Sue Harris

Sue Harris (born 17 May 1949) is an English musician classically trained as an oboeist, but latterly best known for her folk music performances with the hammered dulcimer. From the early 1970s to the early 1990s she frequently performed in partnership with her then husband John Kirkpatrick before pursuing other musical interests since that time. Other bands with which she has been associated include the Albion Country Band, Umps and Dumps, the English Country Blues Band, PolkaWorks, and the English Dulcimer Duo.

Biography Harris was born and grew up in Coventry, Warwickshire, England She trained as a teacher with music as her main subject. Moving to London in 1970 for her first teaching position, she taught for a year and one term, sang in the London Student Chorale, met folk musician and morris dancing enthusiast John Kirkpatrick, joined "Dingle's Chillybom Band" in which he was playing, and then formed a duo with Kirkpatrick playing oboe to his melodeon and Anglo concertina while they both sang, performing as an act around the UK folk clubs from the beginning of 1972. then to Aston on Clun in Shropshire. Once in Shropshire, they folded Dingle's Chillybom Band since the members were by now too dispersed to continue, and started a new outfit "Umps and Dumps" with various members including at different times, John Tams, Tufty Swift, Derek Pearce and Alan Harris; the band went on to release one album, The Moon's In A Fit, on Topic in 1980.

After relocating to Shropshire, Harris and Kirkpatrick were approached by a local school to teach some morris dances and decided there was an opening for the creation of 2 new Morris Dance sides, one for men (The "Shropshire Bedlams") and one for women ("Martha Rhoden's Tuppenny Dish"), to specialise in a revival (substantially re-imagined in fact) of the "Border Morris" tradition local to the region; these sides were created by the respective parties in 1975 and continue to the present time, although in a 2000 talk, Kirkpatrick noted that Harris had ceased dancing with the Martha Rhodens around 2 to 3 years before. it appears that their professional and personal relationship dissolved around that time, although precise details are unknown.

Harris has also performed with Richard and Linda Thompson, and has been a composer for the BBC on various broadcast plays, as well as for live theatre. She is also a singer and has written music for choral groups.

In 2008 she was leader of the "Wild Angels Community Choir" in Welshpool, Powys, Wales. The same year she joined Jeannie Harris, Nina Hansell, Katie Howson, Fi Fraser and Gareth Kiddier to form the ceilidh band PolkaWorks, still active in 2025; they released an album, Borrowed Shoes in 2014.

Following the World Dulcimer Congress held in Malvern, Worcestershire in 2015, Harris formed the English Dulcimer Duo with Lisa Warburton. The duo has toured extensively, performing a repertoire of English and Welsh tunes.

In 2024 Harris was cited as running choirs in the Shropshire-Welsh Borders region, being Castle Voices, Clun Singers and Whitton Voices, and was featured in a reunion gig in June 2024 with John Kirkpatrick plus their son Benji Kirkpatrick, a successful musician in his own right, Pastorela (Beautiful Jo Records, 2002)

Albion Country Band Battle of the Field (Island Records, 1976)

The English Country Blues Band No Rules (1982) Unruly (2014)

John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris The Rose of Britain's Isle (1974) The Bold Navigators (with Jon Raven) (1975) Plain Capers – Morris Dance Tunes From the Cotswolds (1976) Among The Many Attractions at the Show will be a Really High Class Band (1976) The English Canals Songs, Narration, Contemporary Extracts (with Jon Raven) (1976) Shreds and Patches (1977) Facing the Music (1980) Ballad Of The Black Country (1981) Stolen Ground (1989)

In 2009 Topic Records included in their 70-year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten The Rose Of Britain’s Isle / Glorishears from The Rose Of Britain’s Isle as track thirteen on the second CD.

Martin Wyndham-Read, Sue Harris and Martin Carthy The Old Songs (1984) Across The Line (1986)

Various artists – Sue Harris, Old Swan Band et al. This Label is Not Removable (2007)

Tufty Swift Hammers, Tongues And A Bakewell Tart (2007) (CD reissue of Hammers and Tongues)

Umps and Dumps The Moon's In A Fit (1980) – band members John Kirkpatrick, Sue Harris, Tufty Swift, Alan Harris