Reviews
Sunday
Wath's own version of the Three Graces came along in the form of the Three Ruths, each of whom played their own important part in this years festival; that of the roving reporter (Ruth Palmer), festival co-organiser and performer (Ruth Wells) and fine interpreter of traditional folk songs, song writer and new distinctive voice on the folk scene (Ruth Notman). It's not unusual to see the festival organisers at Wath Festival mingle freely with artists, the press and the public alike. There is a green room far away without a single occupant. This festival is made for mingling, and mingle everyone does with relish.
Martin Nesbit opened the Sunday afternoon concert with some original Teesside humour, which perfectly set the audience at ease. Songs about uncontrollable dogs from Hell, ASBO's and just for the ladies, a real mechanical guy, complete with sex appeal, twiddly bits and sexy eyes that bounce about on wires. Completely bizarre stuff to get the final day of the Festival off to a good start.
At just nineteen, Ruth Notman brings something to the stage that most experienced folk singers would trade an arm or a leg for, that is, fresh faced youth. She speaks of A levels and examinations with youthful candor, not as if it were just yesterday, but as if she was still in the middle of doing them. She has a bright and breezy personality, which comes across as unbridled charm and you would have to be made of ice not to love this Nottingham lass.
Alternating between guitar and piano, and joined by Saul Rose on melodeon, Ruth delighted her audience with her unmistakable voice and faultless song choices. Opening with her own take on Nic Jones' "Billy Don't You Weep For Me", which Mr Jones has already nodded his approval to using superlatives such as 'super' and 'terrific', Ruth's set displayed a lightness of touch on both guitar and piano. Ruth was in her usual playful mood and joked about Westlife, especially when tackling power ballad key changes as illustrated in "Lonely Day Dies", which she admits is there simply to "meet the criteria of the examination board" in her Music A Level, as well as surprising the audience with her tongue-in-cheek revelation that the next artist up, Kris Drever, is in fact her future husband 'but he doesn't know it yet!'
Ruth's jaunty version of "Limbo" was one of the highlights of a predictably superb set, which confirmed to this Wath audience that she is one to watch out for in the foreseeable future. Closing with "Farewell Farewell", the classic Richard Thompson song is approached with both maturity and assured confidence, despite her guitar having just lost battery power after her penultimate song and having to make do with Saul's mic. A minor glitch to bring an excellent set to a close.
Kris Drever performed songs from his album Black Water with a confidence and flair rarely displayed by one so young. Whilst "Steel and Stone (Black Water)", "Beads and Feathers" and "Harvest Gypsies" proved what a fine and tasteful selector of contemporary songs he is, following his own rule of choosing songs for the album written by personal friends only, 'otherwise the album would be full of Randy Newman songs' he admits, "Shady Grove" reminded us once again of his command over the interpretation of traditional material. The instrumental preface to "Green Grows the Laurel" was nothing short of stunning, not because it was complex, flash or bewilderingly difficult, but because it was simply beautiful.
The Gladedale concert on Sunday evening brought us to the last leg of the festival. Determined to make it a night to remember, the festival brought together two of the hottest bands on the scene, one relatively new, the other, unquestioned giants of the folk scene.
After winning the best live act category at the 2008 BBC Folk Awards, Lau's set on Sunday night was eagerly anticipated. Their appearance at the festival brought their grueling six weeks tour to an end with a storming set that had the entire audience on the edges of their seats. One sensed some fatigue in the faces of this trio but nevertheless, this understandable exhaustion didn't manifest itself in their playing one bit.
Kicking off with "Frank and Flo's", Lau demonstrated perfectly how three musicians can be completely on the same page with exciting interplay between accordion and fiddle and the driving guitar of Kris Drever. Aidan O'Rourke's fiddle playing follows a traditional template and is so good as to have been heard on over sixty albums already, both as a session musician and member of such outfits as Blazing Fiddles and Tabache. 
Martin Green on the other hand, has managed to reinvent the accordion completely as a crucially exciting instrument, not so much in the speed and dexterity of his playing but in the actual physical handling the instrument. If Martin had appeared at the Monterey Festival in '67 then he would surely have set it alight. He dismisses comparisons to Jimi Hendrix with his sardonic wit 'I'm more like the Jimmy Cricket of the accordion.' (...and there's more!)
Kris Drever provided one or two songs during the set, such as Ewan MacColl's "Freeborn Man" and a couple of traditional songs, "Butcher Boy" and "Unquiet Grave". For one who loves songs so much and usually taps his fingers patiently upon the table throughout the instrumentals until the next song comes along, I must confess that with Lau, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for something like "Hinba" to come along again. It almost feels like the folk scene in general has been itching for something like this to come along.
Who better to take us out on a high than the Battlefield Band? The current line up, which consists of founding member Alan Reid, Alasdair White, Mike Katz and most recent addition guitar player Sean O'Donnell, brought not only just a taste of Scottish traditional music to the festival, but the very heart of it. Formed in the 1970's the band have evolved through many changes but have always maintained a distinctive Scottish sound by always including at least one piper. Mike Katz's playing of the Highland Bagpipes is almost as impressive as his beard, and the finale to this year's festival couldn't have been better planned. Alternating between songs of startling quality and sets of traditional tunes, the band won over the audience with ease.
Songs about immigration ("The Green and the Blue", "The Immigrant"), forgiveness ("I'm Going To Set You Free") and love ("My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose") were beautifully delivered by either Alan or Sean, whilst Alasdair and Mike contributed their most fitting accompaniments. The audience took over the singing during "Nancy Whisky", which was a fitting way to bring the 2008 Wath Festival concerts to an end.
I bumped into Ray Hearne towards the end of the set and we shared a moment of reflection. As the room swayed to the last refrain of "Nancy Whisky", we considered how much had been squeezed into such a short space of time. Was it really only just two nights ago that he kicked this thing off? Amazingly enough...
Allan Wilkinson