Twenty two years touring with enough road miles to qualify for a Guinness record, the cottage industry that is Kate Rusby rolled into Chelmsford for the first time on Friday evening and gave the sold-out audience a taste of what the rest of the country already knows; that she is one of the finest interpreters of traditional music we have. If any proof were needed, she delivers in the first song, the Child Ballad The Outlandish Knight which she learned from Nic Jones. Rusby has a long-standing and open admiration of Mr. Jones, so it’s a fitting choice to start proceedings.
Cradled by a pared down band – Damien O’Kane on guitar, banjo and ‘other half’ duty, Nick Cook on accordion, Duncan Lyell on double bass and Stevie Burns on bouzouki and guitar – Rusby’s genial fireside banter eases us into a set that is nothing short of a greatest hits session – not difficult given her back catalogue. The Good Man, The Wishing Wife and The Daughter Of Megan are flawless, each song preceded by details of their origins. The Wishing Wife is played with gusto and ‘..Megan’ is an early tear-jerker. Rusby’s voice retains a delicious combination of clarity and husk, imbuing the slower ballads with the appropriate weight of their years and a gravitas befitting their provenance. Bring Me A Boat is stunning, the Phil Cunningham tune gently pushed from the shores of the stage as said boat is from the banks of the Tyne.
The first set concludes with We Will Sing’s May Day choral, one of several songs Rusby will request the addition of our voices on. That there’s some reluctance to comply is understandable – it’s a bit like being asked to play guitar in front of Richard Thompson, but she will be rewarded with greater efforts in the second set, which begins with I Am Sad, ‘It is folk music, so there’s got to be some sadness’. It’s a beautiful melody and threatens to tip the audience into floods of tears, but is rescued by Rusby’s impression of her daughter’s sad face, akin to a Barnsley version of Harry Enfield’s Kevin. The tempo increases for The Three Jolly Fishermen, out of Whitby, you understand, not as some might suggest from south of Watford Gap.
The run in to the end contains two of the many highlights, a beautifully tender version of the haunting Cruel and the low register of the double bass driving Ghost from last year’s album of the same name. The former is one for memory’s scrap-book, a story song no-one can fail to be moved by. Ghost is a timely reminder that Rusby is no amateur when it comes to writing her own songs. The stage is loaned to the band for three instrumentals, O’Kane setting the varying and often dizzy ace with some furious banjo picking and his own unique brand of dry Northern Irish humour, all of which are greeted with whoops and hollers. Walk The Road and a jaunty Awkward Annie end the set, bar a ‘planned’ return for drinking song Martin Said.
What’s wonderful about an evening with Kate Rusby is the invitation to step outside of your own world and to join hers for a brief moment, to become part of the great tradition that has seen songs passed to her from her parents and from her and Damien to their children. To imagine yourself crowded around a dampened fire in a Yorkshire hearth as the wind whips across the moors outside and old stories are brought to life by musicians and a singer who live, eat and breathe songs for a passion. It’s a special feeling and it was a special night; national treasure status awaits.
Review by: Paul Woodgate
https://soundcloud.com/folk-radio-uk/kate-rusby-the-outlandish-knight
Setlist
Set 1
The Outlandish Knight
The Good Man
The Night Visit
The Wishing Wife
The Daughter Of Megan
The Duke And The Tinker
Bring Me A Boat
We Will Sing
Set 2
I Am Sad
The Three Jolly Fishermen
Cruel
The Silly Old Man
Ghost
Instrumentals –
Step and Pull
Dancing In Puddles
Bowel-Shifter
Walk The Road
Awkward Annie
Martin Said
Also on FRUK: Album Review of Ghost | Interview with Kate Rusby
Check Kate’s website for her current tour dates here: http://www.katerusby.com/tour-dates/