Mary Hampton is a folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 singer, songwriter and guitarist

Acoustic guitar

An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

 from Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

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Hampton has released two self-produced CD-R

CD-R

A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....

s, Book One (2006) and Book Two (2007), containing a mix of original and traditional songs. In 2008 she released My Mother's Children, her first commercially available album, on Navigator Records. The album has been described as "a sparse collection of her own songs, which recline with shimmering sensuality in various shady cloaks of weirdness" and as "songs of unnerving delicacy, elemental and acoustic simplicity...potent and enchanting".

In addition, Hampton contributed vocals to Rough Music, a 2005 album by Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...

, and sang on Blow It Up, Burn It Down, Kick It 'Til It Bleeds, a 2006 album by Stereolab

Stereolab

Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...

 side project Imitation Electric Piano

Imitation Electric Piano

Imitation Electric Piano is a British post-rock band, that originally formed in 1999 by Stereolab bassist Simon Johns and Andrew Blake on guitar.-History:They recorded their eponymous instrumental first EP for Duophonic Records' 'Super 45s' series in 1999....

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Hampton appeared at the 2008 Green Man Festival

Green Man Festival

The Green Man Festival is an independent music festival held annually in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. It has evolved from a one-day, 300 capacity event in 2003, to a three-day festival with live music including psych, folk, indie, dance and Americana across five stages, as well as DJs playing...

 to critical acclaim, her set being described as "genuinely memorable".

In June 2009 she toured the UK alongside acclaimed American singer Diane Cluck

Diane Cluck

Diane Cluck is an American singer and songwriter of intuitive folk. Although known as a solo performer, she has often collaborated with others, including a recent association with drummer Anders Griffen on tours in the US and UK....

In June 2011 she will be touring the UK with her band Mary Hampton Cotillion (made up of musicians Seth Bennett, Jo Burke, Alice Eldridge and Alistair Strachan). Dates include a show at Blaise Castle in Bristol and an inaugural performance in the new rooftop garden at Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank.

In July 2011, Rough Trade are due to put out a limited edition 7" of the songs "Honey in the Rock" and "Hoax and Benison" from her forthcoming album "Folly".