Bridget St John’s deserved repute rests on the series of albums she recorded for Dandelion and Chrysalis in the late 60s and early 70s. In those years a prolific performer, from Les Cousins to festival stages, championed by Peel and a Radio 1 regular, her smoky but never abrasive vocals ensured her immediate recognition. Sliding out of view, and relocating to the US, when she returned to the stage in the mid-90s it was low-key, though the loyal devotees were always there.

Over the last decade or so her profile has again risen, her 70s catalogue is all available again, and she’s recorded and toured with the likes of Michael Chapman and Emma Tricca. Her recent live shows, generally in smaller places, have been thrilling, riveting, and unmissable. And they continue; these last few weeks she’s been touring the West Coast with Evie Sands, this coming weekend they’ll be at McCabes in LA. A pair of English dates are projected for the summer.

Nigel Cross at Shagrat Records has been a long-time supporter, and this is his fourth release of her material. 10”vinyl carrying the usual Shagrat trade mark of quality with the tracks mastered and the whole package design and layout by Tony Poole. Covering My Brothers is exactly what it says; her brothers are all singing-songwriters she’s known and performed with over the years, and who are no longer here.

The entire first side is taken up with ‘Aviator’ by Michael Chapman; recorded in late 2020 for a celebration of Chapman’s eightieth birthday it features guitars and keyboards, BJ Cole on pedal steel and Sarah Smout on cello – the latter pair had joined Michael and Bridget on their notable 2019 tour. It’s a compelling, stately tour de force beginning with footsteps on gravel, then a simple, stark drumbeat and Bridget’s voice forward, restrained instrumentation as gradually BJ and Sarah show themselves. Captivating all the way to the final long goodbye where ‘my’ becomes ‘our’ in the repeated “to take our time away” enriched even more by Jonny Rosch’s responses, before the footsteps return and then fade.

Side Two features her take on Nick Drake’s ‘Fly’ originally heard on a 2018 Mojo tribute album; a rich reading with guitars from Gary Sieger. John Martyn’s ‘Head And Heart’ is a demo from late 1973, with her accompanying herself on twelve-string. It was sent to the composer who’d been originally set to produce Jumblequeen; his daughter Mhairi recently turned it up on a reel to reel and returned it to Bridget. Finally comes Kevin Ayers’ ‘Jolie Madame’; a 2023 live performance in Vermont accompanied by David Nagler’s grand piano; and prefaced by heartfelt words about ‘brothers gone but still here in their music’.

An essential purchase, though as ever with Bridget’s releases on Shagrat it won’t hang around long, and ordering through the label will give you a further track – a download of ‘Lazarus’ on which she’s accompanied by Michael Chapman. Buy it here.

Bridget plays Folk East on 16th Aug, and The Betsey Trotwood the following afternoon.