Harbottle and Jonas at The Barrel House Ballroom, Totnes

Harbottle and Jonas performed at The Barrel House Ballroom in Totnes with support from Cornish fiddle and cittern player Richard Trethewey. Trethewey’s set leaned on traditional airs and dry Cornish storytelling, setting a tone rooted in regional folk practice.

The duo—Freya and Dave Harbottle, who also happen to be partners—built their set around close harmony work. Their voices move together with unusual precision, shifting intervals in ways that feel deliberate rather than decorative. On faster material, the band carried a rhythmic push that lifted the songs beyond careful revivalism.

Much of the material draws from older Southwest folk sources: songs about smugglers, coastal life, and the Devon landscape. Rather than treating these as museum pieces, the duo delivered them with enough directness to keep the room engaged