Folk review: Sally Spring, Leith Folk Club

By SUE WILSON
Published on 07/06/2012 05:43

THERE was only one anniversary worth celebrating at the Victoria Park House Hotel – home to Leith Folk Club since the start of this year – on Tuesday night, namely the club’s eighth birthday.

And what a thoroughly enjoyable, beautifully apposite party it was, complete with complimentary drams and home-made clootie dumpling, and a line-up combining hand-picked local guests with the kind of connoisseur’s-choice Americana headliner that’s long been a Leith FC hallmark.

The cross-generational floor spots included a lovely, raw yet tender, unaccompanied rendition of Arthur Johnstone’s classic I’ll Lay Ye Down Love by founding secretary Allan Johnstone, and a hugely impressive three numbers from Roseanne Reid, whose country-inflected singing and songcraft displayed a talent and maturity awesomely beyond her years.

North Carolina-based singer and songwriter Sally Spring started out at a similar age to Reid, a few decades back on the US folk and progressive country scene, hanging out with the likes of Mama Cass, the Beach Boys, the Monkees and Peter Rowan, as well as gigging in LA at the Troubadour and in New York at the Bitter End of Folk City.

Her distinctive open-tuned guitar style and wine-dark, smooth yet earthy vocals, reminiscent at times of Mary Chapin Carpenter, were deftly complemented by her backing duo on lead guitar and acoustic bass, in a richly absorbing set that ranged from raw-boned blues to vividly lyrical balladry.

Rating: *****