There was a strong message from tonight’s show that
audiences can be built in venues outside an artist’s hinterland. Bedford based
singer-songwriter Danni Nicholls took a chance on booking a show at Birmingham’s
Kitchen Garden Café twelve months ago with this subsequent return visit
yielding a substantial upgrade in attendees. Danni knows full well the value of
organic growth and this turnout was a testament to the absolute quality of her
music. Word must have obviously got around and importantly the new album has
been bedded in since getting a formal release in October. Numbers aside,
catching Danni live is a worthwhile investment of your recreation time
especially if you like a little edge to elaborate well-crafted songs.
Apart from the audience size upgrade, Danni’s stage show has
doubled in number with the addition of Max Milligan on lead guitar, providing a
twin acoustic assault on a set of tunes rich in roots pedigree. Although Max
did partner Danni on a lower key visit to the area towards the end of last
year, this was a debut performance on the Kitchen Garden Café ‘stage’ and the positive
impact was explicitly on show especially for the few who attended both
Birmingham gigs. Like her previous shows in the area, this one panned out as a
twin set evening with Danni drawing songs predominately from her two full
length albums. The odd three songs out were two covers and hark back to her EP
days via a version of ‘Between the River
and the Railway’. This song was one of many to have a story attached to it with
this tale not heard before and recounting a camping experience on a trip to
North Carolina a few years ago.
The other key story from Danni’s set was recalling the
origins of ‘A Little Redemption’ and
the link to the Women’s Institute, plagiarism and a tiny village in Suffolk. This
song rose to become the title track of Danni’s previous album and retains a
place among the elite of her compositions. As you would expect, there was a
major focus on the new record and MOCKINGBIRD LANE, like its predecessor, had
the full Nashville recording treatment. This is indicative of Danni’s Americana
leanings and how she successfully weaves the sound of country, blues, folk and
soul into her music. Her choice of cover reflected this mix by announcing ‘Jolene’ is probably her favourite all
time song and that she was mesmerised by the Bonnie Raitt version of the Randy
Newman song ‘Guilty’. Hasten to add,
Danni’s rendition of both was pretty good.
Like the success of all singer-songwriters, it is the appeal
of the original tune which acts as the defining judgement and Danni shapes up well
against the criteria. ‘Leaving Tennessee’,
‘Back to Memphis’, ‘Beautifully Broken’ and ‘Travelin’ Man’ represent the best of Danni Nicholls, with the
first of these launching the slightly more effective second set and the last
one acting as a suitable upbeat encore piece. It is not unusual for a gig at
this level to take a few songs for the artist to get into their groove and once
Danni hit the zone there was no stopping her. The chemistry between Max and her
is growing with his highly pleasurable guitar playing delivering some jaw
dropping moments. Danni’s vocals continue to blossom as best exemplified by the
regular slot when she drops the guitar to let her voice rule the roost to
perform the sensually impressive ‘Look Up
at the Moon’.
The pick of the rest is the sole song on the new record that
she didn’t write, but many on the Nashville scene praise the work of Will
Kimbrough and ‘Goodnight, Moon’ was a
smart song of his to include. It was of no surprise to listen to Danni accept
the critical view of the latest record as a break up album, but she counter
balanced the emotions by playing a love song from the previous one in ‘Dragons in the Distance’.
