Hannah Read is an award winning multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer and composer. Born and brought up in Scotland and now based in Northern California, her music straddles both sides of the Atlantic. Equally at home improvising on fiddle, playing Appalachian old-time music or delivering finely wrought original songs, she is an artist that gets equal thrill touring as an International band leader, as well as a collaborative side-musician.

Her latest critically acclaimed album The Fungi Sessions Vol. 1 was released in October 2023. Described as “A memorable partnership between science and music” (The Scotsman), it is a concept album of fungi-inspired instrumental compositions. This body of work was commissioned by Edinburgh University and is a tribute to Hannah’s late father, world renowned mycologist Nick Read. Throughout this album, Hannah’s fiddle, electric and acoustic guitars meld with clawhammer banjoist Michael Starkey, upright bassist Jeff Picker (Nickel Creek) and mixing engineer Charles Van Kirk’s sound design. Composed over a week in May 2023 and recorded a month later in the Scottish Borders, this short window allowed for an uninterrupted writing process, producing something that feels fresh and experimental, yet organic and grounded. Prominent mycologist Paul Stamets has called it “a wonderful album of fungi-inspired music” and Hannah’s hope is that listeners will take themselves on a mindful walk through the woods and make their own adventure while listened to the album top to toe.

The Fungi Sessions follows Cross The Rolling Water (Hudson Records), her Appalachian old-time duo with Michael Starkey, released in 2022; “Gripping… all in all, it’s a foot-tappin’ delight, music and playing that draws you in the way lungs draw in air, the tunesmithery interspersed with fine balladry” (Songlines ****). As a songwriter, her 2018 highly celebrated debut solo release Way Out I’ll Wander (Hudson Records) is comprised of “nine gorgeous originals” (The Guardian). The songs unfurl around Hannah’s sterling vocal and deft instrumental work on fiddle and guitar, supported by guest musicians Jefferson Hamer (Anais Mitchell), Jeff Picker, Grammy award winning Sarah Jarosz, and album producer Charles Van Kirk.

After growing up singing and playing fiddle in Scotland’s rich traditional music community, Hannah deepened her musicianship studying at The City of Edinburgh Music School, The American School of Modern Music in Paris, and finally at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she immersed herself in the American folk traditions that had compelled her to cross the Atlantic. Soon she moved to Brooklyn, diving headfirst into a diverse and thriving music scene that yielded abundant opportunities for collaboration. Many of Hannah’s collaborative relationships — performing and recording with musicians including Lola Kirke, Tony Trischka, Sam Reider, Cassandra Jenkins, Jacksonport, Nora Brown, Jefferson Hamer, The Fretless, Tim Eriksen, and many others — emerged from late nights playing at Brooklyn mainstays like Barbès and Sunny’s Bar. 

Back in the UK, Hannah is equally in demand. She contributed fiddle, guitar, and vocals to the English/Scottish folk supergroup Songs of Separation, a project created in the aftermath of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The resulting record, Songs of Separation (featuring Eliza Carthy, Karine Polwart and others) won Album of the Year at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. She has recently performed at festivals across the country including London Jazz Festival and Cambridge Folk Festival, both performing solo and in various collaborations.

Spurred on by this array of collaborations, Hannah continues to hone her solo career, opening for artists such as Darlingside and Kris Drever. She has arranged and recorded strings for Keenan O’Meara, Jacksonport and Ruby Landen. Also an accomplished music instructor, appearing on faculty at Shetland Songwriting Festival, Belgium’s Fiddlers on the Move and to over to North America, teaching at Miles of Music Camp in NH, The Omega Institute in NY, Alaska Folk Arts Camp, Louisiana's Blackpot Camp and many others. Hannah’s animating principles of curiosity and adventurousness run through all her work, and she continues to interweave these varied musical experiences from Scotland to New York and back again.