Sam Lee

Sam Eagle appears regularly at the Norwich Arts Centre, though more usually he's to be found behind the bar, pulling pints. He's only one, Same Lee tells us, out of a pool of preposterously talented people keeping the place going. What does it say, mused Lee, about the perilous state of the arts that if the venue were to put on an evening that brought together all that talent, there would be no one left to run it? But there are, he concluded with self-deprecating good humour, only so many battles he can have in one evening, and so he returned to the recurrent theme of the evening, our affinity with the natural world. Without tub-thumping about it, his conviction we are losing touch with both history and nature pervades the evening and his music. When it comes to folk orientated performers, the inclination to talk and talk can be maddening, but Lee is such a personable fellow that it would be odd, and even disconcerting, if he were to simply rattle through the tunes.

Instead we learned about the shifting migratory patterns of nightingales, the Napoleonic origins of Gypsy folk tunes, and his passionate belief in the right to roam. It's a passion that extends to inviting Norfolk's Right to Roam, canvasing for support. I had a lovely chat with Imogen, a fine advocate of the group's mission to affect change through responsible trespass. I'd be fibbing if I said I was entirely won over, but at the very least it was nourishing food for thought. I would encourage anyone to check them out and make up their own mind, as did Sam Lee, before returning - as must I - to his music.

The quality of the sound at the Art's Centre is always good, but it takes accomplished musicians to make it great. Having previously seen Lee and his band on half a dozen occasions, I would say they were at their best last night. Gracious as ever, Lee name checked the band a couple of times but in the hubbub of well-deserved applause their names were lost to me. It will have to suffice that the players of piano, violin, guitar and percussion were a faultless ensemble that complemented Sam Lee's distinct vocals superbly. A tad more rockier and jazzier than on previous outings, there were shades of Micheal Nyman, Erland Cooper and even Sigur Ros in the euphoric soundscapes on offer, which contrasted wonderfully with the intimacy of Lee when barely accompanied at all.

The evening included old favourites - I was happy to find that John Barleycorn, Lay This Body Down and The Garden of England remain in the set. Room needed to be made, however, for material from his new album, songdreaming, a collection of songs that add considerable heft to his body of work. It’s been described as featuring new, self-penned material, but the line is surely blurred. Sweet Girl Mcree is perhaps the song I most associate with Lee, and did so long before it was used in the Harold Fry film, and I'm sure Vaughan Williams dabbled with Bushes And Briars before Lee got his hands on it. Nonetheless, there's a thread of mesmerising musicality to this new batch, best epitomised by the astonishing title track, Dreams of the Returning that will assuredly encourage me to return next time he's in Norwich.

When he does return it will, no doubt, be to the Arts Centre, a venue he obviously has a great affection for and loyalty to. I'd be hard pressed to think of a more suitable place to see him - and, Lord knows, I have seen him in some unsuited places. It’s obviously an opinion shared with a growing number of people, as the place was crammed to bursting. I like a sit down more than most, and Lee's music lends itself to drifting off, eyes closed, in the sedentary position, but I wonder if it’s time to stack the chairs away and give us all a bit more elbow room.