The Sandy Denny Project

The Sandy Denny Project play the Jim Marshall Auditorium at The Stables on Thursday 5 November, starting at 8:00pm. It's a folk-rock evening built around the songs of Sandy Denny, the voice of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay, and the band approaches her writing as an interpretation rather than a tribute act. They're not out to slavishly copy the records; they're playing the songs their own way.

The line-up brings together a fair few folk and roots connections. Sally Barker, known from The Poozies and BBCTV's The Voice, and guitarist PJ Wright, of TradArrr and The Dylan Project, both come from Fotheringay MkII. They're joined by multi-instrumentalist Marion Fleetwood, who's played with Feast of Fiddles and Fire and Dust, and Gemma Shirley, also of TRADarrr. The rhythm section is provided by bassist Mat Davies and drummer Mark Stevens, both from the folk-rock veterans Little Johnny England.

That's a good bit of ground to cover in one band — folk-rock, traditional music, and a fair few years of playing together. The reviews have been kind, with critics calling the show 'a brilliant concert', 'the best gig of the year' and 'magical'. Mick Donovan put it quite plainly: the band aren't preserving Denny's legacy, they are her legacy. If you're a fan of her writing, that's exactly the kind of thing you want to hear — the songs still working and breathing rather than kept under glass.

Tickets are £24.50 including the booking fee, and the night kicks off at 8:00pm at The Stables in Milton Keynes.