An update on how this is going:

It's been a bit of a slog doing 23 of the 35 ballads so far but there's a bit of light at the end of the tunnel! What we've done so far sounds really good (well I would say that wouldn't I!) and has surprised me how much life there is in the songs once you start singing them. Chris's arrangements have improved the songs no end and whilst he has been using keyboard on many of them, I've been adding banjo, guitar, English and Anglo concertina and mandolin here and there.
We've got a couple of Radio shows lined up in May and June so you can have a listen and we'll be doing a workshop on them at afew local festivals over the summer.

The new (sorry - original) version of Calico Printers Clerk has gone down really well when I've been singing it recently - much more music hall in style than the tune we all know via Dave Moran and Nic Jones.

Hopefully this will be available in June on a double CD.

Cheers
Mark