TWO of folk music's most powerful vocalists joined forces to entertain the audience at the Black Swan folk club.

Yet it nearly wasn't to be, as earlier in the week, cold-ridden Mike lost his voice - an unfortunate occurrence for a folk singer - which had luckily returned to almost full throttle by the time the tour reached York.

Mike, youngest brother of Teesside's powerhouse singing siblings The Wilson Family, and Damien, who is more often heard as part of the Demon Barbers, collectively have more than 40 years experience of performing on the folk scene.

They gathered together a fine repertoire of songs, including a thorough plundering of the collections of Ewan MacColl, Dick Gaughan, Mike Waterson and the late great Peter Bellamy.

So it was that, interspersed between humorous tales about people with folk club phobias, bogey men, and folkies fighting it out with locals during their set at Damien's homecoming to a Norwich folk club, the audience was treated to some fine songs.

These included rich duets such as Bellamy's On Board A 98 and Nostradamus; MacColl's The Foggy Dew, with beautiful concertina accompaniment from Barber, and the emotive The Joy Of Living; a heartfelt solo rendition of MacColl's My Old Man from Mike, and a lively set of reels from Damien on guitar.

Mike Wilson and Damien Barber are both naturally-talented performers, who obviously enjoy singing together. It was a pleasure to hear them performing songs and tunes that you might not otherwise hear when they sing within their usual spheres.