Originally from Devon, Seth Lakeman was born in 1977 in Dartmoor. He grew up listening to English folk, such as Bert Jansch or Martin McCarthy, along with the hard rock of Ac/Dc or Zeppelin, influences that would later surface in his music.
After some experience in local bands, he founded his own label and debuted as a solo artist with Kitty Jay, recorded with 300 pounds at home. The record became a small case in the British folk circuit, and was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. Due to the popularity gained, Lakeman records Freedom Fieldswhich was released in 2006 by Relentless records, and found distribution with a major label, EMI, to become the first of six albums by Seth to arrive in the ranking UK Top 40. In 2017 Lakeman appears on Carry Fire, eleventh solo album by Robert Plantand joined his live band on the tour in support of the album.

Make Your Mark, released in November 2021, is the result of 18 months of forced off the road and consists of 14 powerful tracks including the single Higher We Aspire and the title track, both included in the music rotation of BBC Radio 2. The inspiration for this eleventh studio album comes from a range of themes from the environment to love via death and self-belief. Recorded at Middle Farm Studios in Devon and produced by the Lakemanthe record was released on his label Honour Oak Records.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Freedom Fieldsin 2021 Seth performs a live streaming during which he plays the album in the company of his band, and releases a deluxe edition on CD and vinyl with bonus tracks and unreleased demos. 2022 saw Lakeman engaged in a series of concerts and festivals, both as a full band and with the Plymouth singer-songwriter Alex Hart.