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Purbeck Folk Festival

Venue: Wilkswood Farm
Town: Langton Matravers
Website: http://www.purbeckfolk.co.uk

We first attended Purbeck Folk Festival last year and found an absolutely delightful farm based festival in the South of Dorset. As well as providing great venues with good sound, the farm setting ensured a great range of food and the addition of a top bar ensured top gastronomy for the weekend. Musically the balance of local acts with those sourced from further afield seemed second to none.

Saturday Sunday Gallery Yes we know it started on Friday, we just couldn't get there

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Sunday

Sunday started with a cobweb clearing sing around in the Duck Shed with "Power To The People - Protest And Union Songs". I think I managed to hide my voice in the good voices around me well enough and also to remind myself why I hadn't sung in public since the Great British Folk Festival of 2011.

Two artists that definitely can sing are Dorset duo, Ninebarrow, who are not only named after part of the Dorset landscape, but who are also influenced by the British landscape and its history generally. They open up the Long Barn on the Sunday afternoon and draw in a really big crowd that continues to swell during their set. They are definitely a duo that should be going places, the songs, simply performed with real tight harmonies, every bit as god as full blood harmonies, and a content that makes you appreciate what inspirations there are around a lot of corners. Check them out and if you read this before November 1st you can do so for free on the current Fatea Showcase.

It's another duo, Miranda Sykes and Rex Preston that step up to the mics next, with Miranda making a return visit later in the day as part of Show Of Hands. With the exception of the North East's Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra there's a good run of local artists coming up next. I say local, but both Emily Maguire and Andrea Solar are Australian based, but both have good Dorset credentials.

Catherine Burke starts the run, but I think she'll be the first to admit that her voice was pretty much shot. She played a couple of songs to fulfil a promise before handing over some of the vocal duties. She's followed onto the Fire Stage by one of the youngest acts of the weekend, teenager Aimee MacKenzie, whose performance last year managed to transfix no less an artist than KT Tunstall, this year Aimee was joined by her younger sister of fiddle and even young brother on cajon a really great family performance that could put more established names to shame.

To the Long Barn once again for aforementioned Emily Maguire who really does have a knack for delivering thought provoking songs, even when she's delivering them in an up-tempo style. A beaming smile indicates that she's really enjoying being back in Dorset and the smile from the audience says glad you're here.

Emily overlaps with Andrea in the High Barn so by the time I get there her set is in full flight. All the smiles seem to have travelled across the relatively short distance as they appear to be a feature here as well. Not only that, but Andrea also seems to have got a sizeable chunk of the audience up and dancing. I briefly consider joining them, but having already sung today, I chose not to push personal humiliation too far. It's a great set and Andrea seems to feel genuinely at home both on stage and back in Dorset.

Fran Milner is next in my string of local acts. She's playing a set in the Duck Shed, including a number of tracks from her recently released new album, that features a number of luminaries from the local scene, a number of whom are here for her solo performance, though she does manage to persuade Dorset gob-iron specialist Si Genaro on stage to join her for a couple of numbers.

The local connection doesn't stop there. Krista Green and her band are next, this time back in the High Barn. Last time I Saw Krista, she was performing solo, but she's put a quartet together and developed songs for that bigger sound and a cracking job she's made of it too. It really does say something for the local Dorset scene that it is able to sustain such an array of talent, with Victor Chetcuti still to come, it's just a shame the area is off the music radar for more national stations and coverage.

By comparisons, Brighton's Hatful Of Rain appeared to be long travelled, musically they were a little further afield too, bring with them old style bluegrass and mountain music performed in the half circle around a single microphone. They've been steadily increasing their fan base and on this performance it's easy to see why. They have a real dynamic to their sound, one that really picks up on the nuances of the music, but without feeling the need to fake the accents, so there is a more English touch that under pins what they are doing.

I leave Hatful Of Rain early to catch one of my favourite Dorset singer-songwriter's Victor Chetcuti, who I first encountered when he was busking. Maybe it was something he learnt through his busking, but he's an artist that gets your attention very quickly and holds it. He's joined on stage by fellow singer-songwriter Bob Burke and the two of them deliver a relaxed set that has a real repartee. I've never seen either artist perform without feeling a love for what they do transfer to the audience through voice and string and today was no exception.

There is a feeling of rain in the air and just at the start of Jo Bywater's set at the outdoor fire stage it comes down, very quickly clearing the natural amphitheatre of the hill. Jo seems to take the whole thing very much in her stride and her blues driven songs continue to reach out to those huddled in the small bar tent. The thing I like about Jo Bywater is that you never really know what you're going to get with her sets, she seems to make up her mind as she goes along. The shower is brief and soon the hill has been retaken as though nothing has happened. Jo has got a new EP and gave a couple of tracks an outing. Definitely worth getting hold off.

I'd seen Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker yesterday performing with Mark Harrison and they are a duo that I try to see every opportunity that I get. In Josienne they have a vocalist who recaptures that feeling of the folk greats, Sandy Denny and Annie Briggs amongst others and with Ben being one of the country's top acoustic guitarists, they are a duo blessed in talent. A lot of the material is dark, but the self effacing between song banter ensures that the sets don't feel maudlin or wallow in pity. They are a duo on the verge of a breakthrough that is not only deserved, but one that is well overdue.

And for me, that just left Show Of Hands, arguably contemporary English folk music's finest performers. You don't need me to tell you about the songwriting and performing strength from within this unit. They are one of the few acts that seem to be able to take political songs to a wider audience. Songs of social justice, combining with personal songs and the odd reach into folk's rich tapestry, now there's a way to end a festival. Once again, Purbeck, you were great.