Pangolins, Poetry and Song Review

Their vocal harmonies are glorious, their songwriting a delight, their stagecraft impeccable.

We finish the day’s shows with fifty minutes of Pangolins, Poetry and Song from The Clarkes & Co. The pangolin gets a passing reference (and some of the money in the hat goes to the charity which supports their populations in the wild) but the poetry and the songs are front and foremost here, and well worth their place in the spotlight. Over the course of a 50-minute set, Stephen Clarke shares poems from his new collection, peppers them with the easy conversational storytelling found in the folk scene where The Clarkes ply much of their trade, and plays a mean and beautiful guitar, accompanied by Sue Clarke on English concertina. Their vocal harmonies – this reviewer has a penchant for vocal harmonies – are glorious, their songwriting a delight, their stagecraft impeccable. We headed back out into the Wolverhampton night smiling. Catch The Clarkes when you can.