That's it Folks

The journey complete. Destination reached. Mission accomplished. Around 1000 reviews since 2012 and a race now run. Pastures new ahead, with music still to the core, albeit a different focus. Archives intact until Google decide to crash this platform. Farewell, so long and keep it real, authentic and live. We will never know whether it was the journey or the destination. However, two things are certain, there are more than three chords, but the truth is always singular. 

2019: KEEPING MUSIC LIVE (Top 20 Favourite Gigs)

It's been a tradition since 2012. So that annual trawl through the gig diary to add a quantitative aspect to the live music experience continues for another year. Also the ritual of honouring those who take gig-going to extraordinary levels is upheld and their presence does as much as any insider to keep the wheels of live music active away from the realms of the public eye. Anyway, from a list that fluctuates from year to year, here are the twenty shows that rose to the fore to shape the gig year of 2019.

1. Lucinda Williams - Birmingham Town Hall

2. The Delines - St.John the Evangelist, Oxford

3. Ryan Bingham - The Bullingdon, Oxford

4. Dale Watson - The Bullingdon, Oxford

5. Molly Tuttle - Kitchen Garden, Birmingham

6. Yola - Hare and Hounds, Birmingham

7. Hayes Carll - The Glee Club, Nottingham

8. Jason Ringenberg - Kitchen Garden, Birmingham

9. Simone Felice - Hare and Hounds, Birmingham

10. Danni Nicholls - Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham

11. The Orphan Brigade - Kitchen Garden, Birmingham

12. Robert Vincent - The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham

13. Thea Gilmore- Artrix, Bromsgrove

14. Hannah Aldridge - St.George's Hall, Bewdley

15. Emily Barker - Thimblemill Library, Smethwick

16. Lachlan Bryan and the Wildes - Kitchen Garden, Birmingham

17. Wild Ponies - Elford Village Hall

18. The Local Honeys - Kitchen Garden, Birmingham

19. Oh Susanna - Kitchen Garden, Birmingham

20. Caroline Spence - Kitchen Garden, Birmingham

See you somewhere down the road in 2020.

2019: THE SOUNDTRACK (Top 20 Favourite albums)

If you are anti end of year lists then feel free to move on (but cheers for the curiosity click). To get this far there must be some minuscule of interest to what albums came from an exhaustive pile to create most interest and ultimate enjoyment throughout the year. Maybe art should not be a contest, but rules of the game suggest otherwise each December in these pages. So here goes, the favourite albums (please do not use the term 'best' until you have listened to every single release) of 2019

1. Miranda Lambert - Wildcard

2. The Highwomen - The Highwomen

3. Yola - Walk Through Fire

4. The Delines - The Imperial

5. The HawtThorns - Morning Sun

6. Ags Connolly - Wrong Again

7. Caroline Spence - Mint Condition

8. Danni Nicholls - The Melted Morning

9. Jade Jackson - Wilderness

10. Molly Tuttle - When You're Ready

11. Steel Blossoms - Steel Blossoms

12. Allison Moorer - Blood

13. Kelsey Waldon - White Noise / White Lines

14. Danny Schmidt - Standard Deviation

15. Michael McDermott - Orphans

16. Hayes Carll - What it is

17. Kaia Kater - Grenades

18. Maya de Vitry - Adaptions

19. Jenny Lewis - On the Line

20. Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow

GIG REVEIW: My Darling Clementine - Kitchen Garden, Kings Heath, Birmingham. Sunday 22nd December 2019

It's fitting that the final review to appear on these pages is a previous recipient of the prestigious 'Favourite Gig of the Year' award. My Darling Clementine took the honours in 2013, and have since become regular review subjects with successive albums and a handful of other shows. It is also fitting that the final review is from the Kitchen Garden, a venue the scene of gigs well into three figures since the first published piece back in 2012. Not all gig reviews have come from sold out shows (that is not always a prime driver for a successful night), but it is nice to see the 'house full' sign for a change. So cheers to Michael and Lou for closing these pages, and to much more music from them in both the live and recorded formats in the future. Ok not the most comprehensive review to end on, but My Darling Clementine did record a song titled 'Our Race is Run', and by a further stroke of fortune they included it in tonight's setlist. A shared sentiment to close.

GIG REVIEW: Danni Nicholls - Kitchen Garden, Kings Heath, Birmingham. Tuesday 10th December 2019

Danni Nicholls crowned a successful year with a second visit to Birmingham and a third set seen when you throw her Long Road festival appearance into the mix. This is in addition to the release of her latest album THE MELTED MORNING, which has been rapturously received in ever expanding horizons.

The Kitchen Garden has been a regular dropping off haunt for Danni since first discovering it a few years ago and this evening's show saw her at her usual best, filling the gaps between the excellent songs with much valued insight into their inception, collaboration and inspiration.

As the decade draws to a close, Danni Nicholls is one of those artists who heralded its opening ten years ago when discovering her music at the Maverick Festival. Who knows where the next decade will lead, but one guarantee is that songwriting and music is set to play a signifiant part.

GIG REVIEW: The Small Glories - Kitchen Garden, Kings Heath, Birmingham. Tuesday 3rd December 2019

Cara Luft has built a loyal UK fan network, following the many tours she had undertaken over the years. On one of her several visits to Birmingham a few years back she introduced a new touring partner in the guise of fellow Canadian JD Edwards, which in effect was the embryonic stages of a brand new duo being born. Since that January evening at the Kitchen Garden in 2014, The Small Glories have gone from strength to strength on the back of a couple of album releases, signing to a US label and continual touring around the world including a successful stint in Australia. Perhaps it is the latter that shines the most favourable light on the duo as there is nothing quite like the interactive and connective nature of the live show to bring the best out of the pairing. It was of no surprise that the Kitchen Garden appeared on the latest touring schedule, and also that the venue was packed to its near capacity to greet the return of Cara and JD.

Once recollections from previous Kitchen Garden visits were out the way, the duo set about showing why they have become such popular performers, mixing wit with engaging stories and songs straight to the heart of the Canadian folk genre. Yes, the land from the Rockies to the Maritimes comes to the fore as the songs and stories evolve. Whether discovering hidden mountain communities, celebrating civic pride in Winnipeg or tracking some old fishing tales from the east coast, the audience were treated to a thoroughly entertaining spin across a land so effective in exporting its musical treasures.

Instrumentally, Cara exchanges between her trademark banjo and conventional folk acoustic guitar, while