Robert Plant is clearly enjoying himself. He may be a rock god, but he’s also a music fan with impressively eclectic taste. Twenty-four years ago he was on this same stage at the Cambridge folk festival with Priory of Brion, reviving 1960s favourites by Them and Love. He has worked with four bands and Alison Krauss since then; tonight he “presents” his new-ish five-piece, Saving Grace, who started in low-key fashion five years ago supporting Fairport Convention, but here give a masterclass in how to revive and rework country, folk, rock and blues.
Dressed in black, Plant trades vocals with Suzi Dian while adding occasional harmonica and bass guitar. First comes the brooding and bluesy Win My Train Fare Home, which he originally recorded at the Festival in the Desert with English guitarist Justin Adams. Next up is a charming rendition of traditional The Cuckoo, backed by banjo, and then a pounding revival of Led Zeppelin’s Friends, with Dian adding accordion. Later come tributes to Los Lobos and Bert Jansch, and a rousing a cappella finale of the traditional Incredible String Band favourite Bid You Goodnight. It’s a thrilling, compelling performance.
Elsewhere at the folk festival, many of the finest sets are the work of female American singer-songwriters. Leyla McCalla, a former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, switches between electric guitar, banjo and cello while mixing personal and political songs with reminders of her Haitian heritage. Lizzie No, on harp and guitar, weds gospel-edged political anger to a glorious upbeat weepie in The Heartbreak Store. And then there is Peggy Seeger, now 89 and as funny, feisty and angry as ever, playing piano, banjo and guitar, backed by her sons Neill and Calum MacColl and daughter-in-law Kate St John. No one can sing The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face like the woman for whom it was written.
From the UK, there are also strong sets by Scottish veterans Capercaillie and English folk-rockers Oysterband. And thankfully the folk festival features new experimental traditional music thanks to the Hack-Poets Guild, as Marry Waterson, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann rework bleak stories from ancient broadsides with edgy and original three-part harmonies and backing dominated by fiddle and bass guitar.
It was unfortunate if perhaps predictable that they don’t get the audience they deserve on the second stage, while the vast majority of the Cambridge crowd cheered on the Celtic and US country musicians of the main event, Transatlantic Sessions. It’s an impressive weekend, though it should concern the English folk scene that English traditional music had so little representation at our best-known folk festival.
