In these difficult times THE UNTHANKS have drawn in a lot of people to hear the old songs of England with a renewed enthusiasm. A quiet sort of bruised pride has surfaced. For some they bring previously unknown ghosts into new life: for others, it's a bitter-sweet re-acquaintance with very old friends. The emotional depth of a genuine oral tradition has reasserted itself in their beguiling voices and carefully plain settings, just as I remember an earlier reawakening in Shirley and Dolly Collins' recordings of 1969.
Folk song has never been away of course, nor has its refreshment with new pieces. Over time, we just stop noticing, or we forget to listen. We feel too shy to sing and the magic fades. Novelty distracts us away from the strongest roots. But just like the singer Kate Lee, addressing the newly formed English Folk Song Society in the first issue of its Journal in 1899, we eventually find ourselves thinking back to the first folk songs we heard, discovering new meaning in them and arousing stronger memories of hearing them.
THE UNTHANKS take care, in presenting their songs, to introduce them as friends and to respect them accordingly. Each one has a story of its own to tell but there is also the story of how Rachel and Becky come to be singing it. From Ewan MacColl's shivering paean to womanhood "Nobody Knew She Was There" (learned from their Auntie Jean) to the magnificent traditional song "Annachie Gordon" (as sung by Nic Jones) there is added poignancy and significance in where the sisters first met these songs. As Rachel rises to the final line of husband Adrian McNally's "Lucky Gilchrist" she falters and turns away for memory of the friend celebrated in the song, the friend who died just a year ago.
The sixteen songs in this tour's programme were accompanied by a band of eight musicians in addition to Rachel and Becky. Adrian McNally and Chris Price are the core, with additional players on violin, viola, cello, trombone, and flugelhorn, adding vocals or other instruments when needed. For one song the eight became ten, as support act Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell joined in. A string quartet accompaniment for Lal Waterson's "At First She Starts" was an outstanding setting for a very fine song. The larger band was, in general, a source of great fun, variety and musical pleasures. Just now and then the sheer scale of the backdrop meant that lyrics were lost in the sound patterns and a line or two we had to make do with the beautifully plaintive sounds of THE UNTHANKS voices. Not much of a loss, then.
Among the many highlights was an unaccompanied, unmic'd, barely lit "In The Bleak Mid Winter" (everyone's favourite carol). The Howard Assembly Room, beautifully restored with generous, well-balanced acoustics was just the place to do it. The pinnacle of this programme, "The Testimony of Patience Kershaw" has become THE UNTHANKS' own. The arrangement, their recording on the recent album and the performance here tonight are among the highest achievements of English folk music in recent years. The inquiry report (recovered from 1842 by Frank Higgins) distils all that I admire in THE UNTHANKS' work to date.
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Without ever striking any political poses, Rachel and Becky give voice to, and embody, the strength, dignity and suffering of women in English society over many generations. The ideas and the emotions can be heard in many of their songs tonight. They emerge, for example, in the fond complicity of Johnny Handley's "Guard Your Man Weel", and in the boisterous humour of "Betsy Bell". This song, as part of the encore, included a sparks-flying exhibition of Rachel's marvellous clog dancing.
Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell who had performed six songs to start the evening were a perfect choice for such an evening. Their very quiet, delicately spun-out tunes drew the audience in to close attention and appreciation, Opening with a song from the singing of SHIRLEY COLLINS was a wise move. The quirky romances and dreams of young love that followed were heard with not so much as whisper or chair creak to break the spell. Only the gentle arrival of some UNTHANKS to help out on Kearney's "Song For A Sweetheart" forayed beyond 3 on the volume control. While Kearney teased out beautiful songs from a diffidence bordering on the treatable, Lucy Farrell added strength and beauty in rich violin and a fine clear voice. There was a delicately dry humour in their relationship: "He seems to be writing songs based on television advertisements" observes Lucy, as Jonny feels his way into his hymn to uncertainty, "Letters to Lenore". The audience were entranced.
www.rachelunthank.com
www.myspace.com/jonnykearneyandlucyfarrell
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