Sunday

Sunday morning arrived with the now familiar mixture of sun and showers as I made my way around to the Club Tent. There was a noticeable absence of the traditional mountain of plastic beakers due to Cambridge's endeavours to reduce their carbon footprint. Festival punters now have to pay a £2 deposit for each glass which can either be returned for refunding or taken home as a festival souvenir. 

Eric Bibb's blues guitar workshop in the Club Tent once again saw many an unopened guitar case as musicians filtered in to collect handy tips on anything from blues scales, tunings, string gauges, picks and pickups to the best Australian Akubra hats and nail manicure parlours. The sound of the rain belting down on the Club Tent roof only added to the bluesy atmosphere created by a master of modern blues.  

Securing herself a main stage spot after winning over the festival in the Club Tent last year, Lisa Knapp's reputation as a leading interpreter of traditional song has grown from strength to strength. Her ethereal presence and instantly recognisable voice was very much suited to this, the opening Sunday afternoon Main Stage spot. Accompanying herself on either fiddle or autoharp and surrounding herself with four fine musicians sensitive to her unique sound, Lisa played songs from her startling debut album 'Wild and Undaunted' whilst being quite literally undaunted by her surroundings.  

First time at the festival for County Antrim based quintet Beoga, which is incidentally the Irish word for 'lively'. True to their name, the band won the hearts of the Main Stage audience with a feast of Irish jigs, reels and jokes. Their enthusiasm was infectious and their playing was tight. All Ireland bodhran champion Eamon Murray's solo towards the end of the set probably justified why he has been champion no less than four times already.  

Tim O'Brien was certainly one of the busiest musicians at this year's festival popping up all over the place, either on his own or in collaboration with other musicians. No stranger to Cambridge, the West Virginian multi-instrumentalist opened his set with "Where's Love Come From" which appears on his latest album 'Chameleon', an album he refers to as a 'song writer's album.' Joined by John McCusker on fiddle and Altan's Dermot Byrne on accordion, Tim O'Brien brought a taste of pure Americana to Cambridge once again.  

Tim O'Brien hot-footed it over to the Club Tent to appear with Heidi Talbot in her much anticipated showcase set, which also featured guest appearances by John McCusker and Boo Hewerdine, all involved in the production of Heidi's superb 'In Love and Light' album. All eight songs that made up the set were from that album including Tim's "Music Tree", Tom Waits' brilliant "Time" and "The Blackest Crow" with Tim O'Brien replacing Kris Drever who appeared on the recorded version.

The Cherish the Ladies singer told her audience that this was in fact her very first time at the festival to which I leaned over to the little chap next to me and whispered into his ear 'Well I don't reckon it'll be her last.' I didn't get a reply, but I'm sure the familiar bespectacled little chap will be gushing about the performance on his folk show on Wednesday night - and rightly so.

Also showcasing her considerable talents in the Club Tent as the dusk fell upon Cambridge for another day and another year, Ruth Notman's infectious personality and unique voice filled the room. Judy Collins was on the Main Stage reminding us of the voice that introduced a great many people to the likes of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Sandy Denny before they had a chance to do so themselves, and the delightfully quirky Devon Sproule was strutting her stuff on the Radio 2 Stage, bewildering and delighting her audience in equal measure, but I was content to be in a much smaller and more intimate space, where a young Nottinghamshire lass was busy proving to a large gathering (by Club Tent standards), that she too has a bright future. Her version of "Limbo" resonates around my head still, even after a few days of festival recuperation.

My most surreal moment of the entire festival was when I inadvertently found myself in the company of fRoots editor Ian Anderson and writer and author Colin Irwin in the wings as Seth Lakeman sang his little heart out on the Main Stage. It was almost like hiding your cheap Martin copy whilst in the company of Martin Simpson, as I quickly concealed my scrappy notebook within the safety of my bag and returned my pen to the top pocket of my shirt. A relative novice by comparison it has to be said. 

Words and Photographs by Allan Wilkinson for Northern Sky Reviews and FATEA.