As their 2023 tour winds down, award-winning folk music duo Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman prepare to return to the Isle of Wight.

"We like to present an intimate, varied evening of music and hopefully we can create a bit of communication and connection with the audience," Kathryn told the Isle of Wight County Press.

The husband and wife duo will appear at Quay Arts in Newport on May 5, performing songs from their latest album, Almost a Sunset.

Their seventh album, it was recorded at Devon-pace in their studio on Dartmoor over the course of a year.

Isle of Wight County Press:

"[The album] is doing really great. We’ve sold lots of copies and we’ve been getting some really wonderful, favourable reviews," said Sean.

"We couldn’t be happier with it.

"It’s a real mixed bag of story songs and a couple of traditional ballads we’ve modernised."

Their new favourite tracks to sing live?

For Sean, it is Eavesdropper, which he describes as, "really good fun to play.

"We really look forward to the moment in the set when that one crops up."

Kathryn says she enjoys Bound to Stone.

"When we first came to record that, I wasn’t sure we could pull it off live, but it’s worked out really well," she says.

Despite growing up hundreds of miles apart, both Sean and Kathryn cite music as a major part of their childhoods.

You might recognise Sean’s surname - perhaps you know his dad, Geoff, or his brother, Seth? 

"There was music all the time in my house, growing up,’ Sean told me.

"My mum and dad used to run the Plymouth Folk Club so, every Thursday, I’d come home from school and there would be a different set of musicians around the kitchen table."

Isle of Wight County Press:

Just under ten years ago, Kathryn shared the stage with Gerry Conway, Jerry Donahue and Pat Donaldson, the three surviving members of folk-rock supergroup Fotheringay.

"I was a huge fan of Sandy Denny and unfortunately I never got to see her play.

"To be able to play all these iconic songs with the original musicians was a real joy to me."

"You never know what is going to rear its head and what opportunities might appear. 

"We count ourselves very lucky."

How and where to see Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman on the Isle of Wight

Kathryn and Sean agree that, nowadays, new music is discovered through their children.

"The last gig I went to was with one of our teenage daughters to see The 1975.

"They were really impressive," says Sean.

One new artist in particular was a standout for Kathryn.

"Last year, at Glastonbury, one of our daughters dragged us off to see Phoebe Bridgers.

"I really enjoyed her and I’ve really enjoyed recently listening to her involvement with Boygenius.

"[Our daughters] are introducing us to music that we might not experience otherwise."

They have also called on the the talents of twins Poppy and Lily.

Poppy sings backing vocals on Eavesdropper, while Lily's artistic flare can be seen in the striking photography used for the album design.

Kathryn says: "The girls have provided inspiration for many of our songs over the years but it lovely they feel they can help us out in a more practical way as they grow older and their talents shine through."

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Kathryn and Sean won the BBC Folk Award for ‘best duo’ in both 2013 and 2016, thus confirming them as an act to keep an eye on.

Sean said: "It was lovely.

"There were such a lot of other, strong duos working on the folk music scene that to win it twice was a real affirmation that we were doing something right and people were enjoying what we were doing."

So what would Sean recommend?

"I’m working with a fairly young dream-folk band from Plymouth called Windjammer.

"We asked their lead singer to do a guest vocal on one of the tracks on our new album."

See the pair on May 5, at Quay Arts.