Lindsay Ell - The Borderline (16/10/18)

• Line-up: Lindsay Ell with special guest Jake Morrell

• Date: 16th October, 2018

• Location: The Borderline, London

• Review by: Gary Smith (LCM)

Concerts by Canadian singer-songwriter Lindsay Ell are always very special and her recent headline performance at The Borderline in London was no exception. Playing solo to a full house Lindsay captivated the audience with her superb guitar playing and catchy highly crafted songs. Unfortunately just before she flew to the UK Lindsay had most of her equipment stolen in Los Angeles, with one of the few survivors being her trusty Fender ‘Hector’.

First up was the young fast rising UK Country star London based, Norfolk born Jake Morrell rocking double denim and his acoustic guitar. An excellent set followed with Jake powerful vocals front and center. ‘Heading For Heartache’, ‘Long Way Round’ followed from his March released second EP ‘Englishman’ themed around Jake’s country music life in the UK. It was followed by the very good ‘Wire & Thorns’ from his ‘The Greenline’ EP, which received lots of BBC Radio 2 airplay and earned Jake a invite to play at Glastonbury. The pace slowed a little for ‘Once He Left You’ and a reflective new song about his parents ‘Half Your Love’, set for release next year. It was then the audiences turn to join in on the chorus on Jake’s song ‘Signs’ and then very neatly ending with the title track of his latest EP ‘Englishman’. Jake is definitely one to watch for the future.

After a short break Lindsay took to the stage with her Fender ‘Hector’ and a borrrowed pedal board loop station. She confessed that London was her favourite audience, which naturally received a very warm reception from the packed crowd. She used the loop station to great effect building her loops quickly and effortlessly. Lindsay is a top quality multi-instrumentalist and vocalist and this was a excellent showcase for her music.

Lindsay started her set with the very catchy opening track ‘Waiting For You’ from her debut album ‘The Project’. The whole audience singing along and providing the backing vocals. Appreciating what we have in life and being content with that is the central theme of ‘Castles’, which was inspired by her work on the ‘Continuum project. I also loved the rockier ‘Wildfire’ with it’s earworm of a guitar riff and a fantastic solo. It really reminded me of vintage Sheryl Crow.

The very catchy ’Champagne’ written about the wife of Justin Timberlake is one of my favourite songs of Lindsay’s debut album, so it was great to see included in her set. Another excellent song Mint’ is a love song about how a relationship is not always going to be a movie screen relationship, where you're getting flowers every day and everything is so sunny. It talks about a relationship being ‘real’ with just two people getting to know each other and that’s your version of perfect. Your version of mint. Lindsay finished the song with (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, which end giving the song a new twist. Lindsay has a great ability to write very memorable songs, full of excellent hooks and the next one ‘Good’ was a very example.

Another one of my favourites ‘I Don’t Trust Myself (with Loving You)’ from the new ‘The Continuum Project’ saw the introduction of a drum machine on Lindsay’s iPhone. She then asked for requests. Someone shouted ‘Hit Me Baby (One More Time)’ which was greeted by “Really??….ok then” seeing her slipping into a wonderful Britney cover on her acoustic guitar once again joined by the audience in full voice.

Lindsay said that she was a big Vamps fan and had recent co-written a song ‘Stumble Home’ which is now part of the new Vamps album. We were then treated to her 2016 hit the more Country flavoured ‘All Aright’. Lindsay has also just been on tour with the great Keith Urban. The next song ‘Horses’ was recorded with Keith for his latest album. Written by another very talented Nashville based singer-songwriter Caitlyn Smith, the wonderful ‘Space’ was a atmospheric, personal and reflective addition to the set.

The last song of the main set and a another highlight was her recent big hit ‘Criminal’. Lindsay comments “It's a love song. It talks about, I feel like I'm falling in love with you so much that you're stealing my own heart away from me."

For Lindsay’s encore we had something very special. ‘Not Another Me’ was written for one of her friends. Lindsay comments “A sweet friend of mine has muscular dystrophy and honestly has one of the most beautiful hearts I’ve ever met in my life. She is so honest, funny, generous, and is completely full of natural inner/outer beauty. She is one of my biggest supporters and fans of my music”. It was a beautiful heartfelt song played perfectly and intimately on her acoustic guitar, complete with a guitar ‘tapping’ intro.

