 |
| |
|
|
|
Cadillac Kings
29th March 2008
We were looking for a lively, party atmosphere to round off our season and that’s just what we got. Although reticent during the first half, the jivers came to the floor after the interval and by the conclusion of the evening more than twenty couples were dancing away happily.
Lead vocalist Mike Thomas ensured everything moved along apace and he was surrounded on all sides by some terrific instrumentalists. Gary Potts excelled on harmonica – he has been described as ‘one of the best harmonica players on the planet’ - whilst also taking some of the vocals whilst Mal Barclay was a revelation on guitar. Original keyboards player Gary Howard had been drafted back into the line-up and nobody would have guessed that he had only been introduced to two of the other band members earlier in the afternoon! (It’s best we don’t say why the usual keyboardist wasn’t available!). Completing the band in the ‘back line’ were T.C. Copp on a rather grand double bass and Roy Webber on drums.
Although the music played was very much in the style of the 50’s many of the self-penned lyrics dealt with current themes such as regular exercise – no prizes for guessing the standpoint taken on that subject! – male impotence and plastic surgery. Several tracks were taken from the band’s award-winning ‘Highway 17’ CD whilst others will feature on a new album set for release later this year.
It was great to welcome quite a few new faces to a ‘Warthog’ gig amongst the very, very close to capacity audience
(Unfortunately our resident photographer Ed Herington was unable to attend the gig due to a raging toothache, which necessitated a visit to NHS Direct).
Back to top |
| |
|
|
| Rainbow Chasers
23rd February 2008
The music of Rainbow Chasers is intelligent, thoughtful and articulate but never dull. The performance they gave left everybody in a happy frame of mind, knowing they had seen Ashley Hutchings – resplendent in his red beret – delighting in letting his three young companions take centre-stage, figuratively speaking. Many of the songs in their near two-hour set were taken from their most recent CD ‘Fortune Never Sleeps’ including the upbeat ‘Better Be Smart’, the superb ‘River’s Tale’ performed accompanied in four-part harmony and ‘Stanley’s Wake’ which reflects the demise of the traditional English family farm. By strange coincidence, reference was made in the introduction to the song of ‘The Farm’ by Richard Benson, which it just so happens is being performed at Lowdham Village Hall in May.
There is a great empathy between the two ladies in the band, Jo Hamilton and Ruth Angell who come over as being ‘best buddies’ as well as bandmates. It was their playing and their happy smiling faces that arguably stole the show. The gentlemen even retired from the stage on a couple of occasions to let them perform alone, when their sense of fun was evident.
The band’s first album was only visited three times and whilst it was a shame not to hear one or two personal favourites such as ‘Those Broad Shoulders’ and ‘When I Jumped Ship’, the encouraging implication is that a new, third album may be on the way at some point. The newer, as yet unrecorded, material shows that the inspiration for new and varied songs is very much still in place. ‘Weather’ was an epic, inspired (if that is the right word) by climate change and Ruth Angell’s composition ‘Mrs. Lowther’s House’ was written for the late poet Dr. Roi Ankhkara Kwabena and tells of his childhood in Trinidad. Opening the show was another new composition, the up-tempo ‘High Peak Trail’ which was also played as the encore. And that worked……. a song we didn’t know became an old favourite just a couple of hours later!
Rainbow Chasers are a group you want to give a warm, collective hug! Lovely people playing contemporary music superbly well. As somebody said at the end “They’re up there with Kerfuffle”. Knowing how much our audience loves Kerfuffle, that is high praise indeed!
(Joe Topping will be performing solo at the Woodlark Folk Club in Lambley on Monday May 5th, whilst Ashley Hutchings and Ruth Angell both play in the ‘Lark Rise Band’ who will be appearing for us at the Lowdham Book Festival on Tuesday June 24th).
|
| |
|
|
Demon Barbers
25th January 2008
Fans of traditional music and dance were in for a rare treat on Friday night, when the Demon Barbers played to a full house at Lowdham Village Hall.
