Ed and Will: Wandering Minstrels

Press Resource, April 2013

Ed and Will are British explorers and wandering minstrels. They walk around Britain, powered by

folk-song.

This May, they journey from London to Liverpool, via Snowdonia.

On the main road, you can drive this in five hours. On footpaths, they’ll take four months. Ed and Will

move very slowly, through a land of springs and hill-forts, pubs and churches.

To win supper, they sing accapella folk songs.

“In caves or cathedrals” Ed explains, “we can sing at the drop of a hat”

Wearing mostly wool, with canvas backpacks and wooden staffs, they cook on fires and sleep under

trees. It’s more like Robin Hood than twenty-first century Britain. “Why?” seems a fair question.

“For people in traffic-jams and call-centres” Will explains, “who think they don’t like Britain.”

They’ve certainly picked a good time for it. Walking is increasingly fashionable, with celebrities like

Brad Pitt extolling its virtues. And folk music is also rising, with Sam Lee recently nominated for a

Mercury Award.

Both in their early thirties, Ed and Will have been exploring the British interior for almost ten years.

“It’s pilgrimage, self-discovery and low-impact travel” Ed explains.

“And it’s sensible, sincere and beautiful” Will agrees.

An eccentric contemporary British institution, Ed and Will have sung live to a hundred million people

via BBC World Service. They’ve featured in Vogue, BBC1, Radio4, the Guardian and the Telegraph.

You can follow their latest walk via their website: www.awalkaroundbritain.com

Download at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awalkaroundbritain/sets/72157633417446779/

Quotes:

“Encouragement is pretty much universal. This project’s like a forgotten nursery rhyme”

“Britain has incredible diversity - everything and more is just beyond your backdoor”

“You can sleep almost anywhere, and nothing will eat you”

“We stay with aristocrats, monks, oil directors, artists, mercenaries, addicts and housewives.”

“We’re keen to foster the British nomadic revival”

“There are few places folk-song isn’t appropriate”

“The busking economy is strong. We send money home each week”