Three of her albums, Adelphi Has to Fly, Single Flame and I Dreamt I Was a Bird, have been critically acclaimed and have each received four-starred reviews in the British national press.

[5] After performing at open mic nights across the Midlands she put her name forward for the BBC Young Folk Awards at the age of 18, and two years later signed a contract with Navigator Records.

[10] The album includes "For the Dead Men", a self-penned protest song, which was released as a single in January 2012 coupled with a remixed version of "Maids When You’re Young".

In a four-starred review for The Guardian, Robin Denselow said that Lucy Ward "proves to be an even more mature and thoughtful singer-songwriter than she was on Adelphi Has to Fly" and described her follow-up album as "impressive and original" and "a brooding, often angry set that deals with everything from politics to love, death and personal tragedy, with a couple of powerful traditional songs added in".

[12] Ward's music has been used as the soundtrack for award-winning director Kim Hopkins' documentary film Folie à Deux – madness made of two.

[13][14] The film soundtrack uses "For the Dead Men", some new original material and some cover songs played by Lucy Ward and Hungarian fiddle player Barnabas Balázs.

Her recording of "Maids When You’re Young", which was subsequently included on the first CD of the album BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2012,[30] was nominated as best traditional track.

[32] Her recording, from Single Flame, of the Roud 1302 song "Marching Through the Green Grass", was included on the album BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2014.