The Demon Barbers – led, of course, by Damien Barber – are an all-action band who bring the English tradition bang up to date. They use the standard line-up of guitar, violin, accordion, bass and drums to perform rocky versions of folk standards, with support from two highly disciplined clog dancers. Under their guise as the Demon Barber Roadshow, they gave one of the most impressive sets at last year’s Gate to Southwell Folk Festival, going into local schools for several days before the event to teach youngsters the delights of traditional song and dance.
Friday’s performance was a slightly smaller affair, with no rapper (sword) or Cotswold Morrismen on show, but Fiona Bradshaw and Hannah James did a great job as cloggers, even managing a sassy dance to the bluesy American tune Pit Boots. The music had all the ambience of the modern folk rock scene, and even included a heavy metal version of Death of a Lady, complete with bass and drum solos.
The set was disappointingly short, but it finished with the Grateful Dead’s Friend of the Devil and a medley based on the American song Katie Cruel, which was enough to send everyone home in a happy frame of mind, especially at the violin playing of Bryony Griffith.
The Demon Barbers perform with such style and passion, bringing in so many modern influences, that I was left with the thought that they represent nothing less than the future of the English tradition. |
| |
|
|
Daniel Smith Blues Band
14th December 2007
They may not wear flashy clothes or appear on stage amidst a swirl of dry ice, but boy do they know how to grab the audience’s attention right from the off. In a matter of minutes they had blitzed through their opening three or four numbers without even pausing for breath, and the audience knew they were in for a great night of blues and boogie-woogie.
The 2007 line-up was the same as 12 months earlier and they were well aware that they were coming to a Hall packed full with people ready to enjoy themselves. Daniel’s dry humour was familiar to many who had been to previous concerts. Of course it was his playing that they had come to see and at times the keyboard was being pounded so hard it seemed it would crash to the floor. Daniel and his band ran through a mixture of established blues favourites as well as some of Daniel’s own compositions, taken from the ‘Chicken and Egg’ and ‘Sitting On Top of the World’ CD’s. Tracks included ‘Friday Night’, ‘Chicken and Egg’, ‘Hey John’ and ‘Boogie On Swanee River’.
Previous experience suggested that the Village Hall piano would be put to good use and the audience was not disappointed as Daniel made two extended visits, giving some in the audience a real ‘up close and personal’ view of his flying fingers, supported from the stage by Pete Miles on drums. Pete excelled throughout but came into his own on an extended drum solo that included a ‘party piece’ on one of the Village Hall fire extinguishers – and this year the fire alarm was NOT set off!
On lead guitar was Jon ‘T-Bone’ Taylor – still wearing the same hat! – and he clearly revelled in playing in front of the packed house, leaving the stage on one occasion to play guitar in amongst those dancing at the side of the stage. Completing the line-up was George Pearson on bass, acoustic bass and vocals who received a rapturous reception for his trademark ‘Sitting on Top of the World’.
One final party-piece to which the audience was treated was the rarely-seen ‘bottleneck’ playing of both guitar and piano by ‘T-Bone’ and Daniel respectively. (For the record, from where I was sitting it looked like an (empty) bottle of Indian ‘Cobra’ lager!). Daniel, Jon, George and Pete played for almost two and a half hours, before sending everyone home in a very happy frame of mind.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Battlefield Band
23rd November 2007
One of the finest bands on the British folk scene played at Lowdham Village Hall on Friday night, and left everyone in the packed audience feeling their ears had not enjoyed such a harmonious bashing in a long time. The Battlefield Band – named after a district in Glasgow – have been on the music scene for three decades now, and have toured the world several times with their trademark blend of ancient and modern.
They are Alan Reid on keyboards, guitar and for many years the unmistakable voice of Scottish electric folk, Mike Katz on Highland bagpipes, small pipes and assorted flutes and whistles, Sean O’Donnell on vocals and guitar, and Hebridean fiddler Alasdair White, who is shortlisted this year for instrumentalist of the year in the Scottish Folk Awards.
