Three Chords and the Truth UK

Lindsay Ell was born to play guitar, has been schooled at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston and received considerable praise from across a wide spectrum of the industry for her playing skills. Observing Lindsay at close quarters reveals an artist engrossed in her craft and totally dedicated to presenting a gifted talent to an appreciative audience. Yet there was something missing from this seventy minute performance which left you scratching your head in puzzlement as to who Lindsay Ell is and where her music heading. There was no denying her love of classic blues rock and when commissioning a full frontal attack on this style with guitar wielding sidekick Brian Smith then you felt Lindsay hit her comfort zone and perhaps found her true mission. However this was too often punctuated by a bland attempt to mix in lacklustre pop which lacked soul, impact and ultimate belief. In contrast to Lindsay last playing to a packed Institute venue in Birmingham when opening ...

No educational lesson in the history and roots of country music is complete without a trip down Texas way and getting acquainted with the work of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. After rising out of the Lone Star State’s dance halls in the 30s and 40s to hit the heights of its commercial appeal, western swing continues to ooze with timeless class with the two main artists charging themselves with leading the preservation stakes today being Asleep at the Wheel and Hot Club of Cowtown. Ray Benson of the former has been active in this role for over forty years and decided the time was right to give the genre extra vigour by engaging in a liaison with over twenty established artists to produce the latest tribute to the music of Bob Wills. The result is a total re-affirmation that Bob Wills is STILL THE KING, a compilation of excellent recordings that succeed in breathing contemporary life into a style etched into history. The format is quite a simple one with Ray and his band accom...

Pull up a chair, pour a drink and shelve all other tasks for a couple of hours. This will get you set to dive headfirst into the poetic world of Cameron Blake where the music plays second fiddle to the words and long term applicants only need apply. If you instantly reject this record then it’s best to stay away, however if you hang in there, tune into the mono sonic vibes and grapple with the lyrical content, rich pickings are to be found. ALONE ON THE WORLD STAGE is a title which perfectly sums up Cameron’s approach to his art and his craving to take a very individualistic approach to the storytelling song genre. Grand Rapids, Michigan is the home of the now settled family man and he uses this base to span his writing from the intensely personal, politically regional to wider global issues. Alternative perspectives are a key driver for Cameron’s writing and a vital accompaniment for coming to grips with his literary messages was an informed song analysis piece on his website. P...

First and foremost The Decemberists are a top class and polished band, packed with fine musicians and playing attractive songs to adoring audiences. They have a wide ranging appeal and a charismatic frontman capable of harnessing adulation. Commercial success has been forthcoming and many who attended this sell out gig in Birmingham Institute’s premier hall would have headed home with their fan status enhanced. The new album, which broke the band’s longest barren recording spell of four years, is a decent buy with many tunes that attract several repeat listens. Yet there was something missing on a personal basis which will prevent this gig getting close to the end of year top 20. Much debate preceded the decision to attend this gig as it was a definite nudge into the mainstream and far more to the crowded centre than a majority of the eighty plus shows attended each year. However The Decemberists cross my path on numerous occasions as an influential US band flirting with a folk an...

James Wilson Let’s get the name cliché out of the way first. Yes they are, well at least three-fifths of them. Onto more important matters and Sons of Bill demonstrated in Birmingham tonight why their star is set to shine a lot brighter in the UK in years to come. The five-piece band from Charlottesville, Virginia are only on their second UK tour but the growing audience numbers, continuing positive universal reception and enhanced wider press is making that spotlight brighter with each gig and record. A versatility to successfully sway between tender harmonies and fully optimum amped up rock while calling at many points in between give Sons of Bill a massive head start when either hitting the studio or the stage and what emerges is one of the finest alt-country bands plying their trade on both sides of the Atlantic. Bill Wilson’s three sons – Abe, Sam and James – once again show how sibling integration can be a vital ingredient in a successful music act and thus join a long l...

The ultimate joy of reviewing new albums is occasionally getting totally besotted by the first listen. So without delay, let me share the pleasure of discovering the gutsy and powerhouse sound of Samantha Martin. Technically this is not the first listen to Samantha’s music as there is a vague recollection of catching part of her Sunday morning gospel set at the 2013 Calgary Folk Festival but this casual acquaintance at a crowded event has now exploded into a full blown love affair. SEND THE NIGHTINGALE is the guilty party for this new found obsession and rips right through you with a lightning streak of what makes blues, roots rock and soul music so accessible to listeners desiring an alternative music exposure. For this album, which is now available to download in the UK, Samantha has assembled a three piece backing unit creatively named Delta Sugar. This combo of Mikey McCallum on electric guitar alongside Sherrie Marshall and Stacie Tabb on backing vocals help Samantha create...

Having masqueraded as a country singer around the turn of the millennium and as a duchess for the last few years, Allison Moorer has taken stock of her life and comes up with a stunning album that will have both punters and critics drooling. DOWN TO BELIEVING will thrill, excite, move and entertain, especially if savoured within the context of Allison’s career and life over the last twenty odd years. No doubt it will be billed as a break up album, but this record is much more than this exhausted concept with the writing, themes, musical direction and passionate delivery reflecting a number of key inputs. From a personal perspective, sitting triumphantly amongst the last few years of Allison’s career was witnessing her transfix the audience at Leicester’s Big Sessions Festival with a memorable version of her humble home state masterpiece ‘ Alabama Song’ . It was the album of the same name which launched Allison onto Nashville’s country scene in 1998 and a reunion with key produce...

