Jacqui McShee & Kevin Dempsey – From There To Here
MCDEM (MCDEM 001) – Out Now
When I heard about Jacqui McShee and Kevin Dempsey as a duo, I kind of took a step back and tried to work out if it was a new thing. Or if they have been a partnership since the dawn of folk. While the former is true, it feels much more like the latter, such is the coherence and synchronicity on display in this stylish collection.
Sadly, over the last few years, both of them separately lost two of their most fruitful long-term collaborators. Kevin Dempsey’s partner Dave Swarbrick passed away in 2016, and Jacqui lost John Renbourn in 2015. So it was serendipitous that in 2017 a chance collaboration at the New Forest Folk Festival – when Kevin stood in for a missing Pentangle member – brought the two folk veterans together.
And they’ve even formed a record company, McDem, to give them both a chance to explore and record more traditional folk songs and share writing ventures. They already have a bank of projects in the bag, primed for release. So, there’s much to look forward to after this opening salvo, because they seem to flourish in collaboration.
And the evidence is From There To Here. This is a bold album in that it showcases simply guitar and voice, or voices. It features material that is familiar, such as a stately take on the traditional folk standard, Lord Franklin (Jacqui seizing the opportunity to sing one of her favourite Pentangle songs).
But it also features bold reinterpretations like Nature Boy – the old Nat King Cole standard – here stripped back, soulful and much improved. Plus a few new songs including a witty lament for the UK exiting the EU (without mentioning the B-word), Leaving, which melds Leaving On A Jet Plane with Midnight Train To Georgia in the refrain. Fun, but heartbreaking at the same time.
Throughout, Jacqui’s voice has the folk/jazz fusion familiar from Pentangle classics such as I’ve Got A Feeling and Let No Man Steal Your Thyme, but now with a more mature and earthy quality that suits the stripped-back arrangements. It’s extraordinary that she still has such command and control after many decades on the road.
And she’s found a match in Kevin Dempsey who, although a similarly veteran artist, is one generation removed from McShee. His playing is reminiscent of the folk baroque stylings of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and Davy Graham with a little added funk and soul. The best evidence of this can be heard in his commitment to the funky riff that propels Beautiful Island from start to finish.
For me, the highlight of the album is a version of Ribbon Bow (the very first Fairport Convention single released as ‘If I had a Ribbon Bow’). Much slower and statelier than Fairport’s, this version leans much more on the Odetta take, revealing the anguish at its core. It’s a showcase for everything that’s right about this album: two artists at their very best taking you to the heart of every song. It’s a pure and simple pleasure.
From There To Here is out now. You can hear a track on our recent Folk Show (Episode 84) here.
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