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'Who is Jamie Webster?': the Liverpool hero who topped the first folk chart

Adopted as Liverpool FC’s semi-official musician, the Merseysider’s Tory-baiting lyrics have made him the voice of the city – and an unlikely new folk star

Jamie Webster is recalling the moment he became the first artist to top the newly created Official Folk Album Chart with his debut LP, We Get By. “I was stunned”, says the Liverpool musician. “To hold off Laura Marling? She’s miles ahead of me in her career. I bet most people in the chart looked at it and went: ‘Who is Jamie Webster?’”

Folk traditionalists might well wonder: Webster has taken an unusual route to the top of the charts. A former electrician, the 26-year-old progressed from playing covers in city-centre pubs to becoming the semi-official musician for Liverpool FC, performing at fan-affiliated events and composing songs for the terraces. After a video of him playing Allez Allez Allez, his reworking of Italo disco classic L’Estate Sta Finendo, went viral in 2018, the song became the soundtrack to the team’s recent European success under Jürgen Klopp. In Madrid, on the afternoon of the 2019 Champions League final, Webster performed it to 50,000 people. (Klopp conveyed his pride: “The world is wide open for you.”)

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2G9pkCV
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