Their music tends to be rousing, North of the Border electric folk, played in overdrive and guaranteed to get anyone’s toes tapping, with Mike Katz more than happy to prove the pipes can keep pace with the most sparkling fiddle-playing.
They revel in this style of music, which comes across as an easy blend of tradition and rock and they are well used to their audiences standing up to dance.
They ended the first half in great style, with a furious ten-minute bagpipe medley that practically raised the roof, and began the second half in similar style, clearly determined not to lose the energetic jigging mood. I never realised there were so many Scots in Lowdham.
But the Battlefield Band also have a more considered side, as witnessed by their delicate arrangement of My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose, and Ewan McColl’s The Ballad Of Accounting, a thoughtful and highly political 1960s protest song.
This was an evening of great music from a band that is justly world-famous, and the packed audience loved it.
They don’t pay too many visits to this part of the world, but I’m sure I speak for everyone in the audience when I say: “Haste ye back.”
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Kerfuffle
6th October 2007
What a wonderful evening. Kerfuffle seem to have come on a ton since last year and they were superb then. The knowledge that they were coming to a familiar and friendly venue enabled them to relax and enjoy themselves right from the off. The interaction between the band and the audience was lovely to see.
Much of Kerfuffle’s music is lively, toe-tapping material, particularly when Sam Sweeney (violin) and Hannah James (accordion) get into full swing but they are equally capable of hauntingly beautiful work such as Quendale Bay, taken from their first CD, recorded when they really were young. Several of the songs so beautifully sung by Hannah – for example, The Bold Grenadier and The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry – were followed by joyous tunes. One of the many humorous moments came when Hannah dedicated one of these tunes – The Old Maid of Galway – to a lady in the audience without immediately appreciating the implications!
Hannah’s clog-dancing, on her own personal section of extended stage, drew loud applause. This gives the band an added dimension as did the surprise inclusion – even to us – of a couple of four-part harmony songs. New guitarist Jamie Roberts has clearly settled well into the line-up and Sam’s older brother Tom was more vocal this year, ribbing his brother for returning from Newcastle with a cockney accent, after just one week!
The band will shortly be recording their fourth CD and judging by the new material played here, it will be a worthy successor to ‘Links’.
We’ll leave the final words to Tom and Sam’s dad –
“What an amazing gig. Thank you all very much indeed. When you set up such a splendid gig, look after the band and generally make everyone – audience included – feel special, then you get the best out of everyone. It was one of the best gigs I’ve heard them play. They really began to rock as the evening wore on”.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Waking the Witch
21st September 2007
This additional fund-raising event gave us the opportunity to welcome back to Lowdham our now good friends Patsy, Jools, Rachel and Becky. As the audience gathered from the ‘blooming Becky’ comments, there were actually five people on stage! (The baby is due in April – we’ll keep you posted!)
Once they were off and running, the girls really relaxed and enjoyed themselves in these by now familiar surroundings. The ‘Boys from the Abattoir’ CD provided the bulk of the songs, which are now familiar to many in the audience. The outstanding ‘Top of the Hill’ was especially moving, having been dedicated by the girls to Dave Watchorn. The happy sing-along ‘Yorkshire Boys’ gave the audience a chance to sing and clap along before the extended version of ‘Horse to Water’ with its band-member introductions closed the set
The earlier albums also featured with tracks such as ‘Poet of Harlem’, ‘Waking Hour’ and ‘Watching the Stars’ being familiar favourites. ‘Always One Like Her’ has become a particular crowd-pleaser as Becky plays a jaw-breaking jaws harp from start to finish – encouraging the others to prolong the end of the song, rather unkindly!
The show finished with ‘Kerry’s favourite’ ‘I Can’t Breathe’ which sent everyone away happy again. We are delighted that the evening raised around £250 for the Dave Watchorn trust.
|
| |
|
|
Heidi Talbot with Boo Hewerdine and Tola Custy
7th September 2007
To the list of people who have been stuck on the A46 on a Friday evening can be added the names of Heidi, Boo and Tola. Long delays meant they arrived just before the ‘doors open’ time of 7.30pm. Thankfully, a very speedy sound-check enabled them to take to the stage not long after 8pm. (One fan travelled up from Portsmouth, leaving at 2pm and arriving nearly 6 ½ hours later).
