SCOTTISH diva Eddie Reader continued her love affair with her famous countryman Robert Burns before an enthusiastic audience in York last night.

She sang several titles from the bard's work with a little help from a "folk supergroup" featuring the accomplished and exciting musicianship of John McCusker (fiddle, whistle, and cittern), Boo Hewerdine (guitar), Ian Carr (guitar), Ewen Vernal (double bass), Roy Dodds (percussion) and Alan Kelly (accordion).

The former face of Top Ten band Fairground Attraction bared her soul in more ways than one, kicking off her shoes to step into the groove of McCusker's infectious fiddle playing.

Reader took a brief detour from the sublime poetry of Burns to do some scatting which, according to another diva, Ella Fitzgerald, is the singer's equivalent of standing naked on stage because it's so revealing.

Reader sang a haunting Hewerdine composition entitled Bell, Book And Candle, but it would take more than the traditional tools of an exorcist to keep the ghost of Burns away from this passionate Scottish singer.

Her band's arrangements of My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose; Willie Stewart/Molly Rankin Ae Fond Kiss; Charlie Is My Darling; and the bawdy Brose And Butter were full of musical wit and invention.

Their enjoyment of accompanying Reader's dulcet tones shone brightly, even though sadness was apparent when she dedicated a song in memory of the late Kevin McCrae, who arranged and conducted the orchestral parts on her acclaimed 2003 Burns album.

Updated: 09:58 Saturday, April 23, 2005