With the sun gods continuing to smile on the festival, the excellent music continued, kicking off on the main stage with the fiddle and guitar playing of Elizabeth Davidson Blythe and Daniel Quayle playing traditional Celtic airs. This was music to let wash over you as you kicked back with the first beer of the day. Robert Vincent followed on the main stage, playing acoustic, accompanied by Anna Corcoran on keys and backing vocals. His songs he played like ‘The Insider’ and ‘Follow What You Love And Love Will Follow’, were pleasant enough but lacked the ornamentation that make the recorded versions a little more interesting.

The Gigspanner Big Band were up next and are a Folk super group with credits as long as a fiddle player’s arm. There was some terrific playing but apart from Hannah Martin on fiddle, centre stage, there weren’t many signs that the band were enjoying themselves. It was a little po faced. I particularly enjoyed Phillip Henry’s lap steel playing, probably more than he did considering his lack of visible emotion.

Another exponent of the slide guitar followed them in the form of Wille Edwards of Wille and the Bandits. The Cornish based group are one of the most dynamic and interesting roots bands on the scene, with a strong Blues influence as well as incorporating other exotic flavours. The big difference between them and many of the Folk bands appearing at the festival, enjoyable though their performances were, is that they know how to write original songs that reflect the human condition, rather than re-tread traditional tunes, however skilfully done.

The contrast between musical styles provided by the festival was one of its delights. The band got the crowd going with the excellent ‘Got To Do Better’ as opener, a funky groove, an infectious and stirring chorus, and zinging slide guitar. What more could you ask for? More crowd pleasing songs followed, like the anthemic ‘Four Million Days’, rocker ‘1970’, a tour de force version of the multi-faceted ‘Angel’, with Wille showing the full dynamic range of his playing, and a powerful ending with the belter ‘Keep it on the Down-Low’. Brilliant music and a fully engaged performance. Stevie Watts on keys made his second appearance of the festival with the band and his playing perfectly complemented Wille’s playing as the front man switched between lap steel, electric and acoustic.

The upbeat feel continued with the First Time Flyers, a UK modern Country band that play super catchy songs with crossover appeal and are fronted by a two boy, two girl combination. The latter pairing of Poppy Fardell and Vicki Mansell provided a non-stop all action performance, roaming the stage while delivering deliciously appealing vocals. The combination of their vocals with those of Jake Morrell and Tim Prottey-Jones on guitars made for a big sound that punched home their singles like ‘Happier’ and ‘Primadonna’. They were an unexpected treat and highlighted the diversity of the line up on the last day. The crowd were definitely happier after their set.

In terms of diversity, the appearance of Gambian musicians Suntou Susso and Madau Ndiaye on the Overheard stage got the first prize. There were a ton of stringed instruments being used over the weekend but none more unusual or magical than the kora, a twenty-two string (that would be a tough gig for the roadie should a kora player go OTT during a savage solo) harp lute with a body made from a gourd. Suntou Susso started alone and after playing some numbers explained with great charm how the instrument is played, which in a nutshell, is with great difficulty! The sound of a single kora is quite enchantingly beautiful; two together creates a sound that is way beyond the sum of the parts. Their performance was a real highlight of the weekend.

Earlier on that stage comedian Chelsea Birkby had been both engaging and funny; three young players, comprising the Juniper Trio had trilled, bowed and strummed very energetically and enjoyably. At least one of the Trio, if not all of their number were in the cast of, if not thousands, seemingly hundreds (but much less in reality) of young musicians that closed the festival in the form of Joe Broughton's Conservatoire Folk Ensemble. They played Folk tunes with bits of everything thrown in to create a boisterous atmosphere as they threw themselves into their repertoire with great energy.

It was a particularly joyful ending to a particularly joyful festival. I hope the organisers got as much out if it as they hoped for as this is a festival that deserves to occupy a nailed down spot in the musical calendar.

Review and Photos: Simon Green