BY HIS own admission, Middlesbrough- born musician Paul Donnelly “finds words hard” – but that hardly matters when you can make an instrument sing in such an expressive way as he does.

Dance for the King takes its title from one of the many songs in this travelogue of a concert, in which composerguitarist Donnelly shows how, on journeys around the world, he has absorbed traditional exotic styles and used them to produce tunes with a contemporary feel.

Backed by a three-man ensemble on percussion, bass and guitar, and with the appearance of a dancer for several pieces, he moved with apparent effortlessness through different tempos and tunes across several genres.

A revision of this apparent effortlessness was called for in the second half, when he swapped his faithful old acoustic guitar for an electric one and gave a virtuoso account of dramatic finger tapping with the right hand while the left extracted a complicated melody on the strings.

Amanda Gregory, dancing barefoot in the first half, injected a narrative element, expressing youthful exuberance in a fast-paced opening number, suggestive of windin- the-hair, open road freedom, while in the following song, her movements took her down to floor level in a more langorous and reflective interpretation. Her Dance for the King and flamenco foot tapping in heels were equally elegant and eloquent.

There was professional backing from Mick Wright on guitar, brilliant hand-drumming from Bill Pamplin, and richtoned rhythmic support by Neil Harland on bass.

The numbers were put together with a nice awareness of mood change, but overall the concert offered a cheery feel-good factor that was very welcome in these downbeat times.