About

Biography

Lily Lakeman is a Dartmoor-based, contemporary folk singer-songwriter. She writes narrative driven ballads, often about the women of her local folklore and history. As well as introspective songs that echo the feeling of folk revival from the 60s and 70s. With just piano and vocals her songs are hallmarked by a deep intimacy and humanity.

Having grown up in a family full of folk musicians, Lily was surrounded by traditional music from birth. It is where she feels most at home. Her inspiration hails from the timeless poetry of folk music, capturing the magnitude of nature in dialogue with a deeply emotional experience of life, exploring traditional themes of love, death,  heartbreak and the natural world.

She is just at the start of her career, but has already played to a full house at Sidmouth Folk Festival 2026, and the main stage at Dartmoor Folk Festival. Though, she is comfortable on stage, also being a vocalist and pianist in upcoming South-West Folk band Woodkern, who have been catching attention on the folk scene while doing the festival circuit in the South West at the first Fisherman's Friends Festival, Trowbridge Festival, Sidmouth Folk Festival, and Beautiful Days Festival. Lily has also performed with her parents (Karthyn Roberts & Sean Lakeman) twice at Glastonbury Festival.

the journey so far...

I grew up in a family of folk musicians, when i was small, I would accompany my parents (Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman) on their tours up and down the folk clubs and venues of Britain. So I have been surrounded by the folk scene all my life; my lullabies were folk songs, and my favorite time of year was (and still is) always festival season, how can it not be. 

I started playing piano when I was around eight; I didn't take to being classically trained, so when I was around twelve, I stopped lessons and began only playing for my own enjoyment and to accompany myself singing. 

Across the past few years I have been lucky enough to have the oppurtunity to perform with my family at Beautiful Days Festival and Glastonbury festival. 

For a long time I was too shy to ever play live solo until last year, when I was fresh out of A-levels, I applied for Sidmouth Folk Festivals 'Young Performers Stage' and got two slots, I was on the line-up with a Cornish harmony group called 'Kessenyan' who invited me to be a part of a youth evening the were planning for December down in Cornwall, which turned into an event we named 'The Dawn Chorus'. 

In the new year the Dawn Chorus snowballed into the band I have just spent the summer doing the festival circuit with 'Woodkern'. I had a bit of a hiatus from the folk scene when at secondary school, so (in the least cheesy way possible) it's felt like a sort of homecoming to be back with the same songs and festivals. 

I have been writing my own songs now for a good five years, some leaning more singer-songwriter, some leaning folk, all with a focus on storytelling. I reached out to Sidmouth Folk Festival again this year to ask if they were doing the young performers stage again, and ended up being booked for a slot with EFFDS introducing, in the Cellar Bar, where I played to a full house. I was also last-minute booked to play Dartmoor Folk Festival, on the main stage in the arena which got me featured in Dartmoor Festivals' roundup in the Okehampton Times and the Tavistock Times.