One of the underappreciated parts of English music was acoustic blues and folk scene on the other side of the pond. Bands like Pentangle, The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention were a major influence on the American music scene, also setting up things for the upcoming World Music genre, as added 
flavors of Asia and Africa were brought in for good measure
One of the major proponents was guitarist John Renbourn. By the 1970s, Renbourn left Pentangle to form his own group, and it was a good one, with Tony Robert/fl, Keshav Sathe/tab, Sandy Spencer/cel and Jacqui McShee/voc. The band mixes tunes from the Pentangle days as well as material from their own eponymous release, with McShee in rich 
voice in “My Johnny Was A Shoemaker”, and Renbourn in a nice folk blues mood on “Kokome Blues”. The addition of table makes material like “A Maid In Bedlam” sound far ahead of its time, with the lithe pulse sweetly swinging.
Fellow Pentangle alumnus guitar and vocalist Bert Jansch is recorded later in his career in this 2006 concert with dvd and cd combined displaying the pastoral and laid back allure of his playing and singing. He handles a reading of “Blues Run The Game” and “Trouble In Mind” like he grew up in the rural south, while his own material, like “Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning” , “She Moved Through The Fair” and the title tune feel like a stroll through an English garden. UK folk material such as “My Donal’” and “Rosemary Lane” have an authentic feel, with no polish, just a feel like you’re taking in a local lad at the pub on a rainy night. Informal joys.
Along the same time as Pentangle was the group Steeleye Span, which focused on traditional folk themes with a dash of modern (read “electrical”) instrumentation. The band plugged in a bit and added a drummer by the early seventies, but still impress on a pair of concert discs. One at de Montfort Hall in 1978 brings in Carthy and art with Rick Kemp/b, John Kirkpatrick/acc Nigel Pegrum/dr and Prior for fresh reads of the hypnotic “Cam Ye O’er Fae France” and a return to older material as they bring back Buddy Holly’s “Rave On”. Never did music from the 19th Century sound so modern.