Thursday

Choice three is the most difficult of the festival so far and possibly the most difficult of the festival full stop. Folk Award winning duo, Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker, together with string section, power folkers Mawkin and country/Americana singer-songwriter Callaghan, an artist from over here who's doing awfully well over there.

Two acts are doable if you're prepared to take short sets from both of them, but three is a stretch too far. Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker, released their chamber folk album "Nothing Can Bring Back The Hour" last year to great acclaim, building on years of talented hard graft that had seen them becoming favourites of the independent folk radio scene, as well as must sees on the club circuit.

Josienne has one of most distinctive voices on the folk circuit at the moment and one that really does carry emotion well. With a lot of their music being on the darker side, black really is the new black, their music really does have a major impact on your psyche, highly enjoyable, but not something that will contribute to a restful night's sleep if you take it too much to heart, great stuff.

Josienne and Ben will be playing the Club Tent later in the festival, so with some reluctance I leave their set to catch the second half of Mawkin.

Things are really pumping at the Club Tent with the Delarre brothers and friends, including Saul Rose guesting on melodeon really ripping it up. It provides a real counterpoint to that darker aspect of folk music that preceded it. It's one of the things I really like about Cambridge, the consideration given to the order and balance, not only of individual stages, but across the whole festival.

There's a lot of audience participation in Mawkin's set. Choruses are kept simple, making it easy to join in, especially when there's safety in numbers. The singalong moments do nothing to detract from the excellent performance of the band and Cambridge 15 is already starting to feel like a special one.

Timing makes my next musical choices very easy, start off with Katzenjammer and then make my first journey to the Den to catch duo Lewis & Leigh, who are one of the acts at the festival appearing on the newly launched Fatea Showcase Session, "Undercurrent".

When Norwegian combo, Katzenjammer, first appeared at Cambridge Folk Festival a few years back, they were a largely unknown quantity who pretty much blew the roof off Stage Two and became an unexpected favourite set for many festival goers, subsequently selling out their entire cd supply, this year it's absolutely packed from the opening note of their set.

The quartet come on in a very theatrical style, dark background, plenty of smoke, you know you're in for a show and Katzenjammer are not going to disappoint. With all of the girls being multi instrumentalists, it's a job in itself keeping up with who is playing what, including the rarely seen bass balalaika.

The set is impressive, a real sense of power verging on madness mixed in with a big smile and a massive dose of extravert. Katzenjammer are a festival band par excellence they night is just getting better and better.

Lewis and Leigh round off the evening as far as the music is concerned and sees my first visit to the Den. They are starting later than the other stages which gives me a chance to see more Katzenjammer than I otherwise would.

I'm really looking forward to Lewis And Leigh, they have found a nice blend of contemporary and traditional folk with a healthy dollop of country for good measure.

They also have a real dynamic about them, bouncing lead vocals and instrumentation between them occasionally passing through some glorious harmonies.

It's slightly more relaxed than the franticism of Klatzenjammer, a great way to chill out and complete a wonderful first day.

I say complete, the bar is still open and there's friends to be caught up with and first day's festival experience.

Friday