Although I’d listened to and enjoyed the likes of the Dubliners, Spinners and Clancy Brothers on the wireless, it was a singer from a local Manchester club who came as a guest to our school folk club that provided my epiphany moment. The moment in question was when he simply sat on a chair and sang an unaccompanied version of ‘She moved through the fair’. Up until that point, although I always sang to myself, I’d always associated being able to do anything ‘in public’ meant you had to be able to play an instrument. Discovering unaccompanied traditional song was a turning point for me. (It’s also led to more than half a century of possible torture for folk club, session and singaround attendees as I try to recreate that moment myself (though hardly ever singing ‘She moved through the fair.’)