Lou Killen

about

Louis Killen is a folk singer from a diverse musical background in the North East of England. The dominant music in his life has been the folk music of the British Isles. Louis's family background is predominantly Irish: his paternal great-grandfather brought his family from County Mayo to the banks of the River Tyne in 1852. His grandfather married a Scotswoman and his father an Irishwoman. Being a native Tynesider has stongly affected his approach to music. Tyneside is an area that absorbs other cultures and converts them into its own - to this day, even after thirty-five years living in the USA, Louis's speaking accent still denotes his roots. The mixture of Irish, Scots and English living in the coal-mining and industrial region known to the ancients as Northumbria sets it apart from the rest of England, pulling into it the musical traditions of all three countries while maintaining its own distinct musical style. Louis Killen draws on all four traditions to bring a wide range of folk music to his audiences. To these four is added the Anglo-American tradition of deep-water shantying and sailor ballads common to both nations. Louis's first-hand experience working aboard brigs, brigantines, schooners and sloops in the late '60s and early '70s put him in the forefront of the current revival of maritime music on both sides of the Atlantic. In a career spanning over forty years, with more than thirty-five albums/CDs to his credit, Louis Killen's influence as a performer, te

top songs

albums

Good Ale

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Sea Music of Many Lands: The Pacific Heritage

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Sea Chanteys

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The Iron Muse: A Panorama of Industrial Folk Music

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Sea Songs

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Farewell Nancy -- Sea Songs and Shanties

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A Seaman's Garland: Sailors, Ships & Chanteys, Vol. 2

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The Philadelphia Folk Festival (1977)

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Farewell Nancy

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The Iron Muse - A Panorama Of Industrial Folk Music

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Revival in Britain, Vol. 1

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Top 20 Sea Shanties - The Very Best of British Folk Singers

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