#N "Jacky Tar" the second half of that song has got very modern instrumentation and feel over a very old song. Are you intending to do more of that ?
#E It was fun, there was a cast of thousands on that one. We recorded it with the same instrumentation as the other songs. My cousin Oliver who is a sound engineer plays the electric guitar, so we decided to add some guitar over it. Then the bass player was here and added another bass line, then someone else added something else. I do like singing songs like that. There's no reason why the instruments you use on stage can't be electric or acoustic. You really do have a big choice, we have a lot of media these days. If I wanted to play it on a keyboard I could, if I wanted to programme it and hold my finger on a button for five minutes I could do that as well.
#N You perform on stage in many guises, do you feel more exposed when you're on your own ?
#E You are more exposed on your own. I grew up performing with other people. First of all my family, who you could hide behind very easily. I could sit back and not worry about that sort of thing. When I first started playing with Nancy Kerr it was dead funny we just used to sit there and say "This is a tune" and play it. We wouldn't look at each other or anything. If I saw someone doing that now I'd get bored. These days we sit and we chat to the audience, look at each other and have a laugh. I like talking to the audience, but when you're on your own you've got no one to bounce off except the audience. It is a bit more like it's you on show. You and the fiddle and lots of starring eyes.
#N There's a lot of young folk bands coming through, some of which have signed some extraordinary deals...
#E Like the Equation.
#N ...Do you think that that will help bring a wider audience to folk ?
#E Do you mean audience people or business people ?
#N Well both but initially audiences, maybe those of their age that haven't got an in to folk through their parents either playing or listening.
#E I've never seen the Equation, so I couldn't really say about them. They are a band who have seen to their publicity before they've seen to anything else. Whereas Nancy and I and my immediate circle have all done a lot of performance and been out there in the folk public eye. The Equation didn't really do that. The Lakeman Brothers were playing for a couple of years, Kate and Kathryn were playing for a couple of years and then they decided to make the band. As soon as they decided to make the band, the publicity machine started working. It's a good way to do it, it puts you in a better arena. People know who you are before you play, they might not know musically what to expect, but they know what you are there for. I don't know if they will or not.
#N Looking at Cambridge last year there was an obvious drop in the average age of the audience where at somewhere like Towersea, the drop there, but less obvious.
#E Towersea's a small festival that deals with different sorts of bands. Cambridge has prided it's self on getting the likes of Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith, you can expect the more adventurous of kids to go to the larger Summer festival because it has a more rock atmosphere and because they have seen some of the artists. Where as the smaller festivals have started getting some of the traveller scene in there, it will get the more general festival goer of my age.
#N Do you find it strange the almost God like adoration your father is held in by part of the folk community ?
#E I'm used to it now. It used to shock me. I didn't know what it was about and it still surprises me sometimes when I meet someone that's trying to learn his style or meet someone that has admired him for years and years. I don't understand it. I know how good he is I've heard some of his records.
#N Back to the youth thing. Have you seen a young audience in the clubs ?
#E Definitely. I dunno where they are coming from, but they are very welcome. I played the Mayflower and there were loads of young people. OK it's a university city so there are going to be more young people around, but yeah there are a lot more young people coming out to clubs. Folk clubs have had a bad reputation. I know of people that will come and see you in an art's centre that wouldn't go near a folk club. That's slowly changing. Some clubs have had trouble, but there is gradually a young audience in these places. A lot of the young people coming in also know what they're talking about. That's thanks in part to Andy Kershaw who has done a lot to make people aware. I hope more of them start getting the nerve to start singing and playing.
#N Thanks