IT was a packed house at the Tudor Folk Club on Monday, January 14, and those gathered were given a fantastic night's entertainment by two of the best of the current crop of young folkies at the peak of their form.

Northumbrian Nancy Kerr and James Fagan from Sydney, Australia (but of Birmingham and Tasmanian parentage) were the club's first guests for 2002 - and the pair certainly kicked off the new term with gusto and flair.

Nancy has an angelic voice, but turns on the power when required, and plays fiddle and viola with a deft and accurate touch. James also has a beautiful voice, and plays a guitar-bodied bouzouki. But it's the instinctive interplay between the two which was so breathtaking, and their telepathic harmonies, allied to their appreciation and understanding of their broad range of material which shone through their engaging performance.

Their sets included a humorous jig depicting a cow which develops a limp - which could be heard in the syncopated melody; a tongue-twister sung in broad Geordie dialect about Elsie Marley - whose scurrilous behaviour includes not getting up until 9 o'clock in the morning; a song commissioned by BBC Radio 4 about life on the canals (Nancy and James live on a narrow boat). There were also songs from Australia which belie the Ozzie stereotype by being sensitive and thoughtful: including one about convicts escaping from Van Diemen's Land only to be shipwrecked on an inhospitable stretch of coast ("Anderson's Coast") and a look at some of the more murky aspects of their history in a song of The Outback ("The Drover's Song").

Their finale - a blistering "Dance to Your Daddy" - had me nervously checking for fire extinguishers: I could swear there were sparks flying from Nancy's fiddle!

The audience demanded an encore, and were treated to a sensitive "New Year's Eve" (close enough!) which spoke of hopes of peace for the new year.

Their tunes and songs were interspersed with anecdotes about the songs and their experiences, including James' recent first-ever snowman - which the local Geordie kids dubbed 'anorexic'; and many references to the bush fires that recently raged in Australia - James' family home was within sight of the flames.

Support was provided by some of the best of our local performers - Malcolm Hobbs, Life & Times, and Dave Webber & Annie Fentiman.

If you'd like to join in the folkie fun at the Tudor Folk Club why not visit next Monday evening? Performing on stage is Stringfellow (no not Peter the nightclub owner but the band). They will be blending whistles, woodwind, keyboards, guitars and vocals to songs from Wales and Isle of Man. This will be a chance to hear music a little bit different that's very much alive.

The Tudor Folk Club takes place at the White Hill Centre, White Hill, Chesham. The doors open from 8pm and entrance is £5 members and £6 guests

By Hamish Currie