AFTER starring at this year’s Celtic Connections in Glasgow and other Scottish dates, Pennsylvania trio The Stray Birds migrated South to the delight of the Cluny faithful.

They provided tighter vocal harmonies and playing steeped in traditional acoustic folk country than you are likely to come across, such was the wonderful playing of fiddles, acoustic guitars, upright bass and bass.

Not far behind them were surprise package Gloucesterbased duo The Black Feathers, made up of Ray Hughes and Sian Chandler. Their sweet harmonies were exceptional.

Back to The Stray Birds – the hard-working, instrumentswapping Oliver Craven and Maya De Vitry, who not only shouldered the workload of guitar, fiddle and banjo-playing but also lead vocals. As for Charles Muench, he kept it tight on bass and lent additional vocal harmonies.

The music flowed effortlessly, whether it was performing one of their own songs (usually by De Vitry) or when placing their stamp on the likes of Townes Van Zandt’s Loretta or Nanci Griffith’s Listen To The Rain. The music was simple – the playing was made to look that way – and hugely effective.

De Vitry possesses strains of Diana Jones/Gillian Welch in her vocal styling and she went down a treat. As for Craven, I felt he was the one who made it all happen. His constant probing on guitar and vocals squeezed between the notes made it all tick.

It’s rare an opening act rivals the main performer but that’s exactly what the harmony singing Black Feathers achieved. Standout moments included songs 10,000 and an unlikely cover (Lady Gaga).

They too raised the performance bar.

Maurice Hope