erbert, are you saying that it's wrong for one artist to be influenced by an earlier artist - Bowie by Newley, for example? I hope not - or we'd all be in trouble, and so would every artist before us.

I don't think there's anything wrong with Boden taking a leaf out of Newley's book if he wants to - not that he has, IMO. What he HAS done - and it's a legitimate technique - is deliberately to occupy the grey area between his modal voice and falsetto, an approach influenced, I understand, by Peter Bellamy. If he did not do this, not only would his delivery be weaker and less individual (always a crucial factor) but his voice would be lost in the appealing maelstrom that is the Bellowhead sound, and the project would never have got off the ground (I suspect that's why he's the vocalist even though the band contains at least another four potential lead singers).

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and accept that your last sentence is not merely sour grapes, but will remind you that success is hard fought for and hard won. Bellowhead are, thank the lord, breaking though to a wider audience - and absolutely on their own terms. We do not criticise rock artists (like Harvey) for adopting 'swollen-headed' larger-that-life stage personas, and there's no need to do so to Bellowhead just because they're 'from' the folk arena.

Big acts need big acting - and it's working.

Tom