When Lindsay left the stage at the end of her set to head for the Merch table, a long queue quickly formed to meet her after the show. The atmosphere was electric with the audience thrilled and very happy after witnessing an excellent performance. With a new album produced by Kristian Bush of Sugarland in the pipeline. The future is looking very bright for Lindsay and her music.

Lindsay, please come back to London soon :)

Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys - Cecil Sharp House, London (29/11/17)

ALBUM LAUNCH

Photo credit: Rob Bridge (Redwood Photography)

• Date: 29th November, 2017
• Line-up: Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys with support from The Jellyman's Daughter
• Location: Kennedy Hall, Cecil Sharp House, London
• Website: http://samkelly.org/
• Website: https://www.thejellymansdaughter.com/
• Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)

Sam Kelly and his very talented ensemble the 'Lost Boys' are one of the best live Folk and acoustic bands in the UK. Already festival favourites and the 'young guns' of the folk circuit with their infectious blend of Folk, Americana and Irish favoured music. In Cecil Sharp House the spiritual home of UK Folk, they chose the perfect venue both to showcase their music and to release their excellent new highly acclaimed second studio album 'Pretty Peggy'. Don't be too surprised if they are nominated for best band at next year's BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The 'Lost Boys' boasts an all-star cast of Jamie Francis (The Changing Room, Stark), Graham Coe (Jellyman's Daughter), Toby Shaer (Seth Lakeman, Carousel), Ciaran Algar (Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar), Achie Churchill-Moss (MMR) and Evan Carson (The Willows, The Changing Room, Ange Hardy). 

Opening the night were a wonderful Americana/Folk duo from Edinburgh called The Jellyman's Daughter, which I had the great pleasure of first meeting at the Harrison in Kings Cross a few years ago. Emily Kelly (acoustic guitar/vocals) and Graham Coe (cello/mandolin/vocals) have certainly gone from strength to strength since our last meeting, with their fusion of bluegrass, post-rock, folk and the good kind of pop. Hopefully in the Spring of next year they will be releasing their new second studio album called 'Dead Reckoning', via a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.

Performing around a retro bi-directional condenser microphone they played a set of favourites from their 2014 self titled debut release and also a taster of songs from the new album. I really enjoyed their interweaving vocal harmonies, which were complimented by a very interesting mix of cello and acoustic guitar. Graham's cello providing a very catchy percussive back-beat.  Stylistically their set reminded me of Lewis & Leigh.

Graham was also one of the busiest people in the night, as he is also part of the very talented Lost Boys.

After a short intermission Sam and The Lost Boys exploded onto the stage with the very catchy high tempo traditional whaling shanty the 'Greenland Whale' sometimes know as 'The Whale Catchers' or 'The Twenty Third of March'.  It's a real toe-tapper with a great hooks and sing-a-long chorus.

Sam's set then followed quite faithfully the new album in order. The love interest of the traditional song 'The Bony Lass of Fyvie' gives the album it's name, 'Pretty Peggy'. On the album the band are joined on the track by the wonderful Cara Dillion who provides some of the vocals which perfect complements Sam and the band. "Unfortunately" said Sam "Cara can't be here tonight, as she is no longer with us....that sounds really bad......I mean she is not with our band.....she currently on her tour", Sam deputised perfectly singing both parts. Next up was 'Angeline The Baker' (Roud 1834) was written by Stephen Foster for the Christy Minstrels and first published in 1850. The original Appalachian tune laments the loss of a female slave sent away by her owners. 'When The Reivers Call' is a song written by Jamie Francis and was inspired by the Scottish/English border 'reiving' in the middle ages. The terms comes from the Scots and Northern English dialect and means to go on a cross border plundering raid. "Basically people would come over the border to steal your money and PlayStations. As Jamie is from Cumbria, it's basically a song about his childhood" Sam joked.

The Irish traditional love song with the genders swapped 'If I Were A Blackbird' received a new arrangement from Sam and Chris Woods. Sam related learning this one from his grandfather who started his love of folk music. We return to a nautical theme for 'The Shining Ship', a dark tale in which a lady's lover long lost at sea, returns to her and persuades her to come away with him to a distant land. After boarding the ship, in the true traditions of folk music, she quickly realizes not all is as it seems......[spolier alert] One of the varients of this traditional song is called 'The Demon Ship'. The personal and tender 'Chasing Shadows' written by Sam, is a song for a friend and for anyone going through a tough time.

