Daniel Bouwman & Andrew Guy are from Michigan, U.S.A. but they found a link for what they wanted to do in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. Bury St Edmonds a very nice typical East Anglia Town nestling in the stockbroker belt of England and has some very fine examples of 12th century Norman architecture that have been preserved. So it seemed only natural that Daniel & Guy should utilise Moyse's Hall to give atmosphere and record most of the songs for this album, for the way the songs are played and sung gave me a distinct impression of two 16th century court musicians or perhaps at a medieval banquette.

Daniel Bouwman handles all the lead vocals and sings with clear and trained voice, and to his credit there is no discernable accent, so you can hear all the lyrics without any difficulty. This is very important given the versions of the songs they have chosen. Picture if you can a 1960's Hollywood film of Robin Hood with the wandering minstrel singing one of his ditties and you might get impression of what you'll hear.

The songs and ballads are from 15th through the 20th century. Performed the way they are, Bouwman and Guy have a unique sound that is perhaps a little out of kilter with what most folk bands are doing at the moment. So if your bag is true, traditional English folk song performed in perhaps the way it should be, then this album is for you. I fancy it will satisfy some of the staunch traditionalists amongst you.

There are 14 songs on the album, most of which are listed as traditional. I think most will be familiar with titles such as 'Twa Corbies', 'Bedlam Boys', 'Gypsy Song', 'Bedlam Boys', 'Maria Marten', 'Henry Martin' 'Lord Becket' 'Scarborough Fair', etc ­- but I guarantee few will have heard the versions found here! There are also 5 tracks of original songs written by Daniel Bouwman. To his credit you could well be taken in to thinking they are traditional songs for they fit in with the theme of the album very well.

To sum up, this is definitely an album of English traditional songs that stands out on its own. It might be a desired taste for some, I can't see the duo headlining at to many folk festivals, neither the less, it is very interesting album in a lot of respects. You can learn more about The duo here.