It didn’t take long for Heidi’s charm to captivate the audience as she held centre stage, flanked by fiddle-player Tola and guitarist Boo. Heidi’s one solo album to date, ‘Distant Future’ , was released in 2004 and tracks taken from this album included ‘Jealousy’, ‘Geography’ and ‘Muddy Water’, the latter two being Boo Hewerdine compositions. Her second album is scheduled for release in January and included on this will be ‘Invisible’ and ‘Cathedrals’, two undoubted highlights of this performance.
Boo took the limelight to sing another of his own songs, the beautiful ‘Patience of Angels’ whilst, in the second half, Tola had his turn to shine when he played a trio of Irish tunes whilst Heidi and Boo looked on admiringly.
Whilst some of the songs told of jealousy, plague and death it was not all gloom and doom! Heidi succeeded in getting the audience to sing along with the chorus of ‘The Music Tree’ and also to an unexpected composition familiar to everyone present – ‘Whispering Grass’. Other highlights included a very plaintiff and moving love song ‘If You Stay’ and the sorry tale of ‘Betsy Bell and Mary Gray’.
A great start to our new season. Back to top |
| |
|
|
Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri
29th June 2007
The two words we kept hearing in the aftermath of this concert were ‘wonderful’ and ‘fantastic’. Anyone expecting to see a ‘pop star’ relying on past glories to sustain a performance soon realized that Kiki and Carmelo were going to provide very much more than that. Yes, the hits were in there – and most in the audience were no doubt pleased to hear ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, ‘Amoureuse’ and ‘I’ve Got the Music in Me’. But also very much to the fore was material from the more recent albums ‘Where Rivers meet’ and in particular ‘The Walk of Faith’, including the uplifting ‘Oh Life’, a song inspired by Olympic swimmer Eric Moussambani. A third strand was provided by some very selective cover versions such as Tom Petty’s ‘Learning to Fly’, Peter Gabriel’s rather dark ‘Digging In the Dirt’ and Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’. And who would have expected to hear a stunning rendition of ‘It Was A Very Good Year’ recorded most famously by Frank Sinatra. Carmelo Luggeri was a revelation, his intensely passionate guitar-playing leaving the audience in awe. A further dimension was added by backing vocalist Annabel Lamb who did mistime her entrance at times, it has to be said. Kiki and Carmelo encored with versions of two very well-known and popular numbers – ‘How Can You Mend A Broken Heart’ and ‘How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You’ on which the audience joined in on the chorus. After leaving to a standing ovation, Kiki and Carmelo kindly stayed on for quite a while to sign CD’s and chat with members of the audience.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Paul Jones and Dave Kelly
23rd June 2007
REVIEW BY CAROL BORRINGTON, REVIEWER FOR BLUES MATTERS AND NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST
I had the great pleasure of attending, as part of the Lowdham Book Festival, Warthog Promotions’ concert featuring Paul Jones and Dave Kelly. Well done to Lowdham Book Festival and Warthog Promotions, not only for the organisation of this event but managing to battle the weather to allow it to take place. I attend a lot of gigs and venues trying to support live music and Lowdham you’re doing a great job!
To the concert itself, seated in the marquee on that for once dry evening, its atmosphere was like being in church with its feeling of deep concentration on the music in hand. This though, is typical of Blues audiences, they expel visible energy only in applauding material, the rest of the time it is channelled into intense listening and observation skills.
I’ve interestingly seen Paul Jones many times with his R’n’R hat on but this was the first time back to his Blues roots. Paul was keen to express that he was really a Bluesman first and foremost, offering as exhibit ‘A’ for his defence, a self penned song, ‘Without You’, which was on the ‘B’ side of Manfred Mann’s 5,4,3,2,1, which had been the early theme music to ‘Ready Steady Go’ in 1964. ‘Without You’ was written while at college whilst still 19 and before his professional career. Paul though needed no defence to show this and any audience that he truly is the Blues; that came through his music, as witnessed at Lowdham. Along with Dave Kelly, his colleague from The Blues Band, not only did they take us through some fine renditions of covered Blues in a historical context, but their own self-penned material as well. The dialogue from the stage from both performers was not only funny but like taking a Master Class of Blues history and noting this was a cross-generational audience and contained a number of younger members, a good grounding in the early Blues history.
