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This
very talented twosome are regular club members and , flatteringly
for us, come all the way from Lincoln each time. Mike’s guitar
playing is an eduction to watch : unusually for a steel string guitarist
he adopts a classical playing posture, resting the guitar on his
left thigh , which allows greatest possible arching of the left
wrist over the fingerboard thus freeing the fingers for maximum
stretch and dexterity.
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This technique allows him great fluency and expression in both conventional
and alternative guitar tunings. He also sings in a clear unaffected
manner.
Jacky’s voice is clear, soft and melodic with excellent pronunciation
and she wisely avoids any attempt to fake a ‘working class’
accent in her traditional folk songs , using her natural performing
gifts to the full . Her clarity of delivery is much appreciated
as many of her songs have narrative story lines which the audience
can easily follow , i.e. ‘My Johnny was a Shoemaker’ ;
‘Willie O’Winsbury’; and ‘Song for Ireland’
. They also also breathed new life into Bob Dylan’s classic
‘Don’t think twice, it’s alright’.
Their presentation is always most musicianly , charming and professional
and they treated us to a wonderful evening .
Review by : Brian Spencer
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