She's been around the maypole more than twice, but still Maddy Prior manages to sound as natural and rustic as swishing autumn leaves. Alongside June Tabor, Jacqui McShee, and the departed Sandy Denny, Prior is a definitive English voice, her tenure with Steeleye Span defining her as one of the classic female folk singers of the past thirty years.
Now living in the Scottish borders, Maddy Prior still tours with Steeleye Span (her husband Rick Kemp is also a member) but is currently touring her new album, Flesh And Blood, over half of which she sang at Whelan's on last night.
Expertly complemented by keyboard player Nick Holland and multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley, Prior's traditionalist stance is updated by modernistic touches that epitomise the word "subtle".
A half-dozen song suite, Dramatis Personae, from the new record is based on the ancient concept of chakras (energy vortexes located on the spine).
It sounds po-faced but was executed with an earthy knowingness, Prior's superb voice and balanced manner underpinning the material to good effect. What a pity there weren't more people at the venue to hear her.
