Not many concerts begin with saucy female morris dancers, or a sinister jester wiggling a tickling stick. But this was no ordinary concert. It was a celebration of Will Hodgkinson's book The Ballad of Britain, and featured the artists he met and recorded as he travelled the country, trying to capture the fiery spirit of modern folk music.

His major find was Stephanie Hladowski, a 21-year-old from Blackburn. Her voice drew gasps from the audience: it was both astonishingly strange and defiantly natural, carrying ballads such as Bonnie Annie and Bulgarian folk songs with fire and sensitivity. Londoner Sam Lee followed with his band, The Gillie Boys, who whittle folk into wonderful shapes. A pulsing mouth-organ gave The Wild Wood Amber a flavour of 70s krautrock band Neu!, while hints of disco and bluegrass added brilliant backing to Lee's baritone.

Aberdeen's Anthony Robertson and Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals offered two enthralling takes on autobiography. Robertson sang traveller songs passed to him by his great-aunt, Jeannie, while Rhys described his life through Welsh songs and his own compositions. "This one's about drinking beer in a coalmine," he announced, "something I would not recommend."

The night finished with the first family of folk, the Waterson-Carthys; mum Norma sat between husband Martin and daughter Eliza like a queen. As welcoming as ever, their sound was a whirlwind of strong voices, clacking fiddles and guitars, and passionate emotions. For the finale, they led the whole cast in an uplifting performance of Bright Phoebus; you could sense a new family being formed, and folk's future being blessed.