A TANGLED WEB

Pentangle were among the vanguard of British folk-rock, drawing on progressive and psychedelic influences as well as the traditional acoustic sounds that first fired up the scene. Their initial lifespan would be barely five years, but during that time they would prove hugely influential to a wide range of artists. Now 81, Jacqui McShee, one of the defining voices of the era, speaks to Rob Fitzpatrick

- Rob Fitzpatrick

In the bottom right-hand corner of Jacqui McShee's front room in her home in a small Surrey town, there are two stacks of records. The deck tucked away on the sideboard suggests they've maybe not been played much recently, but they're a testament to someone with exquisite taste who happened to be born at a fortuitous time. There's the obvious Dylan and Joni, James Taylor and Carole King, there's even a copy of 10cc's Deceptive Bends in there, but look a little closer and there's Thad Jones, Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, a great stretch of Miles Davis and her beloved Bill Evans - of whom more later - some Wizz Jones, Maddy Prior, John Martyn, Terry Reid and loads of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, all OGs, like the rest.

"I still miss them, you know," she says, later. "I never thought I was going to be doing it this long."

This writer last spoke to McShee - and the rest of Pentangle - when they received their Lifetime Achievement gong from Sir David Attenborough at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. When I check the date of that interview, I realise it's now 18 years to the day since we met.

"I STILL MISS [PENTANGLE]. I NEVER THOUGHT I'D BE DOING IT THIS LONG"

"We didn't do any rehearsing," she laughs when she remembers that Radio 2 Awards performance. "We just laughed so much. I shouldn't really be telling these tales, but it's all true. Nobody listening to the radio that night would have known, but what they do is, you play your songs the day before the event and they record it, which was good because on the night Terry was so nervous he cocked it up!"

Terry Cox told me he cried when Jansch played him Blackwaterside that day, RC informs McShee, while Jansch sighed and reflected, "You don't realise how much you've missed it all."