Dave’s slide playing on his dobro was top class, it was fluid with good sustain, fretboard use and bends and had a real feel of those early days of the pioneer Blues players. There was great harp playing from Paul Jones and although he does have and uses the more polished vocal of the popular singers, when the song required we had all the grit in the throat of the true Bluesman and the facial and body language required to underpin the intensity and at times pure satire of the Blues.
This was an excellent evening’s entertainment provided by all involved. My sincere thanks to the artists, organisers and the people of Lowdham for making me so welcome in your community and being able to share a night of quality live music. Keep Supporting Live Music, Lowdham.
|
|
Jacqui Dankworth
17th March 2007
From the moment she took her position centre-stage, Jacqui Dankworth gave an outstanding show in front of another full house. Looking elegant in her figure-hugging halter-neck black dress, this was a regal performance by a very classy lady. On either side sat her superb guitarists Chris Allard and Mike Walker, who made a huge contribution to the evening.
Jacqui’s vocal control was exquisite and effortless and various musical styles came to the fore as the evening progressed. As expected there was a heavy jazz influence with the likes of Lerner & Loewe’s ‘Almost Like Being In Love’ being very familiar but equally there were some surprises. One particular highlight was ‘Wild Is The Wind’, written for the 1956 film of the same name and popularised by David Bowie some twenty years later, when included on his album ‘Station to Station’. Also, Jacqui had added words to a composition by jazz-fusion band Oregon – whilst enduring a long drive down the M1 – it was one of those tunes that you recall from somewhere but can’t remember where!
Jacqui’s composition ‘Strange Woman’ was another highlight as were the forays into more bluesy territory, notably ‘Sitting on Top of the World’ which was delivered with a wonderfully raspy vocal. Emotion was there too, particularly when Jacqui delivered a from-the-heart version of ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’, recorded most famously by Bonnie Raitt.
We watched in admiration as this complete professional performed at a high level for well over two hours. The well-deserved encore was entitled ‘But Beautiful’……. which just about sums it up.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Waking the Witch
2nd February 2007
“Fabulous! The audience here is one of the best we ever play in front of”
We are required by Arts Council England to obtain artist feedback after some of our events. The above quote is Waking the Witch’s comment in the ‘Audience reaction’ section after this performance, so a big thank you from us to everyone who helped to make it such a great night.
Last year the band took the bold step of opening the show with an acapella version of ‘Always One Like Her’ and this time around, in another surprise move, they kicked things off with the dramatic ‘Poet of Harlem’ taken from their debut CD, which also provided the glorious ‘Waking Hour’ and ‘Like Everybody’.
The newly-released ‘Boys from the Abattoir’ helped the girls to display their more ‘urban and gritty’ (their words, not ours!) side, with ‘Me Leaving Me’, ‘Only Human’ and ‘Horse to Water’ all fitting this description. Becky Mills’ songwriting skills are developing apace – contrast the last-named with the story-telling of ‘Jenny Thornton and the Boys from the Abattoir’ and, from the second CD, the plaintiff and beautiful ‘Man of Moon’. Not only this, she has also added the slide guitar and jaws harp to her repertoire.
All four girls can deliver cracking songs as evidenced by the likes of Rock’n’Roll (Patsy), My Conscience Keep (Jools) and I Can’t Breathe (Rachel). Bands like Waking the Witch pose us a real problem – we know we can’t put on too many repeat concerts, but how can we not want to welcome them again!
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Daniel Smith Blues Band
15th December 2006
Daniel and his band became the first artists to perform twice for Warthog Promotions, this concert being the second year that they have played in the run-up to Christmas. And once again all tickets were sold. There was just one change in the band line-up, with Pete Miles taking over from Damon Sawyer behind the drums.
