Ladies night at Bermuda Folk Club gave the audience a taste of some of the movers and shakers both locally and internationally during their performance at the Spanish Point Boat Club recently. It was double duty for musician Val Sherwood who not only performed but also was the Mistress of Ceremonies.

Her opening song 'For So Long' is a cool laid back tune that leaves you humming the chorus long after the song has stopped! It isn't very often one hears a spoken word performance, but the audience was treated to a love poem entitled 'Deep' which was thought provoking to say the least. Many in attendance concurred, Wallace gave a solid performance with a strong finisher with the tune entitled 'Without William'. This song has a wide appeal from War Veterans to younger people who have to endure the heartache of watching a loved one being shipped off to fight on the frontline.

The next artist has performed with some of the island's top performers in addition to being one quarter of the quartet "The Channel". Accompanied by Mike MacPhee, Joy Barnum was truly in her element as she launched into 'My Island Home', which has been hailed in many circles as 'the working man's anthem'. To pigeonhole Barnum would truly be an exercise in futility as this formally trained songstress cannot belt out a gritty tune such as "Death Blues" but croons with the best of them. Barnum boasts an impressive repertoire of songs and her brief stage stint was impressive to say the least. Barnum debuted two songs, the first, which was entitled, 'Lullaby', which was by no means a snoozer as the c crowd was really into this song.

'Psychedelic Love Child' was another catchy tune and her latest creation entitled 'Give Myself Away', as definitely a hit among the ladies in attendance. The Barnum MacPhee combo was a tough act to follow and their unplugged version of 'Children of the Sun' displayed Barnum's unrelenting passion that she has become noted.

The evening's headliner was a daughter of the soil, Lindsay Ferguson who described herself as an island girl at heart. Lindsay released her first ever full-length "SOUND" in September 2007 setting a record breaking attendance CD Release Party at The Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield Quebec. Lindsay's album was critically acclaimed as Canada's 2nd Best album of 2007, (only after Fiests "Reminder") by the Ottawa Citizen, one of Canada's leading newspapers.

Nearly three decades later, Lindsay has been honing her voice and song-writing by researching life talks through living and singing in various places Bermuda, Ontario, Newfoundland, Ireland, Peru, Quebec, California, Switzerland and now Toronto. Lindsay's 12-song set showed her eclectic combination of styles that is the hallmark of a consummate professional. It was obvious this songstress did her homework and being Ladies night, her performance of 'Breakthrough' showed she was by no means a shrinking violet and she has what it takes to wring every bit of emotion from the listener.

Her insightful lyrics gave the audience something to identify with, evoking a sense of empowerment to be wary of being too trusting. The audience could not get enough of the multitalented songstress who graced the audience with a two-song encore, namely 'Stop the Sigh' and 'Sky and Me'.

The next BFC show will be on June 27th, at the Spanish Point Boat Club, with an 8 p.m. start.