On the evening before her long awaited album launch gig,
Danni Nicholls warmed up for the big event by returning to the West Midlands to
play another show in support of the new record. MOCKINGBIRD LANE was first
shared with audiences back in the spring with a short UK tour prompting an
initial batch of positive reviews. Renewed interest and further media love has
continued during the autumn batch of dates, leading to the eventual wide scale
availability of a record deserved of a more expansive platform. A majority of
the tracks were featured during the pair of sets which formed this show and
once again explicit evidence was apparent as to why Danni is considered a prime
singer-songwriter in trusted circles.
Katie Fitzgerald’s is a long established Stourbridge music
venue and has been the home for the town’s folk club for the last couple of
years, leading to a constant stream of high quality artists performing in the
cellar bar. There has been less common visitors steeped in the country and
Americana tradition, but a memorable evening in the company of Eve Selis can be
recalled a few years ago. A less enjoyable gig was attended a while back when a
non-ticketed weekend show by the Toy Hearts was spoilt by your usual noisy pub
crowd treating the music as a mere irrelevance. At the start of Danni’s second
set this evening, a number of folks did wander down to the cellar bar with an
intention to carry on their Friday night social. However with an increased sense
of confidence and purpose, Danni admirably used the power of the mic to remind
them that this was a ticketed event, with the desired effect of creating the
perfect listening environment for the rest of her performance. This was a
significant victory for live music and well done Danni.
Back to the music and a development since Danni played at
the Kitchen Garden Café in April was the addition of Max Milligan on guitar to
add an extra sound dimension to the songs. Maybe bringing some form of a rhythm
section can be the next stage when she returns to the area for a future show.
The core duo of extremely impressive melody driven songs and a voice burying
deep into the spirit of each composition are firmly in place, to herald Danni
as one of the UK’s brightest practitioners of communicating the magic of
American roots music through a personal perspective.
Around twenty songs were presented in full glory during the show
and these can quite easily fit into three categories with the occasional
overlap. Danni chose to celebrate the works of others in five songs with the
most notable being a version of Will Kimbrough’s ‘Goodnight, Moon’ which closed her 2013 album A LITTLE REDEMPTION.
A Randy Newman song, given a blues twist by Bonnie Raitt, ‘Guilty’ gave Danni the opportunity to stretch her vocal acumen in
the first encore number. The evening ended with the usual dose of Johnny Cash
and the endlessly covered ‘Folsom Prison
Blues’, with the equally as popular ‘Jolene’
and Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me’, finding
their way into the set list.
The third strand to the set list was a number of tracks
lifted from Danni’s debut solo release headed by the title song ‘A Little Redemption’. Alongside a
majority of the tracks performed this evening, the informative introduction
added extra value with the Women’s Institute link to this song being a staple
of Danni’s shows. There has been a recently detected link between Danni and the
musicians associated with this venue as the song appeared on the compilation
album BORN BRED BELIEVES in the company of a number of protest pieces performed
by West Midlands artists. Her debut album was also represented on the evening
by ‘Beautiful Game’, ‘Bird of Paradise’
and ‘Hey There, Sunshine’, with Danni
gleefully recalling the pedal steel input from the acclaimed American player Al
Perkins on the latter’s recorded version.
So Danni ended the warm up show for her massive evening on a
noted high and thoroughly confirming to those present that we have in our midst
a creative talent adept in indulging in a musical direction which bonds many
fans who attend her shows. Visualising her voice, songs and presence on a much
bigger stage is not a difficult imaginary thought and maybe justice will prevail
one day. In the meantime, giving Danni Nicholls a small amount of exposure
through three reviews this year has hopefully played a small part. There aren’t
many artists of her ilk passing through Stourbridge and this performance was
both cherished immensely and now chronicled in the infinite vaults of the blogosphere.