Three Chords and the Truth UK

Can the grass be greener? A twist on this time tested analogy that can also apply to whether the gigs you regularly frequent are better attended elsewhere in the country. The answer was clearly yes on a Monday night in Ashington where many folks can quite legitimately state that ‘they were there the night Joey Landreth came to town’. The White House Unique Social Club is located in this old Northumberland colliery town twenty miles north of Newcastle. It is not your usual domain of an award winning Canadian folk rock artist, who together with his brother had brought the delectable sibling harmonies to a wider world via the band The Bros. Landreth. Yet on this latest trip to the UK, during a period of Joey branching out on his own, circumstance and fate led to the sold out sticker being plastered right across the gig poster. For a bit more context, the event was organised by Ashington Town Council as part of its commemoration of the 150 th anniversary of the first mineshaft bein...

Is it a festival or a collection of gigs? No doubt, a strange question for many SummerTyne Americana devotees, but one pondered several times across the weekend of a first visit to this jewel of the North East. There are similarities with the likeminded Southern Fried Festival in Perth, but there is more of a compartmentalised feel to SummerTyne. While the outdoor Jumping Hot Club stage and the indoor concourse stage in the Sage’s ground floor foyer are integral parts of the event, the lifeblood and true pull are the array of independent ticketed events that are liberally strewn across the transformed venue. An early decision to maximise the paid offering via purchasing tickets for six shows meant that there was always going to be a chance of the other two performing areas becoming a peripheral attraction. This proved the case after an initial sampling of the SummerTyne experience, with essentially the outdoor location being at the mercy of the weather and the concourse sonically ...

2017 is turning out to be just as big a year for Chuck Prophet as 2016 was a bad one for rock ‘n’ roll. Putting corny associations aside for a moment, Chuck is currently finding renewed love in the UK for his music and in return, he has gifted his fans an excellent album in BOBBY FULLER DIED FOR YOUR SINS. This Sunday evening headline set in Sage 2 at SummerTyne exploded into a rock ‘n’ roll fantasia with the full Mission Express band firing on all cylinders. This was the band’s opening night of a second run of UK dates this year. It eventually rolled out as a two-hour performance, which ran very close to their gig of the year candidate in Nottingham at the back end of the winter. Opening with the title track from the latest album, the band quickly seamlessly wove the new material into the set. Songs like ‘ Bad Year for Rock ‘n’ Roll’ , ‘ Jesus was a Social Drinker’ , and ‘ We Got Up and Played ’ are fast becoming stage favourites and that is a credit to Chuck with his pretty awes...

While the general SummerTyne main evening choice is between two ticketed shows, the afternoon offering pits a paid event in Sage 2 against the free outdoors and concourse stages. This year the festival organisers decided to wholly make these afternoon events the domain of the female artist with a double bill of Jo Harman and Lisa Mills following up a previous day scheduling of Angaleena Presley and Danni Nicholls. Whereas the Saturday show leaned heavily in a country direction, the corresponding Sunday event brought a slice of the blues with two powerhouse vocalists. It is always a welcoming touch when artists are matched with a plethora of contrasts and comparisons that make the art of complementation work well. Both Lisa Mills and Jo Harman draw on the magnitude of their vocal strength to form their work. For this twin show, Jo was afforded the slightly longer set, but both performances gave fascinating insights in how the voice can be utilised so well. Ultimately, it is pro...

The match up on Saturday night of SummerTyne was predominately classic soul versus classic country. While Stax legend William Bell rolled back the years with a reported stunning show in the larger hall of Sage 1, the main alternative paired the old and the new in Jim Lauderdale and Sam Outlaw. The contrasts didn’t end at the positions on the career longevity ladder as Jim opted for the solo performance while Sam went down the band route. This probably led to the latter grabbing the headline slot in what was essentially a double bill. Offered a similar amount of time, both artists gave a snapshot performance of where their careers currently stand with many positives being extracted from each hour of music. Jim Lauderdale is going through an Anglicised phase in his career. Not only is there a big clue in the title of the new album LONDON SOUTHERN, but the record was also made over here with significant help from Nick Lowe’s band. A fleeting visit earlier in the New Year saw him pop up...

Sometimes you just have to wait patiently for that moment when an artist puts all their attributes on the table and the full potential explodes. This show was scheduled for the Saturday afternoon of Gateshead’s very own Summertyne Americana festival and the occasion which proved third time time lucky seeing Angaleena Presley really flourish. While a debut solo performance in another city a couple of years ago revealed an artist feeling her way and a subsequent support slot that didn’t really play to the appropriate gallery, this show was absolutely right on the mark. No band was required, just an exceptional singer-songwriter at ease with their wares, a brave wit and a bucketful of songs saturated in the simple sentiment of country music. It may have helped that unlike on a previous occasion, she was largely preaching to a converted congregation. Tuning into Angaleena’s wavelength was entirely accessible as she set about proving that song-writing riches are aplenty far from the c...

The name Marlon Williams may not be well known in the UK at the moment, but that has huge potential to change after witnessing his awesome set in the designated late night lounge on the opening day of this year’s SummerTyne Americana Festival. It was quite a coup to enlist the services of a New Zealand singer-songwriter en route to continuing his increasing growth in the US. Listening to his material online following the initial booking plus viewing an impressive KEXP radio showcase on You Tube, only probably prepared you for 10% of Marlon’s ultimate appeal. The vocal prowess of this South Island resident from the Land of the Long White Cloud at times soared in jaw dropping proportions as he used every second of the allotted hour to primarily paint the landscape with a heavy dose of noir. This was an artist adept at coaxing the listener into a semi-conscious state, oblivious to the surroundings while totally immersed in the depth of the music. The songs spawned mainly from Marlo...

