Marianne Galloway, part of the folk band Galloway, Culbert and Doyle. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Liverpool’s much prized status as the most cultured city within the U.K. has been further enhanced in recent months by the emergence of a young traditional folk band with the guile and intelligence that marks them out as a very special breed of musicians.

Galloway, Culbert and Doyle are three University of Liverpool students who have brought to their adopted home a sense of pride in reviving the spirit of traditional English folk music and confirming that Liverpool is quite rightly the City of Culture in England.

Mello, Mello may have faced closure during the early part of the year from outside forces but its role in Liverpool as a hive of creative solitude has seen it retain its thriving alternative scene and the well loved sessions that it puts on for those that venture through the door and into its welcoming arms.

Marianne Galloway, Samiran Culbert and Tim Doyle have taken on board everything they have learned and shown that traditional folk music still has a part to play in a thriving, all encompassing music scene. They certainly bucked a trend by proving that folk music should not be seen just as niche pastime and certainly not just for the imagined crowd of older men, sipping traditional beers and stroking their beards as they hear the music. If a band can be defined by its audience then the crowd, who danced and enjoyed themselves as much as they would be expected to at any other type of gig, then the three musicians thrilled a crowd that was dominated by the under 25’s. It was just as much a thrill to see that as it was to witness the incredible music on offer.

Galloway, Culbert and Doyle played a set that was designed to raise a smile and in songs such as Springtime Rambler, RSB, the sensational Dick Turpin and the Lawyer, the excellently written Winter Set and Old Maui, the threesome more than completed their mission for the evening.

A night that opened a lot of people’s eyes to the power of traditional English folk music and in Galloway, Culbert and Doyle the future of the genre looks safe.

Ian D. Hall