Thanks to Mel Howley and The Living Tradition for this review, reproduced with permission.

Holmfirth Civic Hall - March 7th 2003

Down the years John Tams has been a pivotal figure of the folk world, and a chance to see him partnered with the voice of and keyboards of Barry Coope was just too good a chance to miss. I had no idea what the content of the set might be - Tams' corpus of writing stretches back some thirty years or so, and he has also recently released two solo albums, add that to Coope's long and distinguished singing career and you have lots and lots of options.

In the event they opened with 'Lay Me Low', the Shaker's hymn that Tams used to great effect in the National Theatre's production of The Mysteries, giving a classic start to what proved to be an eclectic mix of material. There were others from Tams' theatre work. 'Snowfalls' from Larkrise and 'The Old Mans Song' (co-written with Bill Caddick) from Don Quixote. The political awareness, always there, was to the fore with the 'Remembrance Day/Harry Stone' set; 'Sorrow' from a project on the decline of the Scottish shipbuilding; and possibly less obviously the 'Manchester Rambler', concerning the Kinder Scout mass trespasses. Tams has added a verse to the Rambler to good effect, and he and Coope paired it with a light, delicate, up-tempo reworking of 'Banks of Red Roses.' There was a nod to the late John B Spencer with his 'One More Whisky' and elsewhere there was a surprising flash of humour with Tams' rendition in the vernacular of 'Health and Beauty' written by Frank Sutton.

The set drew to a close with the combination of two songs of war - 'Over the Hills and Far Away' from the Napoleonic era, and Tams' incredibly moving 'Scarecrow', concerning a more recent European conflict, then they finished with the anthemic 'Rolling Home' - it's almost 'trad', but listen and you'll know it's Tams!

The tall, thin, magnificently moustachioed figure of John Tams commanded the stage, whilst his deadpan manner belied introductions and links that were at turns, quirky, informative, and surreally humorous - I laughed a lot more than I had expected to! It could have been easy to overlook Barry Coope, off centre, sat at his Yamaha S.80. keyboard. Easy that is, except for his absolutely superb accompaniments, both musically and vocally, which contributed so much, and worked so well with Tams' singing. It was obvious that this pair had put a lot of preparation into the set, and they were working just so wonderfully well together, lifting and complementing each other, captivating and holding the Holmfirth audience enthralled. This was one of the best gigs I've seen in a long, long time, and one which will live long in the memory. It was stunning, simply stunning.

Mel Howley, Living Tradition