Peter Delaney, C Joynes + Sharron Kraus

This was another 'Twilight Folk' event organised by Jason from Canterbury Wholefoods.

I arrived just in time for the start of Peter Delaney's set. He's from Limerick, a shy but compelling performer, who plays ukelele (a couple of different sized ones) and sings with the same sort of Irish soulfullness as Rónán Ó Snodaigh from Kíla. I'd heard a few of his songs that afternoon via his MySpace profile, and on a second hearing they seemed incredibly familiar. "My Eyes Are Blessed" and "O Great Father Ocean" (with which he closed his set) were particularly wonderful. And the audience was wonderfully attentive. We also got a cover of Paul Robeson's "Lonesome Road". I had a little chat with him while Chris Joynes was setting up - he also plays electric guitar in an experimental rock trio in Limerick called Red Eskimo, but that's on the shelf for the moment as he's moved to London to pursue the solo thing.

C(hris) Joynes played a set of entirely instrumental guitar pieces, most enjoyable. Some old ragtime influences in there, and a lot more besides. One West African inspired piece (he lived in The Gambia for a while and travelled into Mali, I later found out from him) involved sticking a wooden rod under the strings of his guitar to create an mbira-style buzzing.

Unlike her previous visit to Canterbury, Sharron Kraus played (I think) a set of all originals. It was accompanied by acoustic guitar, and Appalachian dulcimer on two pieces (no banjo this time). Lovely, delicate stuff. And, unlike last time, the whole audience listened respectfully, I'm glad to report.

On the way out, I ran into Joel (who'd been doing the sound) and Liam from Syd Arthur who were having a smoke out on the pavement, had a chat about their current studio adventures. They've got their own studio setup up in London somewhere, and have recently acquired a reel-to-reel tape machine, so they're experimenting with recording in analog to properly capture their sound (sounds like a good idea to me). I'm really looking forward to hearing what they'll come out with.