JOHN Watterson has been organising Poppleton Live for a mere two years but already it's taking hold as a folk event of quality and friendliness.

Watterson's network in the folk world is impressive; he counts Fairport Convention (who played this year's event and last year too) among his friends. The festival has injected a flush of colour and energy in Poppleton, and 300 filled the sports hall on Saturday night to hear Ralph McTell, the folk singer, perform.

McTell is best known for the famous ballad Streets Of London, which was a huge hit in 1974, at one point selling 90,000 copies a day (a vast increase on today's more humble single sales). The song helped to ensure McTell has had a long career; he has recently turned 70 and celebrated 50 years of gigs.

Swarthy but looking good, McTell cut an avuncular uncle figure, one earring suggesting a more bohemian vision of life. A lifetime on the road has made McTell a powerful performer, understated and subtle but with the ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand. The Saturday night crowd were silent as McTell spun out stories with just a low, mature voice and some great sounding acoustic guitar.

McTell's thousands of gigs have made him a relaxed performer, and he managed the trick of talking and playing with real intimacy; not an easy feat. He described a London post-war childhood where kids played in the streets; his travels through Europe as a young man inspired by the hobo lifestyle of Woody Guthrie; playing with Paul Simon in the 1960s; and his unease at the social changes which he has witnessed in recent decades.

The songs were slow; some more up-tempo numbers would have helped to add light and shade, but there was some terrific moments: Peppers And Tomatoes was a stunning mediation on simmering cultural tensions, all the more powerful for its subtlety, while The Ghost Of Robert Johnson described the American blues legend, with some fantastic guitar playing to boot.

We were taken by the hand to see the old man in the closed-down market, but you got the feeling there's far more to McTell's expansive life and work than his most famous tune.