There is a case of the same mistaken identity as The Kinks 'Lola' in the next song 'The Close Shave', a very clever and funny variation on the traditional song 'Barrack Street'. It tells the unfortunate tale of gold miners in the a New Zealand town, gross deception, heavy drinking, robbery and a never ending cycle. A couple of tunes next 'Josh's Slip' by Toby and 'Rookery Lane' by Ciaran which form the 'Shy Guy's Serve' set.

It's always great to see a cover of the now Nobel prize winning singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in the set. This time it was 'Crash On The Levee' their version of the lesser known song, 'Down In The Flood (Crash On The Levee)'. 'The Keeper' is always an interesting choice to cover. It is a tradition song about a gamekeeper chasing and catching deer, but listen to it closely and it's like a 'Carry On' version of a folk song, full of double meaning and euphemisms. The song is always a fantastic live favourite with it's band call and audience response. The excellent main set finished with a song called 'The Rose' which was translated from the French song 'Le Beau Rosier'. First heard when Sam played mandolin for Belgian band 'Naragonia' in 2016 and fell in love with the song.

For the encore Sam and the band played another firm favourite from their self titled debut album the uptempo 'Jolly Waggoners', followed by the rousing and high energy Irish tune 'Banish Misfortune'. It had the audience on their feet and clapping along......and ended with a well deserved standing ovation.

A fantastic evening of music in the company of some of the UK's finest young folk musicians. Catch them on tour if you can!

Rhiannon Giddens - O2 SBE, London (17/11/17)

FREEDOM HIGHWAY TOUR

• Line-up: Rhiannon Giddens + ensemble with special guest Kaia Kater
• Date: 17th November, 2017
• Venue: O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London
• Website: http://www.rhiannongiddens.com
• Website: https://www.kaiakater.com/
• Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)

Rhiannon Giddens has many prestigious awards and accolades to her name including a Grammy win for her previous roots 'string band', the Carolina Chocolate Drops and BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year in 2016. Watching Rhiannon and her band live last night at the packed O2 SBE, you get the impression that she could sing any type of music from Soul, R&B, Blues, Jazz, Musical Theater through to Folk, Blues and Roots music with the same level of skill and excellence. She is passionate, powerful, thought-provoking and a highly skilled vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter.  

Last night marked the latest date of her 'Freedom Highway' UK tour, as part of the excellent London Folk & Roots Festival. Rhiannon and her world class ensemble dazzled the enthralled and enchanted audience with a commanding performance of American music that blended Country, African-American Gospel and Blues, Jazz and even Hip-Hop and Cajun music as she sang, played banjo, fiddle and flat-footed. She roots it all perfectly in the rich story-telling traditions of the American South, taking us from the miseries of slavery, through the civil war and onwards to the freedom marches of the 1960's.

Opening the night was a Canadian singer-songwriter and banjo mistress Kaia Kater, who we think has a wonderful future ahead of her. Kaia released her critically acclaimed second album 'Nine Pin' last year, a powerful and emotive collection of songs with her rich, sweet and powerful vocals front and center.  Born of African-Caribbean descent in Québec, Kaia grew up between two worlds: one her family’s deep ties to Canadian folk music in her Toronto home; the other the years she spent learning and studying Appalachian music in West Virginia. Her acclaimed debut album Sorrow Bound (May 2015) touched on this divide, while 'Nine Pin' explores even further and casts an unflinching eye at the realities faced by people of colour in North America. The album draws on her own love of traditional music and is in part based on Kaia's own personal experiences.

Kaia's all too short stripped set of just vocals and banjo opened with the slow syncopated groove of the traditional 'Little Pink' about love gone bad, a lovely retelling of the ancient story of insecurity and jealousy.  Continuing her rich and personal story-telling style, Kaia's time at University in West Virginia was next covered the the intimate 'Southern Girl'. Showcasing her versatility next with the beautiful waltz the 'Harvest & The Plough', Kaia issued a dance challenge to the audience. Kaia received a banjo lesson from Rhiannon at 12 year old and on the basis of the set so far, she couldn't have had a better teacher. Almost to prove the point two beautifully played tunes followed 'Waiting For Nancy' and 'Valley Free''. Next up was the title track of 'Nine Pin' which comes from “a traditional square dance formation in which a woman stands alone in the middle of a circle of people turning around her”, but there’s a double meaning at play as the nine pin is also “one of the pins in bowling that keeps getting knocked down”. It carries the idea of resilience in the face of continuous hardships and setbacks and is perfectly suited to the song’s world weary lyrics. Kaia then saved one of the best to last with the wonderful 'St.Elizabeth', my personal favourite on her last album, with it's personal narrative around the theme of life and love in the digital age coupled with audience participated at the end of the song with its 'call and response'. Kaia has been described as "Nina Simone meets bluegrass" and we would certainly agree with that.

