They may reside a continent apart but Jonathan Byrd and
Natalie Gelman are bound by the passion and love of song. In a venue built for
the power of the beautifully sung word, both artists exhibited their inimitable
styles to present an evening saturated in verse suitably fired up from the
inspiration of urban and rural surroundings. This was an explicit outpouring of
American folk music, engineered by the guitar and driven by the soul. The
contrasting façade of each performer masked an inner desire to communicate,
enthral and entertain via their gifted medium of music.Experience, enhanced profoundness and previous UK awareness enforced the seniority of Jonathan on the bill as he built on his impressive performance at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival a couple of years ago. 2015 is shaping up to be a year of major British incursion for Jonathan as this is the first of three visits including a return festival date at the end of August. He also has a new album out over here soon recorded with his band The Sentimentals and we were afforded a trio of tracks to preview the release as part of his twin set approach to headlining the evening.
However prior to Jonathan sharing his wares with the
audience, the stage area was owned by Natalie for forty minutes as she set
about establishing herself in the UK. A native of growing up in New York City,
or to be more precise the West Village, Natalie now resides many miles from the
east coast in Southern California but still retains that air of a schooled and
archetype urban singer-songwriter. Unravelling a few guitar hitches was a minor
hindrance for an artist possessing the temperament, grandeur and skill to
exploit the fruits of her gift. These include the vocal range to sprinkle the
air with a flurry of beauteous notes, the adeptness to mould her songs into
that iconic acoustic sound and an ear for a tune to spin the thoughts of her
inner mind into a palatable product. Having been recently acquainted with the
music of Natalie via her 2013 EP STREET LAMP MUSICIAN, it was a pleasure to
listen to the title, and strongest track, live.
Hopefully Natalie will be in a position to expand on her
back catalogue in the forthcoming months with songs heard on the evening such
as ‘Some People’, ‘I Feel like a
Photograph’ and ‘The Answer’
being ripe for the recorded format. By the time she concluded her set with a
soulful and exquisite version of the Goffen/King classic ‘One Fine Day’, many Kitchen Garden Café folks had warmed to the confident,
charming and alluring presence of Natalie. The intention to return to these
shores next year was the parting shot of Natalie Gelman, an artist you have got
a fair chance of hearing more about in the future if the winds of fortune blow
in a rightful direction.
With the evening being more than suitably warmed up from
Natalie’s opening set, the poise, stature and exuded panache of Jonathan Byrd
hit the traps immediately with a string of popular tunes from his 2010 album
CACKALACK. ‘Chicken Wire’, ‘I Was an Oak
Tree’ and ‘Wild Ponies’ led the
way from this release which was later followed up by the emotive, deeply
personal and somewhat topical song ‘Father’s
Day’. As previously mentioned, the new record is due to get a UK release on
Fish Records soon and from MOTHER TONGUE, Jonathan chose ‘On the Edge’, ‘Love is the Law’ and ‘Supernatural’ to preview its content. The latter was one of many
songs on the evening to invoke audience participation, while the middle of this
trio is one of the picks on the album.
Following in the footsteps of Natalie, and as you would
expect from your model singer-songwriter, the stories were aplenty. Valuable
background information flowed during the song interludes including historical tales,
experiences at the Kerrville Folk Festival, offshore oil spills and some
lighter family insights. The song content from Jonathan was wholly diverse in
the true folk tradition of an artist steadfastly proud of his Chapel Hill,
North Carolina home. Frequently he will infuse the country song style into his music
artillery and perhaps more profoundly a very gospel flavour to the stunning a
cappella delivered ‘Poor Johnny’
towards the end of his second set. This segment of the show saw an uplifting of
the emotive atmosphere with valuable contributions from the powerful ‘Diana
Jones’, the mighty ‘You Can’t Outrun
the Radio’ and the memorable ‘A Big
Truck Brought It.’
www.nataliegelman.com