Murmurs

Nancy Kerr just won Folk Singer of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Martin Simpson is no slouch either on that front, having previously won four times in various award categories; while melodeon player Andy Cutting has won Musician of the Year twice. Which suggests that when these three meet in a studio or stage, good things are probably in store. Murmurs confirms it – you’re going to look hard to find more consummate musicianship or commitment to their material than from these masters. Simpson's voice and guitar lead the opening track, ‘Dark Swift and Bright Swallow’, a typically downbeat, intimate performance. ‘Dark Honey’ is a beautiful mesh of all three instrumentalists, while Simpson takes the lead again on ‘Fair Rosumund’, a chilling tale of incestuous passion from the reign of the Plantagenets. Kerr sings lead voice on an unusual, pacy version of ‘The Cruel Mother’; Cutting's ‘Seven Years’ is an instrumental highlight; and Simpson is at his mournful, plaintive best on ‘The Plains of Waterloo’, inspired, he says, by June Tabor's version from 40 years ago. The closing ‘Some Old Salty’ is a classic by Lal Waterson: a brilliant and ebullient way to end this three-way musical summit.