After a short intermission Rhiannon Giddens and her world class band exploded into the stage with the powerful, infectious and high energy 'Spanish Mary', a tale of love on the high seas. It's a song taken from the 'New Basement Tapes' a project guided by T Bone Burnett, that featured arrangements of unused Bob Dylan lyrics. This segued into some great and high energy fiddle tunes including 'Pateroller' and 'Black Annie'. Showcasing the band's versatility they quickly moved into the toe-tapping funky and jazzy piano led 'The Love We Almost Had'.

History is always a great teacher if we listen, and Rhiannon is a wonderful scholar and champion of human rights and freedom. A case in point is the very moving and powerful 'At The Purchasers Option' based around an advertisement about the sale of a 22 year old slave girl in New England in the 1700's, whose 9-month-old baby was also available “at the purchaser’s option.” She compared it to almost selling a human life like a used second hand car.

With fellow Carolina Chocolate Drops band member Hubby Jenkins on bones, almost tribal drum beats from Jamie Dick and Rhiannon with some super banjo playing, next was the instrumental 'Following The North Star' which certainly had the wow! factor. 

Immigration has always been a hot topic thought the years. The traditional unaccompanied song 'Pretty Saro' is a case in point, a English folk ballad originating in the early 1700s which traveled to America and was preserved in the Appalachian Mountains through oral traditions. 'What makes America great is it's diversity' commented Rhiannon and we wholeheartedly agree. Based on the wonderful old African-American folk tale 'We Could Fly' written by Rhiannon and Dirk Powell imagines people in slavery being able to fly and has the rich and important themes of hope and freedom. A tribute and homage to Odetta 'Water Boy' is a American traditional folk song built on the call "Water boy, where are you hidin'?" It's one of several water boy calls in cotton plantation folk tradition. I loved the stunning fiddle solo.

The next part of the programme was a wonderful Creole and Cajan two-step waltz written by Dewey Balfa called the 'Newport Waltz'. The richest and diversity of the music continued with the traditional African-American infectious spiritual song 'Children, Go Where I Send Thee'. It's also known as "The Holy Baby" or "Born in Bethlehem'. It's always great to have a Aretha Franklin cover in your set and Rhiannon did justice to the super and powerful 'Do Right Woman, Do Right Man'.

Proving that she has a very talented family Rhiannon's sister Lalenja Harriton took lead vocals for the next song 'Just One More Day', with it's soaring gospel harmonies. The fantastic R&B driven 'Better Get It Right The First Time' deals with the contemporary topic of the shootings of young black men in America and included a rapped testimony by nephew Justin Harrington.

The personal stories of slaves in the America Civil War is the theme of the very powerful and moving 'Come Love Come' with it's infectious refrain 'Come, love come, the road lies low. The way is long and hard I know. Come, love come, the road lies free. I'll wait for you in Tennessee." It's based on some of the personal accounts in a book called 'The Slaves War - The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves' by Andrew Ward. A Roebuck 'Pop' Staples written classic and the new album's title track 'Freedom Highway' completed the main part of the set. It discusses the struggles in civil rights movement in the 1960's . The song also refers to the murder of Emmett Till at Tallahatchie River. The lyrics begin “March up freedom's highway, march each and every day.......Made up my mind and I won't turn around.".

A very well standing ovation followed for this world class band and it's incredibly talented leading lady.

Rhiannon and the band rounding of the evening of music perfectly with her tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee) "the original soul sister" and "the godmother of rock and roll and R&B" with great versions of 'Lonesome Road' and 'Up Above My Head'

Another very well deserved standing O followed. With a couple of bows and waves from the band, Rhiannon skipped and danced off stage with the sound of the appreciative sell-out audience still ringing around the venue. A superb night of music from a modern leading star of America Roots music.

• Rhiannon Giddens - Lead Vocals, Banjo, Fiddle
• Dirk Powell - Keys, Accordion, Electric/Acoustic Guitar, Fiddle, Mandolin
• Hubby Jenkins (CCD) - Banjo, Electric/Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Bones and Vocals
• Jamie Dick - Drums and percussion
• Jason Sypher - Bass/Upright Double Bass
• Lalenja Harrington – harmony vocals, Vocals
• Justin Harrington - Rapping and backing vocals