Three Chords and the Truth UK

Rachel Harrington has toured the UK and Europe extensively over the last few years, mainly promoting her brand of country folk alongside a co-performer. On one such tour she was accompanied by ex-Lindesfarne UK folk legend Rod Clements and on a couple of occasions by fellow Pacific North West resident Zak Borden. However in 2012, Rachel has taken a different stance by developing a project based around a four piece all girl honky tonk band to hone in on her core musical love of traditional old time country music. This has led to the creation of Rachel Harrington and the Knockouts and they look set to meet the approval of the dedicated fan base that frequent the live venues up and down the country which actively promote touring US musicians from the Americana genre. On the third night of the UK leg of this tour, the girls were delighted to be greeted by a sold out sign at the plush Courtyard Arts Centre in Hereford. Over the next two and a quarter hours, the audience were treated to a co...

It’s been a whirlwind couple of years for Nashville based duo, The Civil Wars culminating with a couple of Grammy Awards at the recent prestigious U.S. music ceremony. This success and critical industry acclaim has certainly generated an element of hype that the duo are about to attempt to live up to on their current inaugural headline UK tour. Ticket sales have been going really well for the band, championed by Bob Harris on his national country music show, and now was the opportunity for the UK live audience to give their verdict. The historic Digbeth Civic Hall in Birmingham was the venue for the opening main show of the tour, a place now better known in music and commercial circles as the HMV Institute. The show had been upgraded from the 600 capacity Library to the main auditorium and this cramped hall was full to the rafters by the time Joy Williams and John Paul White came on stage around 9.00. The band may have only a solitary album to their name and no new songs to showca...

By her own admission the success of her current album ‘Hello Cruel World’ has taken Gretchen Peters aback especially as there has been numerous other studio ones since the outset of her recording career in the mid 90’s. To celebrate the critical acclaim that the album is getting, she is making it the centre piece of her current extensive UK tour by playing the eleven track collection of fine songs in their entirety. Therefore the sizeable Robin 2 crowd were treated to a more different than usual Gretchen Peters show that left room for only a handful of the popular songs that had helped her forge a loyal UK following over the last decade. However the reaction the new songs got from the audience suggested a full appreciation of the whole ‘Hello Cruel World’ project and the acknowledgement that this is probably a career defining record. As with her previous solo promoted show at the Robin 2, Gretchen was accompanied by her husband Barry Walsh, whose keyboard and accordion skills are becom...

It has been a number of years since Kim Richey experienced the trappings of a music career backed by a major label, and the ensuing hit records, but she seems perfectly settled in the relaxed environment of playing solo in small venues. The Studio room in Birmingham’s Glee Club provided an intimate setting for Kim to open her current UK tour and over the duration of her hour and a quarter set she delivered an accomplished performance to an audience almost packed to its small capacity. Studio albums have been a touch thin over the last ten years for Kim but the two opening songs of the evening reminded the audience of her two most recent releases. Both songs were the albums’ title tracks, starting off with ‘Wreck Your Wheels’ and followed by ‘Chinese Boxes’. Despite opening with these relatively recent numbers, Kim tended to delve into her back catalogue for a majority of the songs which was a little disappointing, mainly due to the plethora of excellent tunes on the ‘Wreck Your Wheels’...