These are the second and third releases from this enormously talented Australian duo, who I had the good fortune to encounter during their Summer 2002 trip to the UK. Both are fine singers who clearly have a thorough understanding of the traditional song idiom which comprises the bulk of their repertoire. They're also highly accomplished and versatile instrumentalists, who (between them) demonstrate their dexterity on bouzouki, guitar, keyboard, accordion, fiddle and cittern. A handful of guest musicians appear on both CD's including (on Swapping Seasons) bouzouki maestro Luke Plumb, who's since become a member of Shooglenifty.

The traditional songs on A Thousand Miles or More include "Eighteen Years Old," "Donal Og," "Death and the Lady," and "Marrowbones." The supernatural ballad "Lay The Bent To The Bonny Broom," emerges as a compulsive, hypnotic setting of this "riddle song" with a discernible whiff of menace. The best of the three contemporary songs is Bob Dylan's "Boots of Spanish Leather," which features some wonderful interplay between Kate and Ruth's finger and flat-picked guitars. The booklet notes astutely observe that "Dylan has captured all the best elements of folk song in this one." He has, and these young women do the old feller proud. A sprightly tune set and a flash of unaccompanied harmony singing further enhance this well balanced collection which, (while excellent in it's own right), carries the tantalizing promise of even better to come.

Two years along the road, and here's the follow-up, Swapping Seasons. This is (unsurprisingly), a more polished recording than it's predecessor. The singing shows greater confidence, the arrangements are bolder, and with "Song for Reconciliation," Kate Burke emerges a tremendous song writer. It's also a more clearly focused album, and the pair have clearly spent a great deal of time and energy trawling through the National Library of Australia in search of distinctively Australian settings of ballads and songs. Their endeavours have certainly paid off and, for this listener at least, opened a window to whole new landscape of the traditional song. Two of these songs, "The Lost Sailor," and "Lovely Nancy," appear briefly in the original, archive-recording form that Kate and Ruth "discovered" them. Rather than placing these songs in some forbiddingly "academic" context, this actually serves to enhance the engaging accessibility of their own performances, and demonstrates an awareness of singer's function as "links in the chain."

Titles like "The Mines of Australia," and "The Colonial Widow," leave no doubt as to the nationality of the artists, while "Ploughman lads," and "My Grandfather Knew the Plough" cast an eye back in the direction of the places from whence the settlers originated. Burke states in the booklet notes that she wrote "Song for Reconciliation" in celebration of an unforgettable day of celebration and "protest against the Howard Government's appalling attitude towards indigenous issues. At a time when the matter of a simple apology was dividing a nation, the Australian public took to the streets en masse to apologise for all wrongs carried out against indigenous peoples since European settlement. The Sydney Harbour Bridge was close to traffic for the day, and a constant stream of people crossed it from morning to evening." The song is comparable with the best work of Andy Irvine (credited as an "encouragement and inspiration") who in his turn, followed in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie.

Kate and Ruth are already widely regarded as major folk talents in Australia. Heck, they're so famous there that they don't even bother with their surnames anymore! Hopefully they'll overcome the huge obstacles of geography to gain widespread recognition elsewhere in the world soon. They've certainly got the right combination of talent, modest charm and youthful determination to succeed.

Watch out for these two, folks.

[Stephen Hunt]

 To find out more about Kate and Ruth, visit this Web site.