Sunday

I'd recently played a track or two from "Have You Met Lera Lynn?" on my radio show and was really looking forward to seeing her live. It was a bit of a shame that her only appearance was in the Club Tent, but it was decidedly better than not seeing her at all.

Lera Lynn is often described as sultry, but it doesn't really do her sound justice, there is a lot more to her voice and music than simple seduction, though she does that very well. As with Anais Mitchell earlier, she's joined by a second guitarist to give the sound a deeper more rounded feel.

She's got herself a very good audience up here in the Club Tent and they are very well rewarded for the effort as Lera Lynn treats us to some excellent country and alt.country, I can't quite resist the temptation to describe her as the Austin Nightingale as partial tribute to a similarly named singer, though this nightingale sounds like it's been raised on a diet of bourbon and apple pie.

I really enjoyed the part of her set that I saw and really hope to see her over here again very soon. Who knows, with extensive touring she really could fit into the Gretchen Peters type mould and even find herself being described as Canadian. Lera Lynn is definitely an artist oozing potential. I'd stay for more, but this is only leg two of the whirlwind blitz. I leave the Club Tent for the final time and head off to Stage Two and Nic Jones.

It turns out to be one of the best decisions I've made during the festival. I don't regret one minute of the time I spent with Lera Lynn, but what is going on on Stage Two is something very special indeed.

Nic's career was cut tragically short by a car accident, back in '82 not long after he recorded his seminal folk album "Penguin's Eggs" Back then I was more into new wave and punk and was just at the edge of developing my acoustic and folk leanings, a move that was hastened by buying aforementioned album after his accident, just to see what the fuss was about.

This was Nic's frst festival appearance since that time. He was joined on stage by his son Joseph and Belinda O'Hooley on piano. I arrive way too late to be able to see anything, but he sounds excellent. Whilst his voice may not be the best in the world, in a classical sense, there is a tonal quality to it that makes it such a great voice for his songs about the everyday.

There are thousands of people here, willing him to have a great gig, willing him to make the intervening thirty years vanish and he makes it happen. As we stand around and sing along to "Little Pot Stove" there's more than a few people that you can see welling up. This was one of those very, very special moments that you have to be there for.

The next choice is that little bit easier, Kan or Joan Armatrading. I'm definitely in the mood for a bit of blues, so it's back off to Stage One and the multi-award winning Ms Armatrading.

Joan comes on stage with a beaming smile across her face that indicates that she is really out to enjoy herself. She's got one of those little radio mics on which indicates that she's intending to use the stage a lot and needless to say she does.

She's also a lot more into audience participation than I thought she would be, last time she played Cambridge, I thought she was a little staid, no such allegation of that can be levelled at this performance.

Joan Armatrading has dabbled in a number of genres across her twenty album career, but it's been built on a staple of blues and that was pretty much the case for this set. At one point she even unhooked her guitar so she could do her hand and arm gestures for "All The Way From America", to have thousands in the audience waving back.

It was so much more like she got Cambridge this time around and her beaming smile totally lit up the stage and the tent. This was Joan Armatrading at her relaxed best and that brought a great fluidity to the set, it had stopped raining and all was right with the world.

Cambridge as a festival does not save the headline act, traditionally they are the penultimate act, something that helps with numbers leaving the site at the same time. The two bands closing the bigger stages are Ruthie Foster and the Ross Ainsley & Jarleth Henderson Band. Having already seen Ruthie, I thought it would be great to end the festival in fully fledged folk mode, particularly with a band lead by two master pipers.

When not in full band mode, both Ross and Jarleth lead their own trios, both of which play traditional folk music with a highly contemporary twang. They also bring together the music of Ireland and Scotland and fuse it into a sound that is distinctively their own.

This was a powerhouse of Celtic music driving the festival towards its ultimate conclusion. Whistles and pipes to the fore supported by strings and percussion, this was a real hottenany of an ending as it brought a great festival to end.

Whilst, for me there were less, must be there moments this year, part of that was because of the height of so many of the performances, it's more difficult to stand out as being the best when there is so much that is excellent around you.

Inevitably there were people that I missed, both on stage and within those here, but that's the nature of multi-stage festivals, I saw all I wanted and a little bit more so I'm more than content.

Words & Pictures Neil King