The surnames Haggard and Campbell are long locked into the annals of country music. However, it might just be a couple of different forenames, which tell the story in years to come. It was a scenario of the next generation as SummerTyne festival launched its ticketed presentation on the Friday evening of this year’s event. As an alternative to The Shires playing to the gallery of the masses in the main hall of Gateshead’s Sage venue, Ben Haggard, alongside his brother Noel, and Ashley Campbell set about carrying on their family legacy in slightly contrasting formats within the confines of the venue’s neatly compact second auditorium. Ben Haggard It has been just over a year since Merle sadly left us, but the spirit of The Hag was reigning supreme in the guise of two of his sons, plus a touring quartet keeping the Strangers name alive. Indeed an essential part of this combo dedicated to pay the ultimate tribute to an indisputable country legend is long time pedal steel player...

This debut album by Jade Jackson nearly passed me by, but thankfully, fate delivered an absolute beauty. GILDED in its title suggests either something golden or something hidden. One certainty though is that a little mining will reveal vast treasures. The sound hits you with a blast of indie tilted in an Americana direction while splashed with country sentiment. Ultimately, it’s raw, riveting and rather good. The eleven tracks, all in a self-penned status, unwrap with a sweet and sour effect. The lyrics have a youthful zest to them, in contrast to some some worn vocals belying such a young performer. It transpires that intense listening to the Lucinda Williams classic album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road was part of the preparation journey from prolific introspective writer to a recording artist offering songs to the world. This has clearly rubbed off and while it would be remiss to compare, the detected influence gives the record a degree of maturity. A useful element to any s...

Take your coffee black; drink your whiskey straight; enjoy your food without ketchup and savour your music free of saccharine. There is also no flavouring or artificial tinkering required with the music of Ed Dupas as it stands alone on a towering plateau of genuineness. TENNESSEE NIGHT is the second album from this Michigan based singer-songwriter and surfaces to a willing world in a swirling mix of the rousing and the heartfelt. The album weaves ruggedly through a myriad of tempos without straying too far from a focussed core. This is of an artist hell bent on dissecting a mass of emotion, feelings and thoughts within the powerful medium of the articulate song. Throw in a soundtrack splattered with the soil of when country music meets it alternative cousin on the backroads of the Americana landscape, and a winning formula blows across the airwaves. Eleven self-penned tracks form this album, which begins in a fully fired up mode before reverting to the mean of the temperate perform...

While the background and journey adds substance to the story, you barely need a fraction of the opening song from Nicole Atkins’ new album to know that you are in the midst of a winner. GOODNIGHT RHONDA LEE is the triumphant result of a calling ‘South’ and proof that the horizon knows no limits when all the stars are aligned. Natural talent is bestowed upon an individual with no invitation, but how it is utilised is key to transmitting such a gift from the creative individual to the person experiencing it. From its scintillating opening through the other ten tracks, this achingly beautiful album fans the vocal flames with extraordinary pedigree. A record that smoothly switches from making you smile, cry, think and dance, this a classic cut of country soul, which spans the generations. Throughout the album, Nicole wanders into soul territory armed with rock credentials, never really staying, yet intent on soaking up all the vibes that have formed the ‘Great American Soul Book’. Alt...

The reasoning behind self-titled albums can be somewhat vague, but this is certainly not the case with the new record by Amanda Anne Platt & the Honeycutters. It is born from a decision for Amanda to step out of the shadows and be more of a focus for the music of a band that has been gathering momentum over the last couple of years. It is also a case of a fertile period for the band with records seeing the light of day in 2015, 2016 and now 2017. This follows a steady start to a recording career that stretches back nearly a decade. Whether the re-branding is deemed successful can wait for a later day, but on the evidence of the new album’s thirteen tracks, the sound is right on the mark.  The Honeycutters accrued praise for their smart ability to execute a deep-rooted country sound in songs framed for their simplicity. This, of course aligned with their indie status, meant an audience tended to be sourced from the Americana and contemporary folk communities. However, decent ...

Hannah Aldridge noticeably thrives in the format of touring solo. It presents opportunities to bare the soul of her song writing and express the deepest sincerity she feels within her music. Key signs of progress as a touring artist are also emerging all the time, no more apparent than the evolution of the gigs hosted by the Kitchen Garden in Birmingham. Over the last three summers, Hannah has cultivated an ever-increasing turnout culminating in the latest show edging very closely into sold out territory. To mark this event, probably the most revealing performance to date was given as the new record was signed, sealed and delivered – both in a literal and metaphorical sense. Hannah’s association with the Midlands area pre-dates the first Birmingham show by a few months, and at least half a dozen folks present for the initial gig at Bromsgrove’s Hop Pole pub in March 2015 were once again in attendance. Indeed tracing back to that first gig, we were introduced to songs such as ‘ Burni...

The eighth staging of the world’s greatest micro music festival was greeted by a house full sign as the ‘legendary’ Tingewick village hall swung into action for its annual renewal. Putting hyperbole to one side for a moment, Tingestock does have an exceedingly good knack of fine-tuning its optimum appeal to a dedicated audience. Five excellent acts under the curating guidance of Clubhouse Records spanned an identical number of hours to ensure a sleepy North Buckinghamshire village kept one eye open to a triumvirate of rock sounds, positioned in the realms of alt-country, folk and wide-encompassing Americana. Cross colonial collaboration, comradeship and putting music into perspective were the themes emanating from this year’s staging. Within a tight remit, balanced offerings were prevalent on the vocal, tempo and instrumental front, with the sole exception being of original material almost entirely ruling the roost. From memory, on only three occasions were the works of the greats c...