Jim Moray / Maz Totterdell

Tonight Exeter's Phoenix is hosting two talents of the folk world, a fresh faced new rising young teen star Maz Totterdell and the folk moderniser Jim Moray both presenting new material from forthcoming albums tonight.

Maz Totterdell has a voice and attitude that hide her youth well tonight. Her voice sounds a little more rich than I remember it on radio, and she's already started her support slot as we take our seats. She's delivering 'Heart In Your Pocket' and stands alone on stage, still and almost trancelike, only her fingers moving over the guitar.



Maz wishes all mums in the audience a happy Mother's Day, and comes across as reserved under her blue knitted beret. Her poetic lyrics are well structured in 'Little Puzzle' and her guitar work shows an interesting degree of tuneful complexity, and 'Willow' stands well as a contemporary folk song, there's little of her indie pop side on show to us tonight.

Her first single 'Counting My Fingers' is an obvious choice in the set, but for me the stand out song of the set 'Kaleidoscope' where her breathy airy harmonies could easily draw parrallels with Julianne Regan. I'm surprised I'd previously pigeon holed Maz more as a more mainstream singer but this side of her is captivating.

I also rather like her song with no name. I wonder if it's on her album, which is set for release on 2nd April, tonight however she's selling signed copies of 'Sweep' ahead of it's release in the foyer.

I rather hope it also includes her well executed cover of Amy Winehouse's 'Back To Black'. She chooses to end her set with this, and it's one of those tunes that sets the hairs on my neck tingling. Her technical ability on the guitar, and the interesting rhythms she uses show great promise, I wonder if she'll continue to walk between folk and indie in the future, or if she'll plump for one musical style.

I remember seeing Jim Moray when he was not much older than Maz (he's now twice her age and still a youngster in folk circles) as part of his more indie styled Jim Moray Four, and spoke to him a few years later at Glastonbury Festival when he seemed uncertain of his indie direction and talking of going in search of inspiration.

Now, he's flourished in that new direction mining a wealth of traditional tunes, discovering old ballads buried in history and polishing them into his modern interpretations. Tonight he looks at times, as his fingers flourish across his fretboard like a young Billy Bragg as he moves back and forth in front of the microphone, but it's not politics of society but the darker human condition that is just as timeless, that Jim presents to us tonight.



Jim makes no bones about it, his songs are about death, child murder, and classic love lost themes. He takes the time to explain the roots of the song, much of them are fantastic tales Jim's created within the songs, many based on Child ballads.

These are 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century. Jim takes these, uses clever wordplay and adds modern music and techno wizardry, forinstance at one point he uses his keyboard to modulate his voice as he sings, and it's his recreation of the folk genre that causes some consternation in folk circles. Others are drawn from Joseph Taylor who collected songs of peasant folk.

Tonight the show is in two parts, and Jim now has a wealth of material to select a setlist alongside his new album, next month's 'Skulk' again we have a chance to buy it early in the foyer. The new tracks stand out among the set regulars like 'Three Black Feathers', 'Lord Bateman', 'The Rufford Park Poachers', an excellent tale of the dangers of children leaving windows open in 'Long Lankin', and the song written for/with Hannah Peel 'Jenny Of The Moor' his "Don Mclean moment" as he calls it.



The new songs revealed tonight include 'The Captain's Apprentice' a tale of violent child abuse, and a working of the traditional 'Hind Etin'. It's Jim's collaborative work on the Cecil Sharpe Project that's also mined tonight, with 'Flying Cloud' on the dangers of towing the line and falling in with pirates one of the tracks of the evening.

Jim can also draw on songs from his friend Anais Mitchell's 'Hadestown' a folk opera based on the Orpheus myth which saw Jim in the starring role, and he showcases 'If It's True'. Jim has a growing haul of styles, influences, and collaborations to deal with. As exemplified by the crowd participative 'Peg 'N All' an old American Bronx tune. Jim was also busy in 2010 at the local folk festival at Sidmouth where at an event dedicated to folk singer Nic Jones he sang some of his songs.

A local Nic is in the audience tonight, and Jim sings his 'Billy Don't Weep For Me' dedicated to the singer who had a career ending accident in the '80s. Although thanks to that event Nic will be appearing at five festivals this summer.

Jim also wrote songs for his sister Jackie Oates including 'The Velvet Hour's 'Wishfulness Waltz' the tune Jim chooses to end on, and it's clear there's still many more he'd like to present to a captivated audience, but he's run out of time.

Jim has developed as a storyteller, singer, and guitarist, alongside his keyboard skills. He has really found his place in the folk world. Not only is he breathing new life into old songs. He's bringing an understanding of folk history to a wider audience, and long may he continue to do so.

FUTURE GIGS