I first "discovered" this brilliant London, England-based folk music duo at a gig organized by a local gig-booking group called (shameless plug) Warthog Promotions, based at the nearby village of Lowdham (in England).Megson are a husband/wife duo, consisting of Stu Hanna and Debbie Hanna-Palmer.
Take Yourself A Wife is their third album, which according to the Financial Times "was recorded while they were planning their wedding" and features their original takes on a collection of songs written by songwriters of North-Eastern England and ranging from 1700s-1900s.
Debbie contributes vocals and concertina, whereas Stu contributes vocals, octave mandola, mandolin, guitar, bass and fiddles.
My favourite number on this album is the title track, "Take Yourself A Wife" which is a call to a single man of 31 to hurry up and (funnily enough) take yourself a wife. That is closely followed by "Fourpence A Day", a story of a little child living in poverty and having to work as a washer boy for a pittance.
The whole album is quite mellow, although the faster numbers will (at the least) have you tapping your foot along with the beat. Of course, it helps that Stu and Debbie are both very accomplished folk musicians.
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