Kitty Macfarlane is another precious part of the UK folk music scene, and another performer I was really looking forward to seeing perform live. Like Katherine Priddy a little earlier in the day, Kitty absolutely did not disappoint.
The temperatures had climbed even further by the time it was Kitty's turn on stage, but she stepped up merrily and launched into a beautifully judged set.
What made this special for me was the casual chat she engaged in between songs, modest but engaging, sharing with us topics close to her heart, and her love of nature and the world. Eels being a big part of it! This all felt so very genuine, and Kitty's warm personality really shone through.
Going back to that engaging love of nature, her song Glass Eel went down well. However many times I hear the story of the intrepid migration from the Sargasso Sea, I'm always awed by it, and the song captures some of that magic very well. Hearing it live and stripped back only helped emphasise that magic. And it struck me that it takes a real talent to tell these kinds of stories in enjoyable, accessible song.
Namer of Clouds was a highlight of the set (the title track of her 2018 album of the same name). I've always loved the premise of this song, which Kitty took time out to explain to us, as we slowly baked in the sun: the story of the man who devised - back in 1802 - the classification system for clouds. But the song is more than that: she's made this topic into beautiful poetry, set it to sparkling music, and given the idea a further, deeper, dimension looking at how we humans have - perhaps presumptuously - tried to impose our own kind of order on nature.
This is about the point my notes on Kitty's set run out - I think I just laid back, succumbed to the sun, and let the music overtake me at this point. If you've not her before, go and listen, preferably in a field, under a tree, or at least in touch with nature as Kitty always seems to be.