AS 19th century Harvard professor Francis Child discovered, when compiling his anthology; The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, traditional music from these isles becomes a very different beast when it crosses the Atlantic. Take Child Ballad number 10; Twa Sisters.

There are 21 variants, so who is to say which is the definitive?

That, surely, is the whole point of a living tradition, which means Emily Smith’s decision to interpret the song with one foot planted in her home of Dumfries, the other in Nashville makes perfect sense. Then there is Child Ballad number 19; King Orfeo, and My Darling Boy (The Trees They Do Grow High), both so familiar that without a fresh approach there would be little point to their inclusion. And boy do they get a different take here as growling alt-bluegrass.

Throughout Echoes, Smith melds Scottish tradition with Americana in a manner Francis Child would doubtless recognise. There can be no higher accolade.