The band soon had everybody tapping their feet, whilst marvelling at the speed of Daniel’s keyboard-playing. If anything, the volume was turned up a bit compared with last year. Everybody had their turn in the limelight and we will remember Pete’s drum solo for the accompanying fire alarm! Daniel was to blame for this as he unintentionally set it off whilst carrying the fire extinguisher to Pete for him to play on!
Once again Jon ‘T-bone’ Taylor excelled on guitar to the delight of his growing Lowdham fan-base. Bass guitarist George Pearson contributed some fine vocals, and also joined Daniel at the village hall piano for one of the two boogie-woogie sessions that was lapped up by the audience. The customary extended encore sent everyone home happy once again.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
New Rope String Band
17th November 2006
Three of the band members are playing a gentle, lilting melody but sadly there is no need for an accordion player so Tim is dispatched to the side of the stage. After staring at the ceiling and the floor for a while, he produces a flask and proceeds to pour himself a mug of tea, which he rests on his accordion. Feeling peckish, he finds a hot boiled egg in his pocket along with an egg cup, and the egg is duly consumed. Seeing his reflection in the teaspoon and noticing his stubbly chin, he produces shaving cream and a razor to rectify this. The audience is laughing hysterically whilst the beautiful tune is being played, resulting in an upset Vera leaving the stage and heading off to the dressing room, the door to which is slammed shut, very loudly. Pete chastises the audience in no uncertain terms, explaining that he now has to “comfort that poor Dutch girl with my own bare hands”, at which point he, too, departs from the stage.
This is one small section extracted from almost two hours of non-stop, musically-inspired tomfoolery that captivated a capacity audience. It is less than a year since Tim Dalling and Pete Challoner (‘Old Rope’) joined forces with Vera van Heeringen and Jock Tyldesley (‘Young Rope’) to form ‘New Rope’ and the act is still evolving, with old favourites such as “J’ai plongez mes long-jeans” appearing alongside new material such as the weird and wonderful ‘pipes tune’, that concluded with a section of the audience being showered with shiny confetti. (That did less damage than Tim’s flying false arm which unfortunately demolished somebody’s glass of red wine!).
Tim’s facial expressions make him ideal for the role of fall guy and funny man, whilst long-time colleague Pete is a great communicator with the audience, even when reprimanding or insulting them. Jock and Vera are clearly growing more comfortable with their roles within the band and ‘musical notes’ was a lot slicker and funnier than when we saw it performed six months ago.
We’ll leave the final verdict with the audience. 90% of those who completed the audience feedback questionnaires rated the show as ‘Fantastic’, whilst 100% said they would wish to see the band again. Lowdham has not seen the last of the ‘New Ropes’, all being well.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Kerfuffle
13th October 2006
What a stunning performance from this quartet, whose appeal is so diverse that teenagers and senior citizens alike were swept along by their musical prowess. All four have talent but no doubt most eyes were trained on the left-hand side of the stage where stood (or sat) Sam Sweeney and Hannah James.
Sam’s opening line immediately got the audience on his side, as he explained that his cold was so bad that he’d had to have a day off school! (Age-wise, 1 Acoustic Strawb = 3 Kerfuffles!) What a precocious talent, not only with the violin but also with handling the audience! He could play haunting, lyrical melodies but it was the up-tempo playing that really got the audience going. To quote the lad himself – “This next tune’s a bit of a stonker”.
To have such an outstandingly gifted player in a band is fair enough, but isn’t having two just a wee bit greedy? In Hannah James, Kerfuffle has its second rising star – not only does she have a sweet, maturing voice, her playing of the accordion is a joy and her clog-dancing got some of the loudest cheers of the night. The band is completed by Sam’s older brother Tom on bass guitar and Chris Thornton-Smith on guitar – who at his tender age also produces the band’s albums. As for highlights….. there was just one….. the entire time they were on the stage.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Acoustic Strawbs
9th September 2006
The day got off to an unexpected start, with the band arriving more than two hours ahead of schedule. Dave Cousins announced that he was feeling “exceedingly tired” and so Pete kindly lent him a spare bedroom for a couple of hours – which was much appreciated! Our labelling of the seats with individual names seemed to work well on the whole, despite one or two minor hiccups.
