“Sorry about this,” began Cara Dillon, with a sheepish apology for her whistle-playing skills.
But while she might not consider herself a virtuoso, Dillon played and sang beautifully, accompanied throughout on guitar and piano by her husband Sam Lakeman.
The simple, stripped-back approach allowed the songs space to breathe and Dillon and Lakeman shone. Lakeman is a thoroughly impressive guitarist in particular, with a textured, rhythmic style, and Dillon’s voice, richly flavoured with her Derry brogue, is sensitive and sweet.
Together they played a range of mostly traditional songs, including a few about “dodgy men”, as Dillon put it.
The duo interspersed the songs with entertaining tales of their past year, which made for a warm, cheerful atmosphere.
Dillon surprised with a number taken from Disney’s Tinker Bell And The Great Fairy Rescue, for which she was also narrator.
Sweet but not saccharine, it suited her perfectly.
Unusually, audience participation was encouraged on the sadder songs.
Tommy Sands’ There Were Roses – about sectarian violence in Northern Ireland – was particularly poignant given events in Belfast and finale The Parting Glass felt especially apt in the week the folk community lost influential singer Mike Waterson.
A lovely show – with no apologies necessary.
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