In what has been Ich Bin Ein American week across the world, The Barbican’s two-night Folk America could hardly have been better timed. Tonight, it’s Greenwich Village Revisited. Last night, sub-titled Hollerers, Stompers and Old Time Ramblers, was a celebration of the outer limits of Americana.

The three-hour show was compered by Steve Wold, better known as Seasick Steve, the 68-year-old who this week became the oldest-ever Brit nominee. After wittily introducing each act (“I never heard of any of these people,” he cheerily admitted), he remained on stage, sat in his lil ol’ rockin’ chair, feet on his big ol’ footstool, a man at peace with the upswing in his fortunes.

While Seasick Steve might be the brilliantly marketed man of the moment, remarkably polished performances of his own Chiggers and Furry Lewis’s Falling Down Blues showed that he’s more than just a lucky pensioner. Steve might have been why the Barbican was sold out (there were even T-shirt touts outside afterwards) but he was ably supported.

The chilling and wounded Diana Jones covered Bye Bye Blackbird with a menace notably absent from Ringo Starr’s version. The dickie-bow wearing, alien-voiced Australian-American CW Stoneking offered “jungle calypso murder ballads”. Allison Williams and Chance McCoy staged a banjo/fiddle hoe-down and if the vaudeville-tinged Wiyos weren’t nearly as funny as they thought they were, Cedric Watson & Bijoux Creole featured a washboard, sang in French-Creole and were irresistibly life-affirming.

BBC4 filmed for broadcast tomorrow at 10pm but over-obtrusive cameramen and harsh, television-friendly lighting dampened the atmosphere so much that nobody danced until the ensemble encore, where Seasick Steve could be found furiously bashing a tea caddy. Even when he tried to blend in, he still stood out. Truly a star.