Just a few minutes after 8pm, the band were on stage and launching into Benedictus, soon followed by other tracks from the classic ‘Grave New World’ album, including ‘Heavy Disguise’ and a personal favourite, ‘New World’. (Magic moment No. 1 – Dave Cousins rasping out in typically dramatic fashion ‘May you rot, in your grave, new world’). He added that the song was given added poignancy by the proximity of the 5th anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers. The first half closed with a superb rendition of ‘Autumn’. (Magic moment No. 2 – Dave Lambert’s ‘seagull cries’ at the opening of the track).
Dave Cousins held centre stage, of course, but many we have spoken to saw ‘the other Dave’ as their personal favourite. Mr Lambert had complete command of his guitar and some of his ‘thrash acoustic’ playing certainly made you sit up and take note. The second half of the two-hour long set included some lesser-known tracks including Golden Salamander, Midnight Sun and the more delicate ‘If’. Saving the best-known song until the end, the opening chords of ‘Lay Down’ got a few people out of their seats and swaying in time with the chorus. (Magic moment No. 3 – looking across the Hall at everyone having a great time, whilst Dave Cousins roared out ‘Lay down, ah, lay me down….’ The much-deserved encore was a stunningly simple version of ‘Hero and Heroine’ – free of all the studio-added dramatic effects and featuring some fine playing of the bodhran by Dave Lambert. Lest no-one should think this is a two-man band, it would be remiss not to mention Chas Cronk – the quiet one certainly, but also making his presence felt and a great contribution to the overall sound of the band.
Another great night…… and only just over a month to the next one!
Back to top |
| |
|
|
The Cecil Sharp Show
18th June 2006
For an hour and a half, Ashley Hutchings ceased to exist. From the moment he walked through the door into the Hall, he was Cecil Sharp. Was this really the same person who, less than 24 hours earlier, had been expertly playing the acoustic bass guitar? This charming performance held an audience of around eighty people captivated. The ‘Show’ seems to be rarely aired these days and the Rural Arts Touring Scheme would seem an ideal vehicle for it, such is its quiet appeal. Ashley/Cecil took us back in time with stories of characters he had encountered as he travelled the country collecting songs – people who would only sing whilst working, or whilst ironing, or who were reluctant to sing for him. Cleverly, his way of encouraging the latter was to (deliberately) give a song some wrong words, knowing they would not be able to resist correcting him!
As well as listening to ‘Cecil’, we heard some very tinny and crackly early recordings made by the great man. A very worthwhile contribution was also made by ‘Rainbow Chaser’ Ruth Angell who sang some of the collected songs, accompanying herself on guitar and violin. Cecil Sharp travelled to America and in particular the Appalachians (“where most of the women smoke pipes”), noting that here, unlike at home in England, it was the youngsters who provided him with songs. One such song was the murder ballad ‘Matty Groves’ which was given a stunning solo rendition by Ruth, albeit a truncated version.
This was a show in great contrast with the previous night, and an utter delight.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Ashley Hutchings' Rainbow Chasers
17th June 2006
What do the blue-stocking movement, the singer Nick Drake and knitting have in common? They are all the subjects of songs written and performed by the band put together by folk legend Ashley Hutchings. And over 200 people squeezed into the Village Hall on a very warm evening to hear this diverse mix of songs. We had to raid the Festival marquee for extra chairs so that we didn’t disappoint those who had turned up ‘on spec’.
