Churches can be chilly places, especially in October, with those high ceilings and stone floors being a bit unforgiving. Tonight, RACHAEL McSHANE & THE CARTOGRAPHERS banish any ideas of chillness, instead they fill Christ Church Downend with warmth and friendliness, a fuzzy feeling and a twinkle in the eye.

 

McShane, of course, is a member of the folk juggernaut Bellowhead, so she's about to take her many stringed things and leap on board for their November tour. With The Cartographers (Julian Sutton on melodeon and Ian Stephenson on guitar) things are a little less manic. She ditches her cello and just plays fiddle, does most of the singing and gathers people 'round to tell stories rather than have them pinging off of walls.

 

 

In fact, Green Broom is a celebration of staying in bed until noon and, as early as the first song, McShane wraps a blanket around us. Her voice is beautiful, sweet but with just enough of a rough edge, and her fiddle playing sublime. There's a lightness, an effortlessness that sends the tune skipping and skimming about. Sutton's melodeon and Stephenson's guitar gently turn up the heat, bubbling everything nicely.

 

Even on songs of rebellion, McShane exudes warmth. Cropper Lads is a song about machine-smashing luddites but The Cartographers set it to McShane's Full Belly and it becomes something glorious, something danceable. All three instruments gleeful, taking trad folk and giving a gentle shake until it smiles. On The Lady and The Sailor, a broadside ballad is given another brilliant tune that is so full that it almost bursts.

 

 

All of the sweetness and all of the fuzziness could be a little overwhelming but McShane has a twinkle in her eye and a devilish smile too. "Who doesn't want a bit of smut on a Friday night?", she wonders at the start of The Molecatcher. A witty and sly tale of the biter bit, it is deliciously jaunty with McShane’s voice beautifully juxtaposing the cheeky subject matter. In fact, there are a few songs where couples "take a tumble", The Cartographers revelling in the sauciness. Barley and Rye, taken from the 2018 album When All Is Still, sees a farmer's wife thoroughly enjoying life with a younger man while McShane and her boys make joyful mischief.

 

While most of the set is taken from When All Is Still, there are a few new ones, from a forthcoming album (March 2025). Young Roger Esquire and The Banks of Sweet Dundee are both great, all three musicians drawing that blanket a bit closer, keeping the darkness at bay. It is Get Up Jack that sees a full-voiced singalong though, sees Downend simply enjoying itself. McShane's fiddle is, once again, central to the fun, leading from the front, dancing as if floating. 

 

There are tunes too, tailor made for dancing. Waltzing at Giggleswick/The Ginger Cat Monster are both delightfully old/new. There's enough tradition to keep those that care happy but huge dollops of fun, for everyone else. The Dusty Jigs, too, are wonderfully bouncy; McShane, Sutton and Stephenson throw another log on the fire, warming every soul in the place.

 

The support act for the evening was JOHNNY CAMPBELL, a singer-songwriter from Leeds. Conscious of nature and the right to roam, Campbell is a protest singer of the old school. Telling tales, raising awareness and reminding us all of what is right with a voice that is as honest as it is decent. A Roving I Will Go is his next single and a proper toe-tapper.

 

This wasn't the first time that Rachael McShane and The Cartographers have visited Downend. As they warmed the hearts of the faithful, and provoked the odd grin, it's hard to believe that they won't return to banish the chill once again.