Music of west Dorset's Billy Bragg is honoured (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)
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Music of west Dorset's Billy Bragg is honoured
11:00am Wednesday 30th January 2013 in News
OUTSTANDING WORK: Billy Bragg talks to Toby Corren as he works with B Sharp
West Dorset-based Billy Bragg is to be honoured at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for his contribution to traditional music.
The musician and activist, who began his musical career in a punk band called Riff Raff, will be presented with the Roots Award at the event to be staged in Glasgow.
Bragg, known as the ‘Bard of Barking’, will perform at the show, which will be broadcast tonight, Wednesday, January 30.
The singer-songwriter who lives at Burton Bradstock, has long had elements of folk in his music.
These go back to his early days as a solo act in the early 1980s when he performed with just an electric guitar.
In 1996 he brought unrecorded lyrics by US folk singer Woody Guthrie to life by setting them music, along with the band Wilco.
The Roots Award is given to recognise ‘an outstanding contribution to folk music from a grass-roots level upwards’.
After hearing of the award Bragg joked in a tweet: “Looks like my decision to grow a beard has paid off.”
The Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate the UK’s folk scene and its achievements over the past 12 months, as well as giving awards to honour outstanding lifetime contributions.
