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As well as being a gathering of the great and good and naughty of the folk world, the Folk Alliance is a terrific showcase for upcoming singers, songwriters and musicians.

Many of them rent rooms in hotels and motels around the conference centre, pile all the furniture up in the corner, get a crate of beer and a few bottles of wine in and put on a show for passing agents, managers and record company people.

It was there in a room with six seats and a beer crate that I first saw Aoife O'Donovan and the band that was to become Crooked Still. I was amazed at their playing: banjo and cello provided a driving-web of sound over which Aoife's voice soared and swooped through a set of old-timey and bluegrass songs in a way that was totally mesmerising.

Since then the band have gone on to make four albums, tour the world and perform at concert halls, festivals and bars all over.

The audience here at Cambridge loved them.

They opened today's festival on main stage - and had the hardest spot of the day: 12 noon before an audience that was only half awake. They were soon fully awake and rocking along with the band for 40 glorious minutes.

I was lucky enough to be able to get Aoife and Greg from the band into the Outside Broadcast van for an interview which will go out on my programme soon; we had a good old natter and played a few tracks from their albums including a fabulous version of a Bill Monro classic "Can't You Hear Me Calling" from their new live album on which Aoife is joined by Laurie Lewis on vocals - believe me it is terrific