Eliza Carthy and Norma Waterson: Gift | CD review

The daughter-and-mother team of Eliza Carthy and Norma Waterson have sung and recorded before, often with the family group Waterson:Carthy, but this is the first time that these award-winning pioneers of the folk revival have released an album together as a duo, and the result is both bravely straightforward and powerfully emotional. Produced by Carthy and her cousin Oliver Knight (who also adds the occasional cello, electric guitar or vocals), this is a freewheeling, varied set that also makes use of classy backing from the likes of Martin Simpson on banjo, or Carthy's celebrated dad Martin on guitar, but is memorable because of the quality of the singing. Waterson is on particularly powerful form, switching from soulful spiritual Poor Wayfaring Stranger to an emotional treatment of Bunch of Thyme, on which she's backed by fine vocals and fiddle from Carthy, or the thoughtful Psalm of Life, in which Longfellow's poem about the brevity of life is treated to a gently sturdy setting. Then there's a jazzy treatment of Ukelele Lady, which the duo somehow segue into Amen Corner's (If Paradise is) Half as Nice, while the finale is a rousing, sad-edged shanty Shallow Brown, with Waterson leading a chorus that includes Carthy, Martin and other family members. Impressive, even by their standards.