STEVE KNIGHTLEY is one of England's finest singer-songwriters, whose songs benefit from the virtuosity of multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer.

Together, as Show Of Hands, they are one of the best live acts playing roots/acoustic music today.

Proof that Knightley's muse still burns bright is Roots, his robust reaction to a comment by Government Minister Kim Howells that his idea of hell was listening to three Somerset folk singers in a pub.

This Knightley polemic urges the English to celebrate their nationality by looking to their traditional stories and songs. He sang it with passion to a capacity crowd in Pocklington on Wednesday, accompanied by Beer on fiddle and guest musician Miranda Sykes on double bass and vocals.

It was just one of many highlights of a concert brimming with songs and toe-tapping tunes, played on fiddle, guitar, mandolin, mando-cello and cuatro. There was even some dry ice to enhance the sophisticated lighting and sound effects.

Knightley and Beer, who have come a long way since playing pubs in Somerset 15 years ago, played old favourites like The Oak, Tall Ships, Cousin Jack, You're Mine, Be Lucky, a ghostly Widdecombe Fair, Santiago, The Train, Country Life, Are We Alright? and Sydney Carter's bleak Crow On The Cradle.

They also played songs from their radical new album Witness, including the title track about an alternative community in Devon; Undertow, which depicts life in a job-starved seaside town; All I'd Ever Lost, about rummaging through your past life in an attic; The Dive, inspired by a sea rescue drama; and Union Street (Last Post) about a Royal Marine serving overseas.

Quality songs from a quality act.