Nick Hart Sings Nine English Folk Songs

With a Ronseal matter-of-factness, this second album from Cambridgeshire folk singer Nick Hart does exactly what it says on the tin. He's a folk music purist who has trawled the recordings made by collectors throughout the 20th century not only for these songs, but more importantly, for the way they were performed. There's something of a bygone era to it all, especially in such innocent little japes as the implied rhyming of ‘The Molecatcher’ – ‘while this young chap's in the midst of his frolics, the molecatcher caught him right square by the shoulder.’

Hart's rough, unrefined voice sounds straight out of a field recording from some sawdust-strewn public house. It's almost a time capsule voice, evidence of many years poring over the archives. His liner notes emphasise that these songs would traditionally have been sung unaccompanied. As such, he is at pains to avoid muddying nuances of mode and meter with too much instrumentation.

His guitar style is spare and plucked. His whole delivery harks not only to the venerable old man of English folk, Martin Carthy, but also to the rough-hewn manner of another south-east English folk singer, Chris Wood. Tim Moore, who produced the album, brings a mournful viola to several tracks, while Dominie Hooper joins Hart with harmony vocals.