“She is singing our belonging to our land, history, ancestry, with streetwise modernity” - Casey Orr

Folk music has lost its way, and people have lost track of their geographical heritage. The working classes made music as a provocation and this is a tradition Jennifer continues. She is a performer of nineteenth century Lancashire dialect and Victorian broadside ballads.

“Lancashire dialect and Victorian Broadside ballad singer Jennifer Reid is brutally honest, powerful and authentic. Reid deserves our attention and embodies the gritty, honest truth of folk music. Reid reminds us that the streets, pubs and alleyways is where folk lives and not behind the glass of the studio.” - Folkmylife.co.uk

Jennifer plays the character of Barb in Shane Meadows’ period drama The Gallows Pole. She has supported Pulp, John Cooper Clarke, for Chanel’s prestigious Metiers d’Art show, and is in the second year of touring with Eliza Carthy. She will tour New Zealand this year solo.

“Jennifer as a performer and writer breathes life back into these fascinating songs that vividly describe the tumultuous environment of the industrial North West. Taking their subject matter from the urban street and people the ballad effectively bridges the gap between folk and pop music as we know it today.” - Jeremy Deller

After volunteering at Chetham's Library and the Working Class Movement Library, Jennifer completed an Advanced Diploma in Local History at Oxford University.

She researches nineteenth century music to:

  • educate students from primary school to university level

  • perform the songs and stories live

  • develop talks, seminars and traditional craft workshops for history and community groups

  • contribute academically to the field with funded research and artistic projects

Her work has taken her to Venice, Croatia, New York and lately Bangladesh, where she tested the idea that the Industrial Revolution never stopped, it just moved to Dhaka. She spoke at the first ethnomusicography conference on the Indian sub-continent about her research into Bangladeshi and Mancunian weaving songs.

She has been a creative partner on projects with the Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Stirling and a cultural consultant to the Science Museum Group. She has also researched and provided music for period-specific stage TV and radio productions.

Jennifer researches ballads and applies them to modern life. You may have seen her on the television in both factual and entertainment programming.

Contact Jennifer.