Maudy Tree

With nu-folk in the ascendent, it seems that everyone is hiring a fiddle player and swapping their basses for banjos in a bid to channel their inner Donovan (ask your dad). Scottish trio Deborah Arnott, Clare Neilson and Roddy Neilson (aka Blueflint) are the latest act to embrace the current penchant for a bluegrass, Americana, UK folk mash-up and Maudy Tree is their second album. A fairly run-of-the-mill and inoffensive effort, the vocal interplay between the two female singers is somewhat unimaginative and most of the 12 tracks are very samey. The waltzing ‘Mary’, sung by Roddy Neilson, gives us a brief respite, but it doesn’t save a hum drum record.