Every month, we get inside the minds of some of the biggest names in music. This issue it’s Pentangle vocalist Jacqui McShee. She was part of the original 1960s line-up with Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, and has subsequently become the longest-serving member continuing their musical legacy as Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle. More recently, she’s been collaborating with Dando Shaft’s Kevin Dempsey. The creative partnership has led to the pair forging the McDem label and the release of this year’s From There To Here. This is her story.

Words: Paul Sexton

It’s not 20 miles from where Jacqui McShee was born in south-east London to where she now lives in Surrey. But in terms of the creative reach and influence of her work as a singer and songwriter across more than half a century, she’s certainly covered a long distance.

From There to Here album, with Kevin Dempsey.

As the guiding light of Pentangle, McShee has been (reluctantly) front and centre of some of the most important progressive folk recordings in history. For all her natural modesty, her voice is a constant across six decades of inquisitive exploration of the place where British musical tradition and experimentation meet.

Across half a dozen albums in the late 1960s and early 70s, the original five-piece were an array of dazzling dexterity, developed with bandmates Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox. Consecutive appearances at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1969 and 1970 were complemented by transatlantic and European tours and acclaim, and more than a few adventures for someone who shuns the solo spotlight.

The Wight stuff: onstage at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1969.

DAVID REDFERN/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES

Later line-ups of the group have led to the latter-day Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle, which she’s continued to steer in the 21st century. Meanwhile, the band’s past achievements have been rightly recognised with such accolades as a Lifetime Achievement trophy at the BBC Folk Awards of 2007.

In 2020, McShee bathed her accomplishments in a new light with the release of From There To Here, a beguiling collaboration with guitarist and kindred spirit Kevin Dempsey. It’s a knowing combination of traditional pieces, new compositions and experience that no money could buy.

“John Renbourn, for years, had been saying, ‘We’ve got to do a duo album, because we’ve never done one.’ He had all this stuff, his place was just chockablock with MiniDiscs, tapes, reelto-reel, every format you can think.”

On discovering Jacqui to be a driving-distance neighbour, Prog accepted her invitation to visit her at home for a socially distanced yet charmingly warm chat about how she did, indeed, get from there to here.

Jacqui, the new album might hold a few surprises for those who think of you purely from a Pentangle perspective. First of all, how did the musical partnership with Kevin Dempsey come about?