As senior band member (by quite a distance!), Ashley Hutchings was the clear leader but when it came to the playing he was content to let the youngsters take the limelight, often casting admiring paternal glances in their direction. Ruth Angell’s fiddle-playing had everyone tapping their toes, especially on upbeat numbers such as ‘He Throws a Brilliant Light’ and the delightful ‘Gypsy Jigg’. Her gentle, haunting voice also shone through on quieter songs such as ‘Ghosts in the Rain’ which was preceded by Ashley reading the poem by Edna St Vincent Millay that inspired the song. Arguably the strongest vocalist of the four was guitarist Mark Hutchinson who excelled on ‘Stand Quite Still’, one of the few songs not written by the band. Viola and guitar player Jo Hamilton has a rich, striking voice that was perfect for the song written about….. knitting! (The girls both love to knit!).
Most of the songs played feature on the band’s excellent debut album ‘Some Colours Fly’ but the follow-up has just been completed and our audience was privileged to be the first to hear the new songs ‘live’.
The combination of young and ‘not so young’ make a fascinating line-up and we’ll be following the progress of Rainbow Chasers with interest. On this evidence, they deserve to find their pot of gold.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Waking the Witch
24th March 2006
Waking the Witch treated a packed Hall to a stunning display of acoustic and vocal wizardry – or should it be witchcraft? - and the audience undoubtedly fell completely under their spell. The start of the second set was delayed because they still had a queue at the ‘CD shop’! With the exception of Hazel O’Connor’s ‘Will You’ all of the songs were self-penned, most being taken from their two albums ‘Like Everybody’ and ‘Hands and Bridges’, with some new songs included that are likely to feature on their third album, due to be recorded later this year.
In between numbers the audience was kept amused by anecdotes, largely regarding Becky Mills’ search for a husband! This search provided the inspiration for her composition ‘The List’ which was a Becky highlight along with the delightful ‘Man of Moon’. One of the strengths of Waking the Witch is that all of the band contribute great songs and vocals, Rachel Goodwin excelling on the haunting ‘I Can’t Breathe’ and ‘Waking Hour’ whilst Patsy Matheson – arguably the ‘band leader’ on stage – came to the fore on the likes of ‘Like Everybody’ and ‘Through and Through’. Jools Parker has a wonderfully rich voice and she closed the first half with the dramatic ‘Poet of Harlem’ and was responsible for one of the many highlights with the bluesy encore ‘Bluer Than This’, during which you could have heard a pin drop. Magical.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Daniel Smith Blues Band
16th December 2005
If pianos could smile.....
What a night! The proximity to Christmas helped to create a vibrant atmosphere and Daniel and his band delivered the goods to an expectant audience that was clearly ready to enjoy itself!
Guitarist Jon ‘T-Bone’ Taylor tried his best to steal the limelight from Daniel and seemed to develop his own fan-club on the right-hand side of the Hall! The expressive George Pearson excelled on fretless bass, acoustic blues guitar and vocals, whilst Damon Sawyer was superb on drums, even treating the audience to the ‘dreaded’ drum solo!
Daniel himself was in rip-roaring form, clearly responding to an appreciative audience. Having spotted the under-used (but tuned) Village Hall piano, he pushed it out into the audience who were treated to some dazzling boogie-woogie (with Jingle Bells in the middle somewhere!) which received a roar of approval at its conclusion. Most of the music played was taken from the excellent CD’s ‘Sitting On Top of the World’ and ‘Chicken and Egg’, which sold suitably well at the end of the gig. The band played a delightfully long set, eventually leaving the stage at 10.50pm. So much great feedback was received after the show that Daniel and his band were immediately booked to return on Friday 15th December 2006.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
Ric Sanders Group
10th September 2005
This was a fabulous inaugural concert, performed in front of a near-capacity audience.Although Ric is best known for being Fairport Convention's violinist, the music played was a truly diverse offering. It ranged from well-known classics such as God only knows and Tears in Heaven, to compositions by the likes of Chick Corea and John McLaughlin. The audience was a mix of villagers and Ric aficionados and they left suitably elated. The final words in the review published in the Newark Advertiser were 'Truly brilliant'.
The profit from the event was donated to the Music Fund for Cuba, in memory of Joe Scurfield of the Old Rope String Band, who had been due to appear at the Village Hall.
Back to top |
| |
|
|
 |
|
