Cambridge Folk Festival

Words and pictures by Andy Richardson

The nation’s foremost roots festival perpetually serves as a barometer for one of the highpoints in Shropshire’s cultural calender.

The Cambridge Folk Festival takes place a few short weeks before some of the bands who feature there descend on Shropshire for our county’s equivalent.

Judging by Cambridge’s four-day celebration of all things folk, which took place over the weekend, we’re in for a treat when the Shrewsbury Folk Festival takes place at the end of this month.

The beauty of Cambridge, rather like Shrewsbury, is the diversity of the bill. This year’s festival featured the finest in traditional folk, in the form of The Waterson Family, through to the best of bluesy funk, in the form of Booker T.

There was dynamic rock from Friday headliners The Zutons and hotter-than-chilli Tex Mex mash-up from Los Lobos. There was earthy, Americana from Sunday headliner Lucinda Williams and a breadth of Celtic roots from Paul Brady and Cara Dillon.

Bluegrass was represented in the form of the stunning Crooked Still while the best of newn British folk was apparent in an innovative set from Jim Moray and a stunner from Lau.

The generational divide was spanned as former comic Adrian Edmondson took to the stage with his band, The Bad Shepherds, while in another tent, his daughter performed a showcase.

The highlights were many. Edward II rocked the joint with their reggae-infused folk rock while festival stalwart Martin Simpson stole the show with stunning renditions of songs from his two latest albums, True Stories and Prodigal Son.

With the countdown now underway to Shrewsbury Folk, the prediction from our trust Cambridge barometer reads as follows: Hot, Hot, Hot.