Peter and Barbara Snape

Peter and Barbara Snape have a great love of traditional British folk music and a well-deserved reputation for researching varied and interesting songs from their native North West of England and delivering them with commitment, passion and enjoyment.

This popular duo have a distinct ‘northern resonance’ and their songs with melodeon accompaniment bring the tradition to life in an engaging and appealing manner.

Closely aligned to their research and singing interests are, ‘Most truly yours, Aunt Anne’, ‘Cotton Town Chronicles’, ‘Three yards a penny! Song, Song, songs!’ and ‘A Song Seeker Found’.

‘Most truly yours, Aunt Anne’ (Anne Geddes Gilchrist OBE), with its focus on the songs she collected, celebrates a remarkable Lancashire woman who was a pivotal figure within the folk song-collecting community of the early 20th Century.

‘Cotton Town Chronicles’, reflecting on the first ‘northern powerhouse’ is a themed presentation of songs about working life during the age when cotton and coal were king in Lancashire.

‘Three yards a penny! Song, song, songs!’ is a journey into the world of John Harkness in Victorian Preston with a selection of songs being ‘hawked and peddled’ along the way, and

‘A Song Seeker Found’ tells the story of folk song collector Fred Hamer and his search for folk songs in Lancashire.

With an understanding and affection for the songs they perform, Peter and Barbara embrace their carefully researched repertoire and are deservedly popular with audiences.

Peter and Barbara Snape are entertaining and their passion for performing their songs is infectious. The listener will be tapping their feet and joining in, while immersed in the story behind the song.

Hailing from the North West of England, Peter and Barbara bring a wealth of traditional songs, mainly from that region and weave their fascinating and well-researched history between the songs in a refreshing, convivial, distinctly ‘northern’ style.

The Snapes’ signature style is distinctively salt-of-the-earth: sturdy and invigorating, full of breezy confidence and proven accomplishment and replete with a high feel-good factor, yet they take their craft seriously and treat the songs and their listeners with due respect.