It says something that on my first visit to the Lancashire music venue perhaps furthest from the coast that we were treated to plenty of stirring songs from the sea.

But even the part of my opening paragraph citing the Red Rose county is contentious, this acoustic-based venue in the Pendle Hills slap-bang in the middle of a market town that formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. I know that’s nearly 50 years now, but identity counts.

In this case, the artistes were from far further afield, all associated in their formative years with the Galloway Hills of South-West Scotland, even if the siblings at either end of the bill are these days based in Liverpool (where their close friend joining them was born), all three ensconced in but maybe not exclusive to the contemporary folk scene.

I knew Caitlin’s material best, her exquisite vocal having first made an impression on me some years ago (in fact, there’s an early 2015 feature/interview with her former musical partner Lee Parry on these pages, the pair performing as Finch and the Moon back then, having met as students in Manchester). And all the acts, while happy reinterpreting other artistes’ works or creating their own takes on traditional folk songs, are very much singer-songwriters in their own right.  

Caitlin’s opening number, ‘Wild Heather’, set the tone for a quality evening, with the feel of a lost Nick Drake classic there, Zoë later revealing that Calum almost had no support acts, the girls not so long before trapped inside the green room, a little DIY ingenuity required from the opener, so to speak, who next launched into traditional Scottish folk tune ‘Henry Martin’. Or as she put it, a song about ‘what happens when you mess with pirates.’

If you know the location, you’ll already have a vivid picture of this intimate setting, a wonderful relatively compact 60-capacity cellar room festooned with great photographs of a variety of happening performers from the past seven decades or so, in a happening venue where so many big names have played down the years, despite its modest size. And the sound was spot on all night, even if Zoë reckons she heard chants of ‘Shots! Shots! Shots!’ from the Irish bar above us as Caitlin delivered the poignant ‘Woman of the Hills’, the title track of her forthcoming EP, another Galloway-inspired number, carrying something of the spirit of Mike Scott and The Waterboys for me, that and next selection, ‘A Letter to Myself’, baring something of Cailin’s soul, the latter penned while she cat-sat in Wales, apparently.

Caitlin has a more recent Cornish link too, and when she sings about sailing boats you’re left in no doubt as to her hands-on (deck) knowledge, the next choice of song recorded on a 1930s Scottish herring trawler she was helping restore and lived on, moored in the idyllic Helford estuary.

‘A Whisper of Light’, her 2021 single, is another self-penned number that brings Nick Drake to mind, that wondrous voice so arresting, not least on the lines, ‘I was never much a dancer till I heard your voice; I was never much a writer till I had no choice.’ Meanwhile, next number ‘Fly Me to the Sun’, she revealed, is her oldest song but only newly recorded, destined for the new EP, her interwoven call of the cuckoo somehow complemented by an errant punter’s sneeze late on.

Caitlin swapped guitar for ‘squeezy box’ on a poignant retelling of ‘Our Captain Cried All Hands’, afforded something of a This Mortal Coil feel. And then we had our first taste of Zoë for a finale, their vocal blend giving an added quality to Leonard Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’. Such sweet harmonies. Perfection.

What also worked was the fact (despite that lineage and so much common ground) that all three acts are so different in their deliveries, Zoë – armed solely with trusty baritone ukulele – setting her stall out after an introductory nod to Tim Hardin on ‘If I Were a Carpenter’ (it probably tells you more about my less-folky background that I’ll think of Levi Stubbs’ take on that number first, as I would for Rod Stewart’s version of ‘Reason to Believe’) on the rather deep but surprisingly delicate ‘Porcelain Tapestry’.

She announced, ‘You can’t be a folk singer without some sad love songs’ after that, then gave us a somewhat seasonal ‘Witchy’, before her anti-war statement, ‘Eye for an Eye’, written for another conflict but particularly resonant in the light of (or darkness of) the horrors unfolding in Gaza again.

I’ll not attempt to over-analyse the difference between the voices, but while Zoë’s is seemingly more fragile on first impressions, both opening acts project crystal clear qualities, and with each I’m pleased to say there’s a more off the wall element that possibly goes with Zoë’s self-style ‘nu folk’ label. Actually, with the middle act I hear elements of Mitski too, albeit with less showy performance vibes. Maybe even The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler. Can’t be sure though.

Discussion followed regarding her instrument of choice, a voice out front suggesting she never knew a ukulele could sound so good, a tongue-in-cheek discourse following on how George Formby has proved to be the bane of Zoë’s life while describing her instrument of choice.

A similarly heartfelt and pensive ‘Utopia’ – seek it out online, I implore you – took us back to lockdown days and Zoë’s half-hour’s exercise from a Glasgow tenement block, this Dumfries and Galloway-raised lass feeling somewhat hemmed in, sharing limited outdoor space with all and sundry.

I’ll mention Kate Bush too, another artist that comes to mind here and there, Zoë’s first post-lockdown song, ‘Sad Song’, seeing her guard back down, its rather low-key sentiment (and I’m all for that, by the way) somewhat offset and lightened by an in-key moby phone ringtone from a no doubt embarrassed punter, before she ended with a fine ditty ‘about murderous mermaids’, which led into a gloriously other-worldly melody which apparently had its roots in a now-forgotten Swedish folk song, which for me suggested elements of Paul Giovanni and Magnet’s The Wicker Man soundtrack.

Then along came Calum, our evening’s MC of sorts, and the third performer to weave a little of the magic of the solitude of the Galloway Hills into his set, starting with two numbers from last year’s highly commendable Footsteps on the Broken Road album, which I’ve been listening to in the car ever since. ‘Oh, It Begins’ is arguably something of a Scottish take on ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ (well, there is a John Denver quality to his vocal at times), but one I identify far more with, while the similarly atmospheric ‘Winds-a-Wailing’ took us back on to those choppy waters surrounding this island.

Trad folk with a Calum spin followed, ‘Flash Company’ setting us up for another ode to Glasgow, in this case his own ‘Otago Fox’, from five-track 2018 EP, Maybe Half a Lifetime, then Norma Watterson’s ‘When I First Came to Caledonia’, Calum swapping guitar for bouzouki now (something he’s clearly got an affinity for, although he sees himself as a novice on that front), as was the case with his (ship) master’s take on traditional seafaring tale, ‘Lowlands of Holland’.

And then Caitlin returned to add brooding, atmospheric harmonium as the siblings gave us ‘Galloway no More’, the pair then harmonising with natural aplomb on Scottish trad folk number ‘The Bothy Lads’ before Zoë joined them, our talented but never showy trio concluding with a Caitlin-led ‘The Factory Girl’. Quite the ending, and I’d happily seek out all three again at the earliest opportunity.

Calum Gilligan’s Autumn tour, remaining dates: ReadiFolk, Reading (Sunday, November 5th); British Music Experience, Liverpool, with Robin Adams (Thursday, November 11th); Corn Exchange, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, with Katie Grace Harris (Friday, November 17th); Live Rooms, Chester, supporting Tankus the Henge (Saturday, November 18th); Bothy Folk Club, Southport (Sunday, November 26th); St George’s Bristol (Friday, December 1st). For more about Calum, his live dates and releases, head here.

For live shows, releases and all the latest from Zoë Bestel, head here. And for more information on Caitlin Gilligan, including her forthcoming shows and releases, visit her website here.