Three Chords and the Truth UK

If first impressions carry a large weighting then Lachlan Bryan and the Wildes set off on the right footing. Parading their wares on the outside stage at last year’s Maverick Festival proved an instant hit with many folks and the scene was set to make serious inroads into the UK country and Americana community. It can sometimes be perplexing assessing a non-US act taking inspiration from a land many thousands of miles from home, but this does not preclude a successful re-enactment especially with any pseudo content banished. Further proof of Lachlan Bryan’s impressive tilt into the genre lavishly displays right across his new album, strikingly titled SOME GIRLS (QUITE) LIKE COUNTRY MUSIC. The relevance of this artist hailing from Australia is one that you can choose to apply or not, although characters and surroundings from his homeland play a significant part in the record. The secret to this release, his fourth since commencing recording under this name in 2009, is the honest ...

It has been a contrasting couple of days at the Kitchen Garden. On the rebound from a two-night sold out ‘residency’ by Beth Nielsen Chapman it was normal service resumed as Lucy Ward bounded back into Birmingham to stoke up some fire and fury in folk fans. It is a credit to the venue that such diverse nights can be successfully staged. Some may say – tongue in cheek – that this night reflected the soul of the venue, but the gig platform is a spacious zone. This zone is vibrantly consumed when Lucy Ward sparks a feisty passion and exudes an offbeat enthusiasm. This is folk music in its purest form, give or take the frequent strum of the guitar and ukulele or the odd squeeze of the concertina. As linear, controlled and structured the two previous evenings were, tonight was a return to the maverick ramblings of a left field performer purveying hypnotic powers to lure her audience into a wonderful world of traditional fantasy and gritty political resistance. Starting with an ode to soc...

The creaking wooden staircase, stone floor and bricked interior of the Kitchen Garden have witnessed a seemingly lifetime of musicians share their craft over the years. Many nationalities have brought a variety of music styles, all tightly bound by a vision to connect with an audience on the most intimate levels of interaction. Throughout this period, a soul has formed and a special bond has adhered between those laying their money down and those accruing the crumbs. The venue has become a triumph of content over message, a refreshing state of play in these superficial times. However, when Beth Nielsen Chapman anoints it as the “Bluebird Café of the UK”, then maybe it is time the message had at least a day in the sun. To say that this two-night sold out stint by one of Nashville’s most revered songwriters moved the goalpost of the Kitchen Garden is an understatement. A change in dynamics was the order of the evening as a dedicated audience filed in to experience a Beth Nielsen Chapma...

From small acorns, the saying goes, but playing a small part at the outset of what could prove a fruitful journey is a decent place to be. Hopton Wafers is a sleepy location on the Shropshire/Worcestershire border and now can add the location of the Beardy Folk Festival to its claim to fame. A gently sloping walled garden rectangular amphitheatre provides the natural landscape to house a smart diversity of UK acts representing a broad range of folk music styles. Whether the organisers have opted for a touch of irony, or an attempt at stereotypical reclamation in naming their operation, tapping into a winning formula suggests that more has gone right than wrong in treading the tricky waters of festival promotion. The caveat to such an analysis stems from only attending the Saturday of this three-day event, but adopting a ‘speak as you find’ approach reaches a favourable conclusion. A slick operation presented nearly twelve hours of continuous music from thirteen scheduled perform...

Early into her first set, Kim Richey commented that the configuration of the Kitchen Garden partially reflected the world famous Bluebird Café in Nashville. This was apt to the extent that seeing her play that iconic venue back in 2016 re-ignited an immense appreciation for such a measured and accomplished talent. In contrast to an evening where the limelight was shared with fellow songwriters Matraca Berg, Don Henry and Bill Lloyd, Kim reverted to her de facto solo touring mode and injected a stark reminder of the many fine songs to have surfaced from her deep creative well over the years. 2018 is shaping up to be a significant year for this artist originally hailing from Ohio, but more than making a mark a couple of states further south where the good and great in music gather. EDGELAND, her first studio album in five years, has accrued heaps of attentive praise since emerging in the spring on the Yep Roc label and a raft of dates supporting Gretchen Peters in the UK has seen a re-...

There is precedence to a Danni Nicholls album having multiple lives and the scene is set for a repeat process now that the songs are in the can for the next album. The cycle may still be in the embryonic untitled stage regards the upcoming album, but tracks are beginning to emerge in a live setting. Fresh out of a latest stateside stint to bring the songs to near fruition, she has undertaken a few dates around the country to break them in gently. Birmingham’s Kitchen Garden has hosted Danni on a couple of previous occasions and it was a posse of familiar faces greeting her for this latest visit. Grander stages will feature ahead as the record nears release, but it is good for the new songs to be road tested and it can be unequivocally stated that treats are on the way to fans new and old. A distinct theme characterised the two sets Danni played this evening. The bulk of the new material featured after the break, following a widely spanned selection in the first set from a recor...

