Their religion is fine ale, harmonies and the Colne Valley.
So it is no wonder that Golcar folk duo Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow chime with so many folk.
Not least with musical heavy weights such as members of Bellowhead, Magic Numbers, Chumbawamba, Lady Maisery and the Kate Rusby Band, who have come together to help the pair record album number five.
A prescient piece, Shadows tackles contemporary issues with rousing music and lyrics straight from their Yorkshire hearts.
“It’s been about two years in the making,” said Heidi Tidow, one half of the act.
“We started collecting ideas as soon as we brought out The Hum (album number three) in 2014.
“We didn’t want to rush it and had planned to release it in spring this year but we weren’t really ready and we’re glad we waited.
“It was launched at the Cambridge Folk Festival with a band that was made up of the musicians featured on our album.
“We asked Pete Flood (Bellowhead, drums and percussion) Michele Stodart (Magic Numbers, electric guitar, bass and ebow) Andy Seward (Kate Rusby Band, double bass) Jude Abbott (Chumbawamba, trumpet and flugelhorn) and Rowan Rheingans (Lady Maisery, viola).
“They are all people we’ve met along the way whose work we admire.
“We decided to ask them if they wanted to be involved on the off chance and it turned out that they were all really up for it.”
The 11 tracks address everything from unwelcome far right propaganda and the plight of refugees to wonder woman cyclist Beryl Burton and their love of Huddersfield.
“We are proud Huddersfield residents,” said Heidi.
“Track one, Colne Valley Hearts, is about our love of the Colne Valley.
“It’s beautiful but has a rugged feel and a gritty Yorkshireness to it.
“I feel very welcome here despite the fact you have to live here about 50 years to be considered local.
“We were prompted to write track two, Made in England, because we’d been getting a lot of disgusting far right leaflets through our letter box.
“We couldn’t have known when we wrote the song about brexit, which happened later, and the fall-out from that.
“But it has a lot of resonance when we sing it live.”
O’Hooley and Tidow are now midway through a new tour which will end at Marsden Mechanics Hall on October 29.
“We’re saving the best until last, of course,” said Heidi.
“Hopefully we’ll be well warmed up by then.
“We’re bringing the band on tour with us – it’s going to be great to have them there with us.”
They will not have long finished their current tour before they set back on the road again.
“We’ve got a small one called Winter Folk that will see us through to the new year.
“We’ll be playing alternative Christmas songs and carols in more intimate locations.
“There will be two gigs in Marsden on December 9 and 10 as part of this.”
Heidi had time to reflect on their last tour, titled Summat’s Brewing, which saw them visit some of the country’s best boozers to promote independently made real ale.
“It was brilliant,” said Heidi.
“We had a full house every night.
“It was based around our love of independent real ale and was inspired by Huddersfield, which has so much of it.
“Our Huddersfield date was at The Sportsman, one of our favourite pubs.
“You would think that we woke up with a sore head each morning but a lot of the time we were driving so we didn’t get to drink that much in the end!”
