Debbie wasn’t the first Alabama based artist to tread the boards of the Hop Pole this year as Hannah Aldridge payed the venue in March. Co-incidentally Hannah also appeared at the Maverick Festival as part of the themed Alabama feature. While Hannah’s heady mix of country, folk and soul music ventures heavily into Americana territory, Debbie keeps her feet firmly planted in the tradition of maintaining the blues as a relevant art form. This she does with exhilarating passion and a skill to make the notes buzzing out her guitar fizz with electrifying twang. Of course this is in tandem with her exemplary band known as the Trudats and this evening comprising of Rick on keyboards/harmonica, backing and occasional lead vocal, with London based drummer Sam Kelly undertaking the percussion role.
It is impossible not to underestimate the impact of Rick’s
playing on the show as his keyboard sound underpins Debbie’s lead guitar part
with frequent role reversal. However it is his harmonica blowing which raises
the eyebrows most, especially with the train song that sees Rick leave the
keyboards behind in contrast to his usual dual playing. Listening to this song
brought back memories of Debbie and Rick playing a second, and more focussed,
set on the Sunday morning of Maverick which probably sowed the seeds for
attending this gig. Rick also featured prominently in the call and response
number ‘Rick’s Boogie’ which increased
the engagement of an audience, in the main just having a pint in their local,
but more than aroused by this better than usual ‘free pub gig band’.
To equate the Hop Pole with an Alabama juke joint is
stretching the comparison a touch, but Debbie was unfazed by the surroundings
as she was determined to inject a high dose of blues passion to a fairly sedate
gathering. To be fair audience participation from the venue was probably
maximised by the time Debbie and the guys played their encore version of Muddy
Waters’ classic ‘Got My Mojo Workin’’. Debbie
was keen to share her definition of the blues as being as much about uplifting
your spirits as the alternate view and also to glow about her association with
respected Alabama based bluesman Willie King, whose band she played in until
his death in 2009.
Alongside the re-working of many blues numbers, Debbie was
keen to showcase some of her own compositions such as ‘Falling’ which appeared on her 2011 album HEARTS ARE WILD. ‘You’re the Kind of Trouble’ was another
track from this album to feature and appear amongst the regular sales pitches
of Alabama as a tourist destination, heralded as a music soaked place to rival
Tennessee and Mississippi. The passion was flowing for a good couple of hours
and hopefully the contents of the tip bucket reflected the sincerity and talent
that was on show. With London born Rick’s links to his homeland and Debbie’s almost evangelical mission to spread the word of her beloved state, a return UK visit in 2016 is likely to be on the cards. So if a Debbie Bond gig appears at a venue close by, you could do a lot worse than buying into her belief and pride of a musical style moulded to thrive in any live setting.