Migrating Bird: The Songs of Lal Waterson

A good tribute album often can be a benefit if the subject of the tribute is relatively obscure, serving as a chance to place a figure or style squarely in a new context. While itself is like many other efforts -- a mix of the quite enjoyable and the well-meant but not always successful -- as a chance to showcase British folksinger , who came to prominence in the 1960s as part of her family group, , and then performed and released irregularly on her own and with others until her passing in the late '90s, it's a gentle treasure. It's also a good sampler of whatever the psych-folk scene can be called these days, ranging as it does from a near contemporary veteran of 's ( , who concludes the disc with an interpretation of the title track) to Young Turks such as , whose is a lovely, delicate interpretation with just voice and piano able not only to demonstrate the song's beauty but his own fine gifts. Other efforts of interest come from , whose older, twang-tinged voice comes off to intriguing effect on 's most well-known effort, and the inimitable , with his own striking singing and the gentle touch of accordion resulting in one of the album's warmest, most inviting contributions on matches him with a similar instrumental approach on her own resonant voice another strong standout. At its worst the disc is fair but never horrible; if songs like 's and ' leave little impact, they still sound pleasant and aren't a disservice to 's memory. ~ Ned Raggett