The Northumberland folk band The Unthanks are on a roll just now, with scheduled appearances on our television screens over Christmas, a highly-rated new album and a clutch of BBC Folk Award nominations to be announced in February. On Friday, their tour bus rolled into East Grinstead for the final night of the band's 40 date UK tour. As for most other dates on the tour, all seats at Chequer Mead were sold out well in advance, with local music fans keen to see what all the fuss was about. 

When they last played at the venue in February 2008, the band were called Rachel Unthank & The Winterset and a 4 piece. Apart from the name change, the band has since extended its line-up to 11 players and the richness of their albums can at last be witnessed live. Musically, the Unthanks are hard to define. Rachel and sister Becky Unthank come from a family of musicians and the rich folk music and dance traditions of Northumberland. But they take the genre in a quite different direction, with songs often building slowly and mysteriously into epic and beautiful pieces. On occasions, piano, strings and brass produce an avant-garde jazz flavour. Then accordions and fiddle remind us of the folk roots that lie behind the song. 

This evening, we were treated to most of the songs from the new album including the gorgeous title track, Here's the Tender Coming and the new single, Lucky Gilchrist. Seasonal songs got an airing too, with a wonderful version of In the Bleak Midwinter. The band themselves were delighted to have returned to the venue, which they last played in February 2008. The end of such a tour was clearly a big thing for them, and they were definitely in party mood (even holding an impromptu 'Christmas do' in Chequer Mead's restaurant!). East Grinstead was fortunate to have them - but we did them proud.

'Maximum' Bob