David Gibb & Elly Lucas - Old Chairs To Mend

David Gibb‘s second album release ‘There Are Birds in my Garden‘ (read the review) featured a tantalising array of tradtional and self-penned songs which had a refreshing and contemporary twist, aided by his very talented band, The Pony Club. Elly Lucas who played fiddle in The Pony Club has now stepped up to the mark to form a duo with David. Their new album Old Chairs To Mend was released in March and has been catching the ears of many including Bob Harris and Mike Harding.

They both bring a whole new spin on tradtional folk classics as well as producing some very high grade original work. Their vocals and harmonies are a perfect match, you really couldn’t ask for more, they are a delight to the ear and despite being a duo they conjure a very full sound. They have an energy about them that was there on There Are Birds in my Garden but it is present in bucket-loads on ‘Old Chairs To Mend‘, they live each and every song and there is a chemistry between them that comes across clearly on this album, they are a bit special!

The album opens to an upbeat ‘Man on the Road‘ a great foot-tapper celebrating the gypsy life on the road before taking it down a peg or two for delightful ‘Uncle Joe‘, a humourous tale featuring some great characters: Joe and Auntie Flo whose tall tales endure from chidhood to adulthood. David shines when it comes to writing these kind of songs, not surprising that he was joint winner of the ‘Young Storyteller of the Year’ competition 2011.

As Elly proves on ‘Blacksmith‘, with some Pentangle inspired jazzy vocals, they can take on the classics and still make them sound fresh. The material they have selected for this album is the stuff that goes down great at folk festivals and kids will also love it, as mine have already proven. They are both natural entertainers and are more than capable of working an audience as they showed when performing Jerusalem Cuckoo at Derby Folk Festival last year with Lucy Ward (see video below). If you do get to see them this year make sure you learn some of the songs, joining in is all part of it. They have a great warmth and stage presence that will win them many new fans who will see them on the festival and folk circuit this year for the first time (dates below), I can’t praise them enough, a highly rewarding album!

Listen out for tracks from Old Chairs To Mend in the Folk Radio UK playlist!

They also run workshops for schools, libraries and festivals. They did a series of workshops and performances at Ireby School during Ireby Festival last year (along with Julian Butt & Ben Dew; see video below) as well as having worked on and co-ordinated arts projects with the likes of Sandra Kerr. Get in touch with them if you are interested.