Hearing the songs of the late Lal Waterson for the first time is like discovering a beautiful island where the inhabitants are recognisably human, only not quite the same as us. Earthy, mysterious, poetic, bleakly witty and subtly erotic, they are so original that they take some getting used to. But this tribute concert is proof that they will endure.
At first, the mood is too formal. Rising star Tim van Eyken performs So Strange is Man with fellow young(ish) Turks James Yorkston and Alasdair Roberts. But though it's a strong performance, it doesn't inspire overwhelming feeling - this is music that is about going beyond proficiency, after all.
Slowly, however, the spirit of Lal fills the room. Her daughter, Marry Gilhooley, brings to life Fine Horseman; it helps that not only does she look like her mother, she sounds just like her, too. Martin Carthy reminds us of Lal's dark sense of humour with Winifer Odd, the tale of a woman whose degree got lost in the post, who fell in love with a boy that stayed "fat and small", and who ended up being run over by a cow. It is poetry at its most British.
After the interval, the performances are magical. Roberts gives a pure rendition of The Bird, a paean to loneliness, and Lal's brother Mike Waterson - introduced by Eliza Carthy as "the family troublemaker" and now looking like a mischievous Yorkshire pensioner - performs One of Those Days with young Londoner Lisa Knapp, reminding us of the ageless quality of these songs.
But most powerful of all are Norma Waterson and her husband, Martin Carthy, on Red Wine Promises, the story of a defiant drunk that has become something of a standard. Norma follows it with Song For Thirza, which is about the deaf woman who raised the Watersons. By the end of it, half the audience is in tears.
