Three Chords and the Truth UK

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 c...

Last week The American Music Association UK (AMA UK) announced the shortlist for their inaugural awards evening in February next year. This fledgling trade body has recently re-aligned its structure and acted on a previous commitment to instigate such a celebration for musicians associated with its genre. This moves it in line with its cousins of folk and country which have long established awards events, a recognition process seen as essential to showcasing the success of any year. Whether such events, for what is purely a subjective art form, are your cup of tea, the value for artists is acknowledged as important, especially for those who capture the imagination of a particular electorate. Whilst not being a participate of this shortlist selection process or the ultimate winner ballot, the names and categories were of particular interest to a person who invests an awful lot of time in listening to Americana artists while in the process of writing 150 plus reviews on an annual basis....

It’s not every day you see a young guy in his twenties dissecting early twentieth century blues music down your local pub. Even rarer is an artist tracing their exposure to the genre back to the age of five, but Sunjay is not your average performer. By exposing an incredible surplus of technical skill in working the whole length of his guitar from vigorous chord changes to expert picking, Sunjay reveals himself as a high class interpreter of folk blues drawing many plaudits from a variety of industry sources. For his fourth album, BLACK & BLUES, Sunjay chose Katie Fitzgerald’s in Stourbridge as the launch location and entertained the sizable gathering with a comprehensive compilation of songs that have been special to him since the outset of his performing and recording career. Sunjay continues to evolve as a performer in lavish assured portions, with a finely tuned wit added to the repertoire alongside the exquisite playing and developing vocals. The ear for picking a succe...

It may have taken until the latter half of November to arrive, but it has to be unequivocally said that the solo rendition of ‘ Merry Go Round’ this evening was the golden gig moment of 2015. Stripped of her band for a brief three minutes, the soul of this modern social classic was bared to a packed Royal Albert Hall. This show was the culmination of Kacey Musgraves’ latest of countless trips to Britain in the last couple of years and certainly the most eventful one for a multitude of reasons. She was totally smitten by the venue, emotional at times and fired up to show why her star has been rising recently right across the music spectrum. Let’s get the cliché out of the way by stating that the sound in this venue was exemplary leaving most others in its trail. However there was something lacking in its ability to create a warm and connective environment which is essential to lift live artist music to the pinnacle of a moving performance. Perhaps the venue was a little stuffy, ...

This evening’s show in Lichfield was further visible proof of the Wild Ponies blossoming as a live touring act. The first time Doug and Telisha Williams played the Lichfield area it was in a support role to Rod Picott and they impressed sufficiently to get an invite back to play a headline duo date a year later. Follow the timeline on another twelve months and you arrive in the present with on this occasion the duo format expanded to a trio with a guest percussionist added. Each performance built upon the previous show with enhanced impact and indications are that the band’s profile in the UK is growing too. Quite simply Doug and Telisha are in the throes of becoming an established touring act well supported by a UK network which advocates the view that the true soul of Nashville music exists east of the Cumberland River. On the topic of soul, you would have to travel a long way to experience a more gut wrenching rendition of a song than the version of ‘Iris’ that flooded out of Te...

To the appropriate background strains of ‘ Crazy Nights ’, Turid, Anne Marit , Solveig and Marianne took a well-deserved bow after playing yet another scintillating Katzenjammer show. For this, their second batch of UK venue dates in 2015, the intoxicating Norwegian quartet included Birmingham on the schedule and thus the first chance for many West Midlands fans to hear the songs from the new album ROCKLAND live. Disappointment was not on the agenda as the girls literally weaved through a chaotic set lasting just over ninety minutes and exuding gallons of exciting, mainly acoustic mayhem. First time fans were literally blown away, while seasoned Katzenjammer watchers probably never get to grips with the multitude of instrumental exchange and energetic buoyancy radiating from the stage. Although active as a band for ten years, Katzenjammer only came to my attention this year through an addiction to ROCKLAND, their third album, and a ground breaking show, well for me anyway, in N...

Give yourself a little treat sometime and open up your senses to the wonderful musical world of Caddy Cooper. Don’t restrict it to just listening to her pair of full length albums and acoustic EP, but widen it to attending one of her shows. They’re temporarily in their intimate phase and I’m sure your local venue would consider inviting her if they value what is true and honest about music. When judgement day arrives, Caddy need not be concerned as to the verdict and from a more grounded angle she is the epitome of talent exploitation. This superbly executed gig at the Kitchen Garden Café sealed the deal for me and hailed Caddy as a performer of immense credibility, integrity and more than the odd occasional flash of stylish panache. Let’s start with the voice and its tremendous versatile approach to wrapping her classically trained vocals around a string of songs sunken deep in the roots inspired genres of country, folk and blues. Her guitar playing skills are not limited to the od...

‘Musique sans genre’ perfectly sums up the artist simply known as Callaghan. ‘Sans frontier’ is another language analogy to apply as this exiled Brit is beginning to reap dividend from her American re-location five years ago and subsequent onward move to Nashville. My early re-collection of Callaghan the solo musician was around six or seven years ago during a new artist showcase when the Americana International Festival was held in Newark, UK. Several years on, she emerged a smooth and polished figure on stage in Birmingham, exuding a magnetic presence and one totally comfortable in her musical surroundings. This is a performer blessed with the art of song and extensively schooled in the live arena, be it venue or home, with a heavy bias to her extensive house concert schedule. Callaghan herself hinted during the evening on several occasions how the twin continent drive of her career is rapidly taking shape. An increased level of acclaim back in her UK homeland is proving a cont...

There appears to be a rich abundance of outstanding duo acts in the current UK folk scene, especially in the habitual male-female combination. These acts follow the exciting course of mixing traditional and contemporary pieces with a keen eye on maintaining the relevance of the key song through the ages. Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman is a firmly established such duo and continually prompting the award giving bodies along with Gilmore-Roberts, Martin-Henry and Clarke-Walker. All four are forever seeking innovative ways to reach their audience, so it was far from surprising to see a gig spring up as a primary school fundraiser. The village of Cookley in North Worcestershire has a rich history of hosting folk music in various guises within its handful of locations. Kathryn and Sean were making their first visit to the area and by the reception the healthy gathering bestowed upon them it is unlikely to be their last. In fact the setting was right up the street of this parental du...