Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2011 - The Highlights

Well, back from Shrewsbury Folk Festival, which was fantastic as always - despite the lack of Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts, my favourite act of last year, I think this year's was ever so slightly better all round. I missed a fair bit of some acts due to clashes and other reasons, so am not even attempting to do a proper review, but thought I'd share my favourites.

I've tried to link to official websites/Youtube videos etc if you want to check stuff out. The Youtube vids aren't of the festival - although I may edit once some get put up - but are of the same songs, to at least give you a taste. Note to artists or representatives; if there's anything I've linked to and you want me to remove the link just leave a comment and will do so ASAP.

The big highlight for me was Lucy Ward - as good as she was 12 months ago, she's significantly better now AND I'm more familiar with her songs thanks to her Adelphi Has To Fly CD spending a lot of time in my laptop. She seems a completely natural performer, extremely at home on the stage and with an infectious warmth which the audience found irresistible. Her two solo sets were two of the best three of the weekend for me, mixing traditional songs such as Maids When You're Young Never Marry An Old Man and The Blacksmith (done in a brilliant blues style) with her self-penned work like Adelphi and the beautiful Bricks and Love, along with some amazing covers, notably Pulp's Common People and Blur's Tender. Lucy, if you're reading this, I would pay serious money for a Lucy Sings Britpop album! Although I'd pay fairly good money for a Lucy Sings... anything album, thinking about it. Her two standing ovations at the end of her last set today were well-deserved and having had the chance to speak to her she's just as nice in person as she is when on stage. If you haven't seen her yet, try and do so as soon as possible! (She's on at Derby Folk Festival 7th - 9th October, which I'm aiming to get to, along with Show of Hands, Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, John Tams and Home Service, Calan, The Demon Barbers, and David Gibb and Elly Lucas. Looks like a fantastic line-up for sixty quid.)

Speaking of Show of Hands, saw them live for the fourth time on Saturday evening. The first time I found them a little bit hit and miss, the second and third times I enjoyed them more and more, and by now they're becoming one of my favourite groups - they'd be the other one, along with Lucy's 2 sets, in my 3 best of the festival. Difficult to pick a highlight from so many wonderful songs, but the closing trio of Boys of Summer, Galway Farmer and Cousin Jack takes some beating.

Following Lucy on Sunday would have been a very hard task for most groups, given how well she'd gone down with the audience. I honestly believe the majority of people would have struggled to make an impact - but knew The Young'Uns would have no problems. Again, I've seen this trio about six times now, and every time they are supremely entertaining - at one point during the banter between songs I was nearly falling off my seat I was laughing so much. (I won't repeat it in case there are youngsters reading; for anyone who was there it was during the instructions to react when hands were raised.) When talking about them, I always rave about the group's wit, humour and likeability but sometimes forget to point out they're also genuinely gifted vocalists whose voices blend together wonderfully. Highlights for me were Stockton Town, One December Morn, and the song we all whooped along to, whose name I've forgotten.

Unfortunately as Lucy Ward clashed with part of the C# Project I didn't see it all - having watched it earlier in the year I would have picked it ahead of NEARLY anything else, but Lucy was one of the few exceptions. I made it over to stand outside a packed tent at the end though, and it was clearly just as fabulous as it had been when I saw it first. I loved Maud and Cecil, and the encore (which I won't spoil for those yet to see it) was outstanding. Like the Darwin Song Project previously at Shrewsbury, it was great to see so many talented musicians coming together. Worth noting that when talking to people today this was getting huge amounts of praise; I think I was the only person I know who was there but wasn't watching all of it!

Another highlight for me was the triumphant return of last year's open mic winners BarlowCree, who won what I thought was a staggeringly good final in 2010, beating Tri, the Bailey Sisters, and a young group called Kaleidoscope who I've never found online but absolutely loved. This year's open mic - which will get its own separate post in a few days time - was, if anything, even more outstanding, but BC had graduated to the festival itself and from the two sets of theirs I saw were clearly fitting right in. They played the majority of their Holystone album, which I will definitely be buying come payday, and it went down very well. I saw part of their set on Friday and all of the one in the Bird in the Hand yesterday; I loved The Quay - their song about a love lost at sea - last year and it was just as good as I remembered, while I think I have a new favourite in Mallt-Y-Nos, about a noblewoman who chooses hunting over the church. (and given my shaky grasp of Welsh spelling it's a godsend that they have lyrics on their website.) Or maybe my favourite is The Devil and The Cobbler, a tale of a clever Welsh cobbler outwitting Old Nick. Or Newfoundland, their adaptation of the sea song. Basically, if you're interested in fine songwriting, great acoustic guitar playing, and wonderful lyrics, you'd be doing yourself a massive disservice not to check this pair out.

One set that I enjoyed far more than I expected to was Jim Moray's. I saw Jim twice when I was at university and absolutely loved him both times, back when he was singing mainly the traditional songs from his Sweet England album. Since he's moved slightly away from that kind of music, I've caught him twice more and not enjoyed it quite as much. There's no question that he's an immensely talented musician playing a style far removed from nearly anything else on the folk scene today, it's just not my type of music. However, I gave him a try on Saturday and was very, very glad I did so - he was awesome, playing brilliant versions of Lord Bateman and Sweet England, my two favourites from that album, and using Skype to team up with Hannah Peel for a superb Jenny of the Moor.

Finally, Martyn Joseph - I went into this one with high expectations after the rest of my family saw him at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod earlier this summer and raved about him, but have somehow never found the time to listen to him. I wish I had, I think I would have liked it even more if I was familiar with his songs - but despite this I found it a great set and will definitely be buying a CD or two and eagerly keeping an eye out for his next appearance somewhere around this area. Just really, really good singing and guitar playing and a consistently high standard of song.

Finally, a special thanks to organisers Alan and Sandra Surtees for organising such a fantastic festival with a brilliant atmosphere and so many wonderful acts, and also to everyone who works and volunteers there. Definitely one of the highlights of the year for me and I already can't wait for 2012!