Question: What do Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou
Harris, Wyonna Judd, Gillian Welch, Cowboy Jack Clements, Joe Ely and Buddy
Holly all have in common? Answer: They were all namechecked by Kimmie Rhodes
last night during her Bristol show, reflecting the depth and breadth of her musical
associations over the last thirty plus years. Of course Buddy Holly is the odd
one out of not working professionally with Kimmie but, being the source of the
Waylon story, a fellow original inhabitant of Lubbock Tx and one of her heroes, made his presence relevant. In fact Kimmie chose to end the show with a cover
of ‘Raining in My Heart’ to cap a
performance running deep in a wealth of classic country and immaculate song
writing. This beautiful hall now converted to a vibrant music venue hosted a one off double bill of two contrasting touring musicians reflecting a diversity of styles becoming encompassed under the Americana banner. While Kimmie is a certified Texas treasure born with the gift of Lone Star song writing sentiment, Awna Teixeira beautifully blends the nuances of Canadian and European folk to present a sound extolling in haunting brilliance. Although technically billed as opening for Kimmie, Awna’s set was just a mere 15 minutes shorter and if maybe the bulk of the audience were initially attracted to the more country sound, leaving enthralled by the essence of the ‘support’ was just shy of mandatory.
Both artists were touring in the duo format with Gabe Rhodes
assisting Kimmie and Jay Speed doing likewise to Awna. The mother-son comments
frequently flowed in the second half of tonight’s show, although Gabe’s value
to Kimmie’s music is immense whether playing effective guitar in a multiple of
styles or being more than tempted to make full use of the venue’s grand piano.
Gabe was also a key architect on Kimmie’s latest and very impressive album
COWGIRL BOUDOIR. Perhaps it was a solitary regret from the show that we only
heard two songs off this record. While ‘Yes’
and ‘Worthy Cause’ are fine numbers,
there is so much more on offer to enjoy on the disc and it could have easily
filled another half an hour.
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Awna did focus more on her latest album featuring amongst
others, the title track ‘Wild One’, ‘Thunderbird’,
‘Away We Go’ and ‘Blue Heart on Your
Sleeve’. Jay started and finished his supporting contribution on lap steel, with
faint electric guitar adorning the mid-section. Although Awna’s solo career is
gathering momentum, we remember her eclectic musicianship as part of Canadian
roots combo Po Girl and tonight during her allotted 45 minutes we were treated
to banjo, guitar and accordion. Whether reflecting on her Portuguese heritage, passionately
campaigning for increased mental health awareness or celebrating the wonders of
her surroundings, the latter captured in ‘Stargazer’,
the composed Awna enthrals and entices with equal measure. One note to the
venue would be to turn the sound up on the vocals a little, as it was quite
tricky to listen to Awna’s inter song chat from an allocated seat towards the
rear of this cavernous hall. 
This situation was resolved for Kimmie’s set by finding a
couple of empty seats nearer the front and there was no issue listening to her informative
and entertaining tales punctuating a series of songs stretching across her back
catalogue. There was a different take on the Buddy Holly/Waylon Jennings much
told plane crash story, as well as Kimmie paying humble homage to her mentor
Willie Nelson. This peaked with a gorgeous version of ‘Love Me Like a Song’ which was neatly followed by one of the first
songs she recorded when re-locating to Austin at the outset of her career, the
very Tex-Mex sounding ‘Contrabandistas’.
Other songs sung during this engaging set with illustrious connections were ‘Love and Happiness’ (Emmylou Harris), ‘I Just Drove By’ (Wyonna Judd) and ‘God’s Acre’ (Gillian Welch).
On the plus side it was great witnessing two exceptional artists
sharing a single bill but, with the inevitable frustration of seeing their sets
cut in mid-flow due to time constraints. It’s a shame that no West
Midlands venue was prepared to give either artist a solo gig especially as Awna
was an integral member of the popular Po Girl. However fair play to St. George’s
in Bristol for hosting a fine evening. No doubt both artists will be keen to
continue to develop their presence in the UK in the future as Awna Teixeira will without doubt prosper by dazzling audiences with her exclusive take on roots induced Euro-Canadian Americana and there is little hesitation in hailing Kimmie Rhodes as the personification
of ‘three chords and the truth’.
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