CELEBRATED folk singer Seth Lakeman will release his new album A Pilgrim’s Tale in 2020, in a year that marks four centuries since The Mayflower ship departed the UK.

The album will be released amidst a selection of UK concerts where Seth will visit locations significant to the Mayflower tale, including Southampton.

This stirring and beautiful record is narrated by the actor Paul McGann (Dr Who/Withnail and I/Hornblower/Luther), and features a host of guest performers including Cara Dillon, Benji Kirkpatrick, Ben Nicholls and Seth’s father Geoff Lakeman.

“If you’d never heard anything about the Mayflower and the birth of the modern USA, these words and music could be your primer," he said.

2020 marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower ship setting off to the Americas. The ship carried British and Dutch passengers with hopes of fresh settlement, and who were famously met by the Wampanoag first nation tribe upon their arrival. Bottling the spirit of the 17th century pilgrimage, Seth has written and performed a selection songs that shape a fictional narrative of the journey, informed by extensive research from text such as the journals of William Bradford, conversations with modern day ancestors of the Wampanoag people at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, and information sourced at the national heritage sites that still exist in the UK.

It’s a story Seth feels he is intrinsically linked to, “I didn’t have far to go for inspiration. The Mayflower Steps, on Plymouth’s cobbled Barbican streets are 20 minutes away from me. I fished from this quay as a boy, sang songs on tall ships tied up here and played music in just about every old sailors’ pub in this Elizabethan quarter.”

As one of the most celebrated members of British folk music, Seth is wholly qualified to replicate the trappings of traditional 17th century musical styles; whether it be through his vocals, stringed instrument arrangements, fiddle playing, or percussion.

Seth Lakeman plays Central Hall, Southampton on Thursday February 13.

Tickets are on sale now from sethlakeman.co.uk.