THE North-East is a good reflection of just how much great folk music there is across the country at the moment. I’m currently on a tour with Steve Tilston, guitarist extraordinaire, that is taking us the length and breadth of the UK, and giving me an insight to the performers and the venues of a lot of different regions.

Singers and musicians of all ages have taken up the folk baton, and though there are probably fewer pub-based folk clubs that in times past, there’s music oozing out of village halls, arts centres and even churches, showing that the folk scene is busier now than it has ever been.

All this reflects well with our own area, and this week there’s a number of highlights to choose from. On Saturday, Scots balladeer Dick Gaughan makes a welcome return to Washington’s Davy Lamp, and on Sunday, local band Pipedream are at The Customs House, in South Shields. There are two special events at Gateshead’s Sage this week, the first being a show called Sweet Liberty on Sunday, with Martyn Joseph, Nancy Kerr, Sam Carter and Maz O’Connor. This is another collaborative project, instigated by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, and which was given a spectacular launch at the Houses of Parliament last week. It should be an interesting evening. On Monday at The Sage, Gateshead, the Scots band Lau make a welcome return, with their unique, much-arranged take on traditional music, that has brought them awards and much acclaim over the past few years.

Meanwhile, we bid farewell to singer and club organiser Danny MacLeod, who died last week. A stalwart of the Tyneside folk scene for decades, Danny ran Blaydon’s Tynefolk and the Blaydon Races Festival with a relentless enthusiasm and charm that will be greatly missed by us all.