This week, instead of The Charlotte being rammed full of people dressed in black listening to punk, metal or whatever type of top volume guitar music that is usually found there, a small group of music lovers have come to enjoy the acoustic sounds of three of Leicester’s finest folk artists in order to raise money for Voluntary Service Overseas. | "The pair brings together the best aspects of our countries folk heritage." | | Samuel Jones, on The Yarns |
Cool As Folk is a Leicester based folk night that first appeared on the 06 January this year. Its loose aim is to get together folk artists, get them to play, see what happens and give the money to charity; simple. Lucky for us, due to the first night's success we are treated to a second leg. Paul Williams, Grace PetrieThe night starts with Paul Williams, his relaxed strumming and harmonic voice perfectly come together to perform his self penned songs such as 'Spectres'. These however are given depth by a good choice of covers by the likes of Donovan.  | | Grace Petrie |
Even though it's hard to tell, Grace Petrie has only been doing concerts for a year and has already racked up support slots with the like of the Bluetones and the Million Dead. Grace has an amazing voice and a distinct picking style which fills its melodic potential on a surprising cover of Basement Jaxx's 'Romeo'. She has been described as a female Billy Bragg and you can see what people mean when you listen to her tales of everyday life in songs like 'The TopShop Song'. The YarnsThe Yarns are a Sheffield/Leicester based folk duo that shines with confidence and technical ability that musicians spend hours in smoky pubs trying to achieve. The pair brings together the best aspects of our countries folk heritage and the jingle jangle attitude of the new wave of the pop/punk bands such as the Artic Monkeys. What more, one could go even as far to compare the lyrical depth of the songs to that of the Lancashire wordsmith John Cooper Clarke. 'Shouldn't Have Done That' describes the train of thought most people have on a Saturday morning, while 'Indistinguishable' provides a commentary on the social pressures of the everyday everyman. A fantastic way to cap off a fantastic night of acoustic music. There are no definite plans for a third installment of Cool as Folk however news to be coming up soon on the events MySpace Website. | 
