Review by Jim Lawton, Otley Folk Festival

"I saw Nickie by chance a few weeks ago when she did a floor spot at Otley folk club. I was struck then by the confidence and accuracy of her singing and was very pleased to get her CD to review. I haven't been disappointed, as this is an excellent first CD, which showcases Nickie's voice very well.

In the sleeve notes, Nickie comments that she has been singing for as long as she can remember, and that she has an abiding love of Scotland and this is clear both in the quality and style of her singing, and in her choice of material. There is a certain confident slightly operatic quality in Scots singing which is present in Nickie's voice, and this together with a slightly bluesy smokiness make it a very attractive instrument indeed.

The majority of the material on the CD is traditional, the exceptions being 'Thorn Upon the Rose' by Julie Matthews, a poignant reminder of the pleasures and pain of love, 'The Road to Drumleman' by Willie Mitchell, an equally affecting song of love nostalgia for a particular landscape, and another song in praise of the land, 'Orkney Anthem' by Ivan Drever.

The traditional songs are a mixture of reflective and up-tempo pieces - some well known, like Jock O' Hazeldean and Dumbarton's Drums, others unknown, at least to me, like "The Braes of Gleniffer " - and not all are Scottish, with such favourites as 'Sally Gardens' and 'The Broom o' The Cowdenowes'

If I have any quibbles about this CD, they are first that I would have liked to have heard Nickie sing one song entirely unaccompanied and without technical embellishment. You can get a feel for this in 'The Braes O' Gleniffer', which sadly (for me) goes into multi track after the first verse. My second is that in one or two of the tracks I felt that the guitar accompaniment, which in general is excellent, had some rather intrusive and out - of - character strummed chords. Nickie did tell me, however, that she and the instrumentalists came together only to make the CD, so I think this is forgiveable.

In conclusion Nickie says that she loves the songs of Robert Burns, and as I listen to her sing I am reminded of the singers who appear on the Linn collection of 'The Complete Songs' - such luminaries, among many others, as Ian Bruce, Gordeanna McCulloch, and Janet Russell, Nickie's rendering of 'Ca' the Yowes' wouldn't disgrace that company."

Reproduced courtesy of Tykes' News, a quarterly publication ' for folk in and around Yorkshire'