Yonder Green Grove

The four women who make up The Norfolk Broads first met in the alto section of the Trad Academy Sea Shanty Choir, but the quartet’s repertoire extends far beyond the sea shanty revival. In fact, this second album from Eleanor Dale, Daisy Johnson, Anna Cornish and Helen Cherry is as laudable for its eclectic, carefully chosen and well-balanced selection of songs as it is for the delightful blend of the voices.

Yonder Green Grove opens with the jauntily infectious ‘Fennario’, one of four tracks featuring the tasteful accompaniment of East Anglian musicians Tom Moore and Nick Hart. But, for the most part, The Norfolk Broads showcase their skills as an a cappella quartet. Amid the fine old ballads and laments, the group are not afraid to have some fun with the likes of ‘Dingle Puck Goat’ (an Irish tall tale from 1870 that pre-dates the better-known caprine caper about Paddy McGinty’s goat). In contrast, there’s the beautiful 18th-century Scots Gaelic song ‘Fear a Bhata’. Yonder Green Grove is an impressively varied album, skilfully sung.