THE GAINSBOROUGH PACKET Featuring Sam Lee

The Gainsborough Packet is a ground breaking folk-pop-video created by 'Becks Futures Prize' winner and Newcastle based artist Matt Stokes. Commissioned by London's 176 Gallery and Gateshead's BALTIC, the film began with Stokes' discovery in the Tyne & Wear Archives of a letter written in 1828 by an hitherto unknown local folk hero named John Burdikin.
Tracing the adventures of Burdikin's life, the letter was the inspiration for lyrics, music and a 16mm film created and directed by Stokes. For The Gainsborough Packet, Stokes collaborated with musician Jon Boden from acclaimed folk-big-band Bellowhead, singer Sam Lee, composer Alistair Anderson, who is one of the UK's leading exponents of the folk tradition and co-founder of The Sage Gateshead's Folkworks, and Tim Kerr, an iconic figure of the US punk and early hardcore scene.