Nominees

Seth Lakeman began playing music with his parents and two brothers Sean and Sam at an early age.As The Lakeman Brothers, the three brothers released their critically acclaimed debut album Three Piece Suite in 1994. Later that same year they were invited by two Yorkshire based singers Kathryn Roberts and Kate Rusby to join them as a backing group on a tour of Portugal. After the tour the five musicians became a permanent group and called themselves Equation.

The group swiftly garnered much praise and hype and signed a record deal with Time Warner in 1995. After three full albums ('Return to me' in 1996, 'Hazy Daze' in 1998, 'The Lucky Few' in 2000), and touring around the UK, Europe and the USA, Lakeman left Equation in 2001. He joined his brother Sam and Sam's wife Cara Dillon and appeared on Dillon's acclaimed, self titled debut album, which featured Seth on fiddle, guitar and vocals. The album won two awards at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

In 2002 Lakeman released his first solo album, The Punch Bowl, which received wide critical acclaim including a review in fRoots magazine which said: "The songs don't just glide smoothly by.....they get their claws into you".Kitty Jay, Lakeman's second solo album was released in 2004. The title track of the album tells the story of Jay's Grave, a well known location on Dartmoor.

That same year he collaborated with Devon singer-songwriter Steve Knightley and young local singer Jenna Witts on the album Western Approaches.A sell out UK tour in Autumn 2005 followed his Mercury Music Prize nomination, after which Lakeman and his band (regularly brother Sean (guitar), Ben Nichols (bass), Andy Tween (drums), toured extensively with folk-rock giants The Levellers, who took to closing their set with a "fiddle off" between Lakeman and Levellers' fiddler Jon Sevink. Other support tours with Billy Bragg and Jools Holland brought Lakeman's music to a wider audience.

In March 2006 Lakeman began a UK tour in order to promote his new album Freedom Fields which was released on iScream. He then changed to a major record company called Relentless and released his new single Lady of the Sea in early August 2006.

In 2007, he played at the SXSW festival in Texas, Hyde Park Calling, the Glastonbury Festival, The V Festival, WOMAD Charlton Park in Wiltshire, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, the Cornbury Music Festival, Fairport's Cropredy Convention, the Towersey Village Festival and provided support for Tori Amos on her European tour.

On 18 April 2008, Lakeman appeared on stage with Jethro Tull on their 40th anniversary tour at Colston Hall in Bristol before the start of his own UK tour later that month and going on to tour the festival circuit throughout the summer. His fourth album, Poor Man's Heaven was released on 30 June 2008. It includes Solomon Browne, a tribute to the courage of the men who lost their lives in the Penlee lifeboat disaster.In August 2008, Lakeman was one of the acts playing at the Greenbelt Festival in Cheltenham, England, to over 18,000 people.