Nic Jones et al
Album: The Enigma Of Nic Jones (DVD)
Label: Topic
Tracks: N/A
Website: http://www.nicjones.net

The story of iconic innovative fingerstyle guitarist, fiddler, singer and songwriter Nic Jones is well known: he's not exactly an enigma in that sense, then, or even in the alternative sense of his talent being misunderstood or misrepresented. For Nic's classic 1980 album Penguin Eggs was voted no. 79 in The Observer's 100 Best Records Of All Time poll, and Nic himself has become something of a cult figure-cum-legend. A tragic car accident in February 1982 on the way home from a gig left him in a coma with an almost literally completely broken body and severe neurological damage, from which state by means of his own overwhelming personal determination and the unstinting support of family and friends he managed eventually to make a miraculous recovery and - against all the odds - even a triumphant return to performing, albeit only vocally and on a very limited scale, for a handful of festival performances in summer 2012.

This DVD is a documentary of sorts, then, and a particularly heartwarming and highly emotional one, for all that it's directed (by Michael Proudfoot) with both a refreshing absence of sentimentality and a deep understanding of its subject, and straightforwardly narrated (by Cerys Matthews). But the film's neither a simple biographical or historical account, nor even a critical overview of Nic's talent, although it inevitably contains elements of these; instead it primarily concerns Nic's return to the public eye, which, given the almost complete absence of archive footage of Nic in action (there's just one lone studio segment), makes perfect sense. (I can doubly mourn that lack of vintage clips, by the way, since I missed out completely on Nic's pre-accident career, being too young for folk clubs and then out of the scene for a crucial period.) However, by way of compensation, Nic himself makes plenty of direct contributions to this new film, from several telling then-recent interview snippets where he modestly (if maybe slightly dismissively) discusses and reflects on aspects of his own style, technique and influence, through to tantalising excerpts from his initial comeback stage appearance (at Warwick Folk Festival) where he was accompanied by guitarist-son Joe Jones and pianist Belinda O'Hooley, two exemplary musicians who show themselves to be so much in tune with Nic (Joe's vocal rapport with his dad is particularly stunning).

The other main thrust of this film is the portrayal of Nic's personality by means of some sincerely felt and insightful soundbites from a whole host of Nic's fellow-musicians - usual and unusual suspects alike (viz. Martin Carthy, Ashley Hutchings, Jim Moray, Sam Carter, Anaïs Mitchell and Nic's former Halliard colleagues Nigel Paterson and Dave Moran); poet John Hegley also appears, as do wife Julia and daughter Helen and others including critics.

The DVD's hour-long main-feature is supplemented by close on half an hour's worth of valuable extra material in the form of seven bonus tracks. These comprise complete song performances: three by the above-mentioned Nic Jones Trio, two by the masterly Pete Coe (formerly with Nic in Bandoggs), and one apiece by Blair Dunlop and Eliza Carthy (the latter arguably replicating Nic's own rock-style sensibility in her seriously driven fiddle-steered take on 10,000 Miles).

Although as I said above the presentation style of this film is, thankfully, devoid of gushing sentiment (and inappropriate gimmickry and undue directorial intervention), it nevertheless manages to make an intensely moving impact on the viewer, however great or small his/her prior knowledge of Nic and his music.

David Kidman