Seth Lakeman began playing music with his parents and brothers Sean and Sam at an early age. As The Lakeman Brothers the three brothers released their debut album Three Piece Suite in 1994. Later that same year they were invited by Kathryn Roberts and Kate Rusby to join them as a backing group on a tour of Portugal. After the tour the five musicians became a permanent group and called themselves Equation.

After leaving Equation in 2001, Seth Lakeman joined Cara Dillon and her husband Sam Lakeman. Cara's acclaimed debut album, which featured Seth on fiddle, guitar and vocals, won two awards at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including Best Traditional Track for "Black is the Colour" which Seth helped arrange. Cara and the brothers also won the Hot Press award for the Best Roots Act and the Big Buzz award for the Best Traditional Act.

In 2002 Seth Lakeman released his first solo album, The Punch Bowl, which received wide critical acclaim including a review in Froots magazine which said: "The songs don`t just glide smoothly by.....they get their claws into you".

Kitty Jay, Seth Lakeman's second solo album was released in 2004. The title track of the album tells the story of Jay's Grave, a well known location on Dartmoor. The album was recorded for a cost of less than £300. That same year he collaborated with singer-songwriter Steve Knightley and young Devon singer Jenna Witts on the album Western Approaches.

In July 2005 Lakeman was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for Kitty Jay.

In March 2006 Seth Lakeman began a UK tour in order to promote his new album Freedom Fields which was released on iScream.