Jim Moray

On Moray's seventh album The Outlander he explored a more stripped down style of playing and arranging influenced by the British folk revival of the 1960s and 70s and featuring Bellowhead fiddle player Sam Sweeney on six tracks.

Jim Moray (born Douglas Oates; 20 August 1981) is an English folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer.

While studying classical composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire, Moray released the home-recorded I Am Jim Moray EP.

During 2002 he appeared at the Glastonbury festival and the Cambridge Folk Festival gaining notice in the music press.

A nomination for the "Horizon Award" at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2003 followed before he began work on his first full-length album, Sweet England.

The album was recorded in his bedroom while completing his final year of study.

Sweet England was released in June 2003 on his own Niblick Is A Giraffe record label.

This was a live album, recorded over two nights, featuring a similar line-up to the tour he took part in in 2003.

The track was nominated in the BBC Folk Awards that year.

At the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2004 he was presented with the Album of the Year Award for Sweet England and the Horizon Award for best newcomer.

He was also nominated twice in the Best Traditional Song category for Early One Morning and Lord Bateman.

Moray recorded and released the single Sprig of Thyme in May 2004, and in the autumn appeared on the Oysterband's Big Session Volume 1 album.

Moray produced and mixed the track "The Cuckoo's Nest" for the Oysterband Big Session in 2004.

This gained yet more Folk Award nominations in 2005, including one for Cuckoo's Nest, which was sung, produced and mixed by Moray.

During 2005 Moray produced and performed on James Raynard's debut album Strange Histories, released in September 2005 on One Little Indian records.

After a long gestation period, Moray's eponymous second album was released on 1 May 2006.

Moving away from the electronic sound of Sweet England it features a more orchestral sound and denser song structures.

Aside from all of his own albums Moray has produced other artists, initially from his own studio in Bristol profiled in a Sound on Sound feature in 2006.

On 6 July 2007, The Independent featured Sweet England in its "Cult Classic" series, affirming its impact and influence on the modern folk scene.

Jim Moray's third album, Low Culture, was released on 14 July 2008.

On this album Jim makes use of African kora, the melodeon and mandolin and mbira thumb-piano.

Low Culture won the fRoots Critics Poll Album of the Year 2008 and was also the MOJO Folk Album of the Year 2008.

In 2008 he wrote and produced the song The Wishfulness Waltz for his sister Jackie Oates' second album The Violet Hour, as well as playing all the instruments on the track.

Moray produced and mixed the debut album Roodumdah by Kent-based folk-rock band Wheeler Street in autumn 2008.

It was also nominated for the Album of the Year Award in the BBC Folk Awards 2009.

He subsequently produced and mixed her third album Hyperboreans which was released in September 2009 and nominated for three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (including best album), and MOJO magazine's top folk albums of 2009.

On 1 February 2010 it was announced that Jim Moray's fourth album In Modern History would be given away as a covermount CD with the June edition of Songlines magazine, with a street date of 30 April 2010.

It was also announced that the album would be available in a deluxe box set and standard editions on 7 June 2010.

In 2010 he produced and mixed Find The Lady by Belshazzar's Feast.

Moray's fifth studio album Skulk was released on Bandcamp with no build-up or warning in January 2012 going straight to number 1 on the Bandcamp chart.

It received a full release on 9 April 2012.

Moray received three nominations in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for Best Album, Folk Singer of the Year and Best Traditional Track (for Lord Douglas), winning the latter category.

Along with singer and guitarist Sam Carter, in 2014 Moray launched a new band named False Lights to play traditional music with electric instruments.

In 2014 he produced and mixed the second album by singer and songwriter Maz O'Connor, This Willowed Light.

Their album Salvor, produced by Moray, was released in February 2015 and they announced headline shows at Folk East, Trowbridge Village Pump and Homegrown festivals.

In 2015 he produced and mixed her sixth album "The Spyglass And The Herringbone" as well as co-writing the majority of the tracks.

Moray's sixth album Upcetera was released on September the 30th 2016, featuring orchestral arrangements blended with electric rhythm section, electronic soundscapes and, on several tracks, viol played by Damon Albarn and Nico Muhly collaborator Liam Byrne.

It was nominated for Best Album and Best Original Track for Sounds Of Earth at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, at which he also performed the opening track Fair Margaret And Sweet William.

It was released on 11 October 2019 and was Moray's first album to be released on vinyl as well as CD and download.

Moray has spoken of receiving abuse online because he wants folk music to become more mainstream.