Various Artist
Album: Sing Me The Songs: Celebrating The Works Of Kate McGarrigle
Label: Nonesuch
Tracks: 34
Website: http://www.nonesuch.com

Beloved singer Kate McGarrigle, younger sister of Anna and mother of Rufus and Martha Wainwright, died tragically of sarcoma (a rare form of cancer) in the first month of 2010. The prospect of a celebration-cum-tribute album for this utterly irreplaceable lady engenders mixed feelings, but this is something quite special and different, for it has the extra ring of closest authenticity, being a live set recorded during a series of in-memoriam concerts featuring Kate's family members and assorted musician friends.

Clearly, these concerts were chokingly intense occasions, and a good number of the performances immediately bring the tears welling up. Perhaps no more so than on the final item of disc one, a recording of Kate herself singing Proserpina at what I believe was her own final appearance on stage. Other heartbreakingly touching moments include Martha Wainwright's achingly tender interpretation of Matapedia, Antony's show-stoppingly intense rendition of Go Leave, and - inevitably - Heart Like A Wheel, here with Anna sharing the load with Emmylou Harris. Also, to hear Rufus singing the song Kate wrote about him, First Born, in tandem with Martha, makes for another immensely powerful and cherishable experience.

The vast majority of the songs associated with Kate are included on this set (aside perhaps for Goin' Back To Harlan); Norah Jones gives a fine account of (Talk To Me Of) Mendocino, Jenni Muldaur (whose mother Maria first covered The Work Song in '73) does a great job on Come Back Baby, Emmylou naturally includes Darlin' Kate and duets with Norah on As Fast As My Feet Can Carry Me. Anna's revisit of Jacques Et Gilles is equally charming, and Martha demonstrates the influence of her mother's legacy on All The Way To San Francisco. Some listeners may find Rufus' distinctive vocal style a tad mannered and torchy for the material, but he doesn't let the side down with his emotive renditions of Southern Boys and Oliver, and he captures the right mood for I Eat Dinner, performed as a duet with Emmylou, and I Am A Diamond (a duet with Martha). Go Leave turns up in a second version: a completely different reading to Antony's but still an almost unbearably emotional affair, which unexpectedly brings back together on stage Richard & Linda Thompson (guitar and vocal respectively), while Tell My Sister is given two contrasted readings, by Martha W and guest Peggy Seeger (with piano) respectively. Fittingly, the second disc closes with the second of Kate's performances, a home demo of I Just Want To Make It Last, which might be termed Kate's Meaning Of Life moment.

No matter that some of the ensemble items like Kiss And Say Goodbye are a touch ramshackly upholstered, nay shambolic even, but this conveys something of the spirit of the McGarrigle family concerts after all and will be judged a part of the appeal of such occasions. This is a set you can love over and over, too. Net profits from its sale will be donated to the Kate McGarrigle Foundation (a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising money in the fight against sarcoma and also to preserving her legacy through the arts).

David Kidman