Celtic Connections

The Wainwright Sisters

City Hall, Glasgow

Keith Bruce

four stars

Martha says she wanted to style her new duo with half-sister Lucy "The Wainwright Singers", because it sounded more "old-timey", but feared being sued by other members of the the family. This is shortly after she has claimed that the pair don't really know the songs from their Songs in the Dark album, and Lucy has added, "or, indeed, each other."

The songs might be sourced over a few decades, but Martha and Lucy are very much of now, the latter's incisive wit undimmed by the fact that she has only just made the gig on a delayed flight from snow-bound New York City, and their take on "family" is a very contemporary one that draws directly on their personal experience.

The performance began before they sang or played a note, in their appearance in truly dreadful striped pinafore frocks that, apparently, brother Rufus had had made for them and which they were wearing for the first time. The repertoire of twisted lullabies included a song Kate McGarrigle had written for the baby Martha, one by Aunt Terre Roche that sounded for all the world as if it was about the yet-to-be-born Lucy, and of course, a tune by father Loudon. Their brief solo turns mostly unveiled new work, including Lucy's delicious Mud and Apples, about the privileges of aunt (or uncle) status.

At the insistence of "cousin Lily", who had pointed out the anniversary, there was also Burns song, learned from a Ewan MacColl recording and sung acapella, in a programme that may have relied heavily on the music stands but was never less than completely engaging. It is hard to think of any other family who could follow Rosalie Sorrels's Baby Rocking Medley with Richard Thompson's End of the Rainbow.