Beryl Marriott is a folk musician who should be much better known, if only for the number of well-known musicians who she has brought into the field and mentored, starting from an era in which -- even in England -- English folk music was considered the realm of academics and cultists. A pianist and singer, she -- along with her husband Roger -- have served a function in the English folk revival since the 1950s akin to the role that Alexis Korner played in the island nation's blues explosion of the 1960s. Marriott's major influence in the 1950s was as a member (and leader/founder) of the Ceilidh Band (aka Beryl Marriott's Ceilidh Band), whose members included Kate Graham and Dave Swarbrick (who was originally a guitarist in the group). It was out of their work, and Marriott's work with the English Folk Dance & Song Society, that the first successful post-World War II folk festivals in England were held. And out of those mid-'50s events grew the work and careers of Swarbrick, Ian Campbell, Martin Carthy, and an entire generation of musicians whose influence would spread around the world. Marriott came along almost too early for her own good, in terms of exposure on recordings, but she has been a major influence on the folk-rock movement growing out of England, and played across the decades with Fairport Convention and the solo recordings of various members, including Simon Nicol. In 2001, she also recorded Hands Across the Pond as part of a duo with American bluegrass fiddle player Richard Greene. Marriott was also part of Swarbrick's early 21st century band Orchard. ~ Bruce Eder