Entertainment features

Around 18 months ago a CD landed on my desk. CDs land on my desk with alarming regularity - there's a lot of music out there.

A lifelong music anorak, I endeavour to listen to everything I receive - most of which is uniformly turgid.

This CD, however, caught my ear. I took it home for further listening and the love affair began.

Rachel and Becky pose for the camera

The Bairns, the second long player by Rachel Unthank & the Winterset, is a rare beast. It's Northumbrian folk music that not only pays respect to some of the region's great songs but brings them bang up to date.

A few months later I was lucky enough to catch the band at The Sage Gateshead, augmented by members of Northern Sinfonia.

It was one of those shows that stay with you as walk out on air. In a review I described the Winterset experience:

"once in a blue moon type of every now and again, you hear music that is so complete, so wonderful, unique and yet familiar that it stops you in your tracks. They have that blue moon magic about them, and they have it in spades."

'Personal' gig

But how would a local folk act reach a wider audience? The Mercury Prize saw to that.

The Unthanks on stage

The Bairns was nominated alongside the likes of Adele, Radiohead and Elbow for the prestigious music award - a major achievement for a group who operate in what many might consider to be a minority interest genre.

They lost out to Elbow, who, in all fairness, have released one of the best albums in many a long year, but it piqued the interest of the Inside Out team in the North East and Cumbria and I ended up fronting a feature for the show.

I spent a morning with Rachel and Becky at Aydon Castle, just chatting about everything, and then it was off to the Gala Theatre in Durham where they were performing later in the day.

I spent the afternoon sitting in the middle of the theatre while the band played the soundcheck, running through Felton Lonnen and Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk.

My own personal gig - sort of.

The sisters come from a musical family

Since my introduction to folk (a genre I wouldn't normally touch with a barge pole) I've investigated what has turned out to be a rich seam of talent.

Katie Doherty, Last Orders and Park Bench Social Club are cracking on, and three out of the six nominees for the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award 2008/09 hail from the North East and Cumbria.

Folk music continues to do what it's always done - change, shift and enthrall. Though they may not relish the notion, the Winterset are leading the way.

You can watch the full report on Inside Out on BBC One on Wednesday 5 November 2008 from 7.30pm and on the iPlayer for seven days after the broadcast.