Stream: Folk on Foot Festival

Kate Calder previewed this ambitious front room folk festival last week in the Edinburgh Music Review. Organised and introduced by Mathew Bannister on Easter Monday, it promised an impressive 7 hour line-up of folk singers and musicians which would grace any folk festival programme. The question I asked myself is ‘would it work?’ In recent days I have watched several attempts at front room folk concerts, and frankly they haven't been too good. For example, I'm a big fan of Richard Thompson, a great songwriter, guitarist and singer, his 'Vincent Black Lightning 1952’ is one of my favourite contemporary folk songs. So I was very disappointed with his performance; it didn't seem to be very well organised and his songs compared badly with his music all of which I have on my iPhone. The missing element was the audience, that spark of communication between folk singer and people which creates the atmosphere that brings the music to life in the best folk clubs or concerts. The truth is most folk singers are not great singers technically, compared with classically trained singers, but the best have that ability to tell a story in music, to "carry the stream" of the tradition and to communicate with the audience, indeed even get them to sing along with them, and singing is good for the soul.

My fears about this festival were raised immediately by the preview tune by John McCusker, whose sound system didn't seem to be working well in his introduction, although it improved a bit during his second and final tune. Why one wonders did he only get one tune? Mathew Bannister was a good host and his sound system was good; he told us that the festival had raised over £60,000 in donations, which would go to help folk musicians who had seen their income disappear overnight. The second act was Beth Porter and the Bookshop Band (her husband Ben!), singing from her home in Wigton, the "bookshop town" of South West Scotland. It was a very sweet performance by Beth and Ben, but again lacked the sparkle an audience provides. Next up was Martin Simpson a singer and guitarist I have admired in the past, but his performance again was a disappointment both in its presentation and in its performance, at times off key and out of tune. Again, I have all his records on my iPhone and this performance compared badly. Next was Scots singer Karine Polwart, who lifted us up a little with an idiosyncratic performance from her front room in Pathead, looking out onto Fala Moor in the Pentlands. Karine has recently put on an excellent stage show " Wind Resistance" which sold out at last year's Edinburgh Festival and which showed the interaction of nature and music in her environment (available on CD or streamed), and it was good to see where it had originated.

There were some very good performances despite the technical limitations of the front room. Jon Boden, who memorably held our attention every day for a year with his " folk song a day" project, showed us he was a consummate professional with his concert, great singing and guitar work and great songs stood out. Nancy Kerr and James Fagan showed us why they are among the best performers in the folk movement, with a great set from their front room, highlighting Nancy's fine singing and song writing and fiddle playing but also the importance of James Fagan in his singing and accompaniment. Peggy Seeger, looking and sounding remarkably younger than her years, literally walked us round her house with her computer and entertained us with songs from her youth and her history as one of the most important influences on the folk revival and tradition.

There were other performances which are best forgotten, so to return to my question - Did it work and was it worthwhile? The answer is yes: it raised over £60,000 to help struggling musicians; it gave us mixed pleasure over 7 hours and let's face it that would happen at a folk festival too. Personally, I'm not a fan of big folk concerts or folk festivals. I enjoy the intimacy of the folk club when, at its best, the performer and the audience come together to create the music and indeed sing together. That couldn't happen in the Folk on Foot Festival; we shouldn't expect it and be too critical of performers attempting to create concerts in their front room. It does show the importance of live music, that magic ingredient that the audience provides. Let’s hope it returns soon!