Saturday
Confession time, somehow Tommy Emmanuel has managed to pass me by, at the time of his performance pretty much the only things that I knew about him was what was written in the programme. Well having seen him, to say he's a man that knows his way around the fret board is a little bit like saying Patrick Moore knew a star or two.
Tommy Emmanuel has over fifty years of guitar playing experience as well as a couple of Grammy nominations, watching the way he uses both hands to get notes out of his acoustic guitar, it's easy to wonder where his style came from, one thing I do notice is that the hole behind the strings has been filled in, I'm guessing that's got something to do with the beatings he gives it.
It's back up to the Club Tent next for another acoustic guitarist, singer-songwriter and one I'm a bit surprised to be playing a Showcase, rather than having been booked for a mainstream slot, Ewan McLennan. On the way over there I get that sense of rain in the air. Boo Hewerdine and Brooks Williams, the duo that comprise State Of The Union are just finishing. By the time they're off stage stage it's started spitting, proper rain before Ewan goes on.
In some ways Ewan McLennan is an old school folk artist, very much in troubadour tradition, one man and a sense of have guitar, will travel. His songs reflect a love of both history and journeys. He's an artist that speaks and sings his mind, particularly when he encounters injustice.
He carries his guitar high on the, at times you almost feel that it's something to hide behind, to feel himself being less exposed, regardless he arranges really well for guitar and voice. He's got a sense of humour and knows the audience well, a joke about his song "Whistling The Esperanza" about the trapped miners, not having any deaths in addition to a happy ending, being outside the tradition.
If a song demands it, he's more than comfortable singing unaccompanied. What I really like about him though is his use of language in a song, even when relating to older events, the songs have a turn of phrase that lets you know that here is a singer-songwriter of the here and now, influenced by past troubadours, yes, but definitely his own man, a man with songs to give 'the tradition'. I've always been impressed by Ewan as a performer and tonight is no exception.
It's a damp dash back towards Stage 1 for another Scottish artist, KT Tunstall next, with the rain definitely coming down and people starting to huddle under the various tents and marquees to try and find bits of cover.
One of my most abiding memories of Cambridge Folk Festival over the years was the beaming smile on KT Tunstall's face throughout her set during her 2005, which was coincidently the last time she played Cambridge.
There's something slightly more serious in her on stage presence this year, you can tell she's out to have fun and that she wants to take the audience with her, but she's also an artist that has more life experience behind her and her songs are a little bit darker than they once were.
It doesn't detract from her use of the stage and during the course of her set she uses a god sized chunk of it. KT Tunstall is an artist that needs to put on a show, because she knows that it's her job to entertain, a job she does well. There are songs to be listened to as well as songs to nod and clap along to, it's a great set and it's only when you go to leave that you realise it's still raining.
There's a twenty five minute change over time between KT Tunstall and Stage 1 headliners, The Mavericks, with the raining coming down hard and the odd crack of thunder in the sky and a bar so close, well, it would be rude not to :-).
Raul Malo, technically played a solo set here back in 2011 and brought the proverbial roof down, this year he returns with the reformed Mavericks as well as a number of the musicians he shared the stage with on his debut. With no hint of irony pretty much as soon as the band partly known for the song, "Here Comes The Rain Again" take to the stage, it stops.
The Mavericks blend of Tex-Max and Latino rock just feel like an absolutely great way to end the day, you know the songs, even if you can't believe how old most of them are now, and the mood is definitely party. Forget the world outside, forget the risk that it might start raining again, this was a time to let it all go and simply have a good time.
That's the great thing about Cambridge you do get so much variety now where's the end of that conga line that's just gone past?