Music Q&A:
Maddy Prior

The singer returns with album 3 For Joy and a live tour. She plays Liverpool Royal Philharmonic, 18 Oct, County Hall in Matlock, 26 Oct and Rotherham Civic Theatre, 27 Oct

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Tell us a bit about your sound and your influences.
Influences are early-days Kathleen Ferrier, 1960s pop, The Supremes, Prince Buster, American pop, American folk, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Carolyn Hesta, Jean Richie, British folk, The Watersons, Hoddeston Ceildh Singers, Martin Carthy, etc.

How have you evolved as a musician over the years?
I have hopefully gained some patience. It is tricky working with people in music. There are so many ways to communicate what is finally only understandable when it’s played.

What are you up to at the moment artistically?
About to release an album with Hannah James and Giles Lewin covering birds and hares. A field theme.

How do you stand out from the crowd in a saturated industry?
A long track record, and an unusual approach to the material we work with.

What’s on your rider?
Vegetarian samosas, salad, juice, sandwiches, some beers and a couple of bottles of wine.

Tell us about your worst live show.

At the Hammersmith Apollo sometime in the 1970s when at the opening of the show the safety curtain caught on the lighting rig and pulled it over towards the six followspot operators on another rig behind us. It was chaos and took an hour and a half to sort, but nobody told the audience what had happened.

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Maddy Prior

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