Anybody who attended a Po Girl show in the late 2000’s will not be surprised by the successful transition of its two key players in their re-incarnated projects. While the immensely soulful Ali Russell goes from strength to strength with Birds of Chicago, the highly creative and impulsive Awna Teixeira continues to cultivate a solo status blending an infectious cocktail of originality and deep veined class. WILD ONE is the full blown follow up to 2012’s debut solo outing WHERE THE DARKNESS GOES and once again Awna invites you on a glorious voyage of mystical bliss designed to intoxicate you with an explorative take on the alternative world of folk and Americana or to be more precise Canadiana. Quite frankly this is yet another album to be savoured as an entity which means a little time investment is required, but a more rewarding way to spend 50 minutes of your down time is tough to find, if you have the desire to explore the depths of an intriguing artist. Brimming with magnifi...

After a brief saunter into the world of interpreting the work of others with 2013’s COVERS, Kimmie Rhodes announces her return to original song writing with the release of the very satisfying COWGIRL BOUDOIR. There was little danger of an artist with such a rich concoction of acclaim, influence and association showing any complacency and this record is a prime example of the theory of mature blossoming. With a recording career stretching back to 1981, a Lubbock upbringing and an Austin refining, Kimmie has cut it amongst the finest in country music and its disengaged family member Americana for so long and it’s a blessing that her talents can be further shared with the class of 2015. Released on her longstanding indie record label, Sunbird, and once again under the guidance of her son, Gabe, on production duties, COWGIRL BOUDOIR successfully merges a classically underpinned country sound with wider polished tints, all wrapped in a cover of iconic 1970s singer-song writing panach...

What is meant by the concept ‘dark underbelly of country music’? Having used the phrase to open his show at the Kitchen Garden Café, Hank Wangford set about the task of taking the audience on a gloomy journey of misery, heartbreak and pain. Whether you left the venue fully versed in Hank’s graphic and metaphoric description of his music or not, there was no denying that you had just spent a couple of hours in the company of an evergreen performer absolutely in tune with the ethos and soul of country music. Unashamedly regressive and nostalgic in its stance, the show oozed with golden class and proved to be a faultless presentation of the timeless appeal of simple, honest and canorous music. This Birmingham return was almost a year to the date since Hank first brought his show to the Kitchen Garden Café and this time he upgraded the line up to a trio with the inclusion of Anna Robinson from London-based band Hallelujah Trails on guitar and vocals. While not exactly a carbon copy ...

While almost entirely the talent on offer from touring Americana artists is undisputable, the reception and turnout to support these performers up and down the country can often be patchy. This therefore made Drew Holcomb’s show at The Bullingdon in Oxford totally refreshing and a blueprint that hopefully can be replicated in other towns and venues. The first part of this jigsaw was the easy bit as Drew Holcomb is an immensely accomplished artist with a full toolkit to project his majestic songs to an enthralled audience. The second and trickier piece is the knack of pulling in over 140 enthusiastic people across a diverse age range on a Saturday night in a provincial city. So credit to Empty Rooms Promotions for achieving this and further boosting the evening by booking an excellent supporting artist in Oxford based singer-songwriter Bethany Weimers. Drew Holcomb is still finding his feet in the UK market but this latest tour to promote his impressive new album MEDICINE may prov...

When Luke Jackson casually enthused on social media about the new Parker Millsap album, an instant connection was made and subsequently confirmed following this double billed gig welcoming Luke back to the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham. Not only are the two of a similar age but their approach and style of music interpretation possesses an uncanny resemblance making short shrift the mileage gulf between the sparseness of Oklahoma and the English garden county of Kent. Both belie their young years with a fathomless extraction of bone and soul to present a raw sound rich in spirit and outstanding in its level of competent appeal. Mixing with established singer-songwriters such as Amy Wadge on this dual set tour, will do no harm in Luke’s development alongside prestigious support slots with artists of the calibre of Martyn Joseph and Marillion. Yet as soon as Luke took to the stage for this intimate show you felt in the presence of a special talent gathering momentum in the art of c...

While their careers have been at varying lengths, it is probably unlikely that Rodney Crowell, Sara Watkins and Patty Griffin have been backed by a finer assembly of musicians than those on Birmingham’s Symphony Hall stage this evening. First time Sessions invitees, Crowell and Griffin, added some high level cultured Americana to this year’s tour but in the true ethos of this longstanding project, the beauty is in the collaboration and the way the roots of two nation’s music can be entwined as one. In essence the rotation of guest vocalists is a seamless transition and to be fair who can argue with a generational four timer of Ruth Moody, Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz and Sara Wakins since the inception of this blog reviewing the event in 2012. A near constant has been the dual backfield spearheaded by Messrs Douglas and Bain, with a total constant being the impeccable high standard of their cemented chosen players. Whether your interest lies in the folk music of these isles, b...

Steve Bell and Fred Gregory An Englishman, a Welshman, a Scot and an American is often the cue for a gag but tonight it was one facet of the Porchlight Smoker line up, that had ventured north to promote their excellent new album WATER INTO SAND. Such is the comradery and interchangeability of like-minded bands, two Porchlight members were making a return visit to the Kitchen Garden Café after fellow Brighton-based band Hatful of Rain had graced the same venue with their presence last year. Just as Hatful impressed with their 2014 gig, Porchlight Smoker displayed in their versatile entity, the wealth of song writing and musical talent that exists within the UK’s Americana-tinged folk and roots genre. With Hatful’s Phil Jones filling in on stand-up bass, it was left to the three remaining core Porchlight members to showcase their sound and share a bunch of well-written original songs sitting comfortably alongside some more illustrious covers. From the opening strains of ‘ Mary M...