Kathleen Deighton - Intuition (1996)

Happened across this recently, drawn by Kate Rusby's name. As it turns out all the women here are very talented and have put together a rather interesting album. I was not familiar with Julie Matthews and Pat Shaw, but their contributions are key to the success of the CD. Of course I'd heard of Britain's famed Deighton Family and sisters Kathleen and Rosalie Deighton contribute the albums instrumental numbers as well as other songs. And it turns out that this is the first recorded pairing of Kate Rusby and Kathryn Roberts, who have gone on to record many other tracks togther. Julie Matthews penned several tracks that she and Pat Shaw perform(I Am the One, The Willow, and Letters Home to England - which features guitarist Clive Gregson). Rosalie Deighton sings two other Matthews' numbers (Blue Old Saturday Night, and Road to Eden), and shows her ability on percussion and guitar on the instrumental numbers with her sister Kathleen's fiddle. Kathryn Robert sings solo on two traditional tracks (Sally Garden, Barbara Allen) and unaccompanied on Polly Parker. Rusby can be heard on Bonnie Light Horseman (with Roberts adding flute and harmony vocals) and on two of my favourite tracks, covers of Mary Chapin Carpenter's The Moon and St. Christopher, and Nanci Griffith's Gulf Coast Highway. This group of women apparently toured considerably during the mid-90s and recorded this excellent collection of 14 songs at that time - what a great find!