.

The project was called Sweet Liberties and the four songwriters were joined by two more musicians for a launch at Parliament’s Speaker's House and a UK tour.

Nancy, who specialises playing on the fiddle as well as singing said: “Folk music is all about popping up where it isn’t expected and having a jam. It was just a crazy experience and super fun.”

She has also previously performed at the Apex in Bury St Edmunds as well and cannot wait to return to the area in November.

“The Apex is a gorgeous place and this will be a lovely return especially to do it with The Magpie Arc. In fact, I love the town very much too. I have a very long-standing history of playing in both the town and the venue specifically.

“James and I used to play in Bury St Edmunds via the Folk Club and there was some great work and initiatives of music with adults with special needs. We did quite a lot of community music work in that neck of the woods because we had contacts, promotions and friends there.

“Then of course, the Apex became very much the venue that was on the map for touring projects and bands. The first big show I did in the main room was with the Full English project, which was around ten years ago and that was really great.”

After forming in 2018, Nancy and The Magpie Arc hoped to bring together a group of musicians and friends who would combine their influences, songwriting styles and musicianship in an electric band setting, with a nod to British folk rock in the 1960s and 70s.

As a cross-border band out of Sheffield and Scotland, there are a blend of influences from the band members Martin Simpson, Findlay Napier, Tom A Wright and Alex Hunter as well as Nancy.

However, the pandemic had a big impact on the group and also Nancy personally.

“The pandemic was really rough, and not only because we lost income. We also lost that sense of who we were, and then it’s been frankly quite terrifying to get back on stage,” she said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so terrified and I've been doing this for over 30 years. But, those first few concerts with the band were good, and I was glad they couldn’t see my face from a distance.

The BBC Folk Singer of the Year in 2015, who looks up to well-known folk singer Maddy Prior, also explained what she believes makes the band unique and what people will like about it.

She said: “It’s about the stories I think. We’re all trying to make the best and most interesting sounds we can and transport you, but I do think the songs we’ve chosen are human stories which we really need, because we’ve all been quite isolated and things aren’t exactly going great in the world.

“I think there’s massive solace and solidarity in the things that we sing about, that’s why I fell in love music in that I just heard stories that I could identify with.

“People will really love the mix of voices. There’s not many bands where everyone has a go at singing, and we swap about and share stories.”

Although performing music is a huge part of what Nancy does, she is also a teacher and has been a lecturer in Folk and Traditional Music at Newcastle University since March last year, but has been involved in the department for years.

Before that, she was also a professor at Leeds Conservatoire, working in practical music making.

“I spend a lot of my time teaching and mentoring, and I love to talk to younger emerging artists. I’m still proud of being so involved.

“I've always been a teacher and in my generation and my kind of career in music, you kind of expect to teach as well as play. It’s all about transmission and passing that on.

"That’s been really creative, as I’ve seen students discover stuff and become folk musicians and become interested in it.

“But also at a time when gigs are coming back and the scene is returning. It’s tricky to balance between an academic and a performer. And if you're not performing it’s harder to encourage others to do it.

“It’s important to me to keep all these things going, and I’m very grateful to have the chance to pass my passion on.”

The band's new album, 'Glamour in the Grey', comes out on November 4.