Megson @ NAC
Contemporary folk in all its domestic glory
It's the Thursday before Black Friday, and John and Becky from Folk East intend to lift our collective spirits with two contrasting acts from this year's Glenham Hall shindig. Megson are a husband and wife team with six studio albums behind them, and another on the way, whilst Shorelark are a teenage duo with just one EP and a handful of live appearances to their name.
Shorelark are, in fact, 17 year old Finn Collinson (mandolin, bouzouki and recorders) and 15 year old Georgia Morgan Turner (guitar and vocals). During their short set in which they cover beautifully Lal and Mike Waterson's The Scarecrow, as well as playing their own compositions (Georgia's tribute to home town Redruth, Dragon's Den is a particular delight), you can see why Folk East were so thrilled to discover this pair performing on the beach during the Aldeburgh festival. See them if you get a chance.
By contrast, Megson have a back catalogue that could fill a whole evening, songs that reflect on the cultural and social history of their beloved Teeside, as well as the more contemporary problems of raising a family and being a Middlesborough football fan. Debs and Stu Hanna may be based in Cambridge these days, but the twang of the North East still rings true in their heartfelt laments to the mining communities and steel workers left behind. By contrast, the 'world premiere' of new song Generation Rent, a wry comment on today's chances of getting onto the property ladder, demonstrates folk music's rich tradition of highlighting life's current trials and tribulations.
The light-hearted marital bickering between songs is all taken in good spirit. We may never know whether Stu remembers their wedding anniversary next week, or if Debs gets her way and he ends up trimming his beard, but their combination of perfectly complemented vocals, accordion, mandola, guitar, whistle and banjo (yes, even the banjo) shows why they are so highly regarded, and why their last album In a Box was voted album of the week by the Sunday Express, and one of the best folk albums of 2014 by The Telegraph. .
We all get a chance to join in with the chorus of Tally-I-O The Grinder during the encore before they shoot off back to Cambridge to relieve the babysitter, and prepare for this morning's school run. This is contemporary folk in all its domestic glory.
