Oh, we're going to Cambridge... folk, that is

Thanks to the heroic efforts of friend and gig-goer par excellence, Jim, I have got a ticket to the Cambridge Folk Festival this year. Glastonbury has the year off, but I am just as excited by the prospect of Cambridge, albeit in a different way.


I am glad that I won't have frittered my life away without seeing Emmylou Harris live. Other acts by whom I own recordings (and will therefore anticipate with some certainty) include The Chieftains, Richard Thompson, Capercaillie, Nickel Creek, Cara Dillon, Tift Merritt & The Broken Family Band.

Others have been heavily touted by various friends: Amadou & Mariam (world), Mozaik (Donal Lunny!), Bettye LaVette (soul, fer goodness sake), and a trio of singer/songwriters: Seth Lakeman, Teddy Thompson & Tom Russell. The latter's album Hotwalker - Charles Bukowski and a Ballad for Gone America is a recent favorite of a renowned professional musician of my acquaintance, who was so moved by its prowess that he wrote a fan letter.

And, inevitably, there will be a band who is not listed here, who I probably have never heard of, who will steal the show.