The duo format has been a winning formula for as long as country and roots music has sought popular appeal. This has even proved the case when only a single name is used to front the act. What worked well for Gillian Welch alongside Dave Rawlings is perfectly set for Vivian Leva and her musical partner Riley Calcagno. The inaugural tour of the UK is billed as a duo event, although the route of their famed associates is repeated in a solo titled album acting as the focal point to direct folks to some recorded output. Vivian Leva’s TIME IS EVERYTHING was released to critical acclaim earlier this year and it did not too long to deduce the positive critique when finally tracking it down. Riley is intrinsically involved on the record and the way the pair sparred and blended on stage did more than suggest that the chemistry is working. A progressive move in recent times to establish Thimblemill Library in Smethwick as a hotbed for American roots music has proved a hit. A periodic yet suc...

You watch them come and go on the festival scene, but Maverick remains steadfast as the destination of choice for the first full weekend of July each summer. Now in its second decade of existence, this compact festival in the quaint surrounding of rural Suffolk motors on, powered by a formula that rarely changes from staging to staging. Expect a serious dissection of a scene influenced by American roots music through a host of worldwide sourced acts making themselves available for this celebratory gathering. 2018 may see the term ‘Americana’ proceed along a more focussed path in the UK, but its roots and lineage certainly go back through the inaugural Maverick Festival unveiled in 2008. Easton Farm Park has been the host of Maverick since its birth and it is difficult to imagine it being staged elsewhere such are the unique and quirky facets of the environment that are entwined within the festival experience. Adapted performing locations like The Barn, Peacock Café and Moonshine ...

Sometimes out of the murky mist comes a beating drum refusing to yield as it tramples over all comers on the most personal of journeys. Banging that drum alongside etching a plethora of tunes out of the fiddle and pipes arrives Skerrymore. This fully stocked Scottish folk rock band have racked up the musical miles over an active decade and probably will long into the future, but for one summer they have captured a timeless escape into where music can lead the wandering mind. Five tunes and six songs only begin the infatuation that sprang from left field. Instantly, the past, present and future intensely stirred. EVO is a heady mix of tub thumping instrumentals clearing the path for a choice selection of invigorating anthems. Choose your label with wild abandon. You can find pop, rock, folk and tradition, and even if you close your eyes and stretch the mind, a saunter down Americana way. The flag will come down on June 11 th and then the procession will intensify. While the origi...

There are two approaches to listening to this album. First is adopting the role of casual listener and taking ten well-crafted songs on board at face value, although at least two will be somewhat familiar. The alternative is to be versed in the back-story, as no doubt many fans of Ben Kyle and Romantica will be. The fact that OUTLAWS is even getting a release is a testimony to the recovery Ben is making after being struck down with Lyme disease shortly after completing the previous album. By the time SHADOWLANDS was greeted with overwhelming praise, the illness was taking hold and a significant threat to more than just making future music. Therefore, the new record may well just be Ben Kyle’s most important release, even if it has meant resurrecting a number of Romantica recordings from the cutting room floor. The fact that many of these songs have not previously surfaced is a credit to the quality of material that did make the cut. This is particularly pertinent to three tracks pul...

Carter Sampson already has the prestigious accolade of ‘Albumof the Year 2016’ in her bank for the immaculately connective WILDER SIDE and now sights are set as where her new record LUCKY ascends to on its meandering and exploratory journey. For this is how her music gets around, no big bang just a slow burning saunter around the musical collections of the discerning listener. Luckily, for Carter, the twin bait of the sumptuous song wrapped in an enticing voice is attracting more and more folks. The new album finally gets its formal UK release via Continental Recording Services on June 8 th , although many are already captivated by its availability at her live shows and a brief exposure on the streaming wires. Release day may be an extra focal point, but just a mere spot on the eventual journey of an album destined to favourably project the music of this Oklahoma based artist. There is a therapeutic appeal to listening to Carter Sampson. The voice encapsulates the spirit of her...

Liberté, egalité, fraternité is an old French revolutionary saying that applies to Bennett Wilson Poole in terms of their free spirit, egalitarian approach to music and comradeship. Maybe their unison has not quite stirred a musical revolution in 2018, but it is definitively re-energising an iconic sound. Billed as an Americana supergroup revs up the hyperbole, although echoes of 60s LA fire out of a multi guitar attack stoked by the jangle tones of the twelve stringed Rickenbacker.  Gigs are beginning to stack up for this seasoned trio, formed to quantify a mutual love shared by Robin Bennett, Danny Wilson and Tony Poole. It was no surprise to see one of their early shows scheduled for St. George’s Hall in the north Worcestershire town of Bewdley, a venue frequented twice by Robin in the guise of his band The Dreaming Spires and sibling collaboration The Bennett Family Singers. Therefore, it was all systems go when the full band hit the stage at 9:30 complete with a further D...