Now this is an example
of a sincere and unpretentious CD production by local performers with something to say and a
solid technique with which to say it, good taste in choosing songs to cover and displaying
a goodly measure of talent in their own compositions. In this case, "local" currently means
Leicester, where Pete and Sheila are now based, although Pete's background was in traditional
singing in the north-east and Sheila's was on the contemporary folk scene in Hastings. The
duo's own insert note fairly proclaims: "we'd like to think the result isn't a compromise, but
more of a cross-cultural
exchange". The most familiar material here is Blackwaterside and Dougie MacLean's Ready For
The Storm, while Sheila and Pete also turn in extremely creditable versions of Lal Waterson's
cryptic Fine Horseman and the elegiac Davy Steele/John McCusker composition Last Trip Home.
Barrie Temple's Jacky Frost and Anna McGarrigle's Heart Like A Wheel prove inspired and well
contrasted choices to open the CD, while Sarah Morgan's Keep You In Peace makes a fitting
closer. In between, there are two songs by Miggy Campbell (the intriguing Sussex being
particularly strong, I feel, and a real discovery), and two each by Pete and Sheila
themselves; I specially liked Sheila's Long Distance Loving, but all four of their songs
display a keen sense of folk tradition and sensibility. Sheila and Pete provide their own
limited degree of accompaniment, on guitar and concertina/mandocello respectively, though
a handful of tracks are sung unaccompanied, demonstrating a sensible and plausible approach
to harmony (a creative collaboration, rather than the jarring conflict implied by the CD's
title). The couple's thoughtful approach and intrinsic integrity is in evidence throughout
this attractive CD, which I enjoyed a lot.