"There are no true traditional singers left", is a despairing adage that's been voiced by self-conscious folk revivalists ever since Cecil Sharp's day. Thank goodness for people like John Howson at Veteran, who delight in proving it wrong again and again.

Veteran's first C.D. is a compilation culled from their cassette catalogue, 25 tracks leaning heavily toward unaccompanied song, but with several instrumental, dance and choral tracks to give a pleasing variety. The picture is predominantly a rural English one, with the collector's traditional hunting grounds of Sussex and East Anglia well represented. You also get fine Irish fiddle music from London and Liverpool (Lucy Farr and Sean MacNamara respectively), and contributions from Cornwall (the splendid Charlotte Renals) to Lancashire (Sam Sherry) and Cleveland (Staithes Fishermen's Choir). The late Bob Cann leads the Dartmoor Pixie Band with his bouncy melodeon and stepdances to grandson Mark Bazely's concertina, Bampton Morris dance Cotswold, while traditional carol from Padstow provides lump-in-the-throat harmonies. Singers range from the twinkling roguishness of George Fradley to the accuracy and vibrato of Johnny Doughty, the earthy warmth of Walter Pardon, the drama of Gordon Hall and the pastoral gentleness of Bob Lewis, all displaying the deliberate pacing and clear diction that traditional singers hold up as beacon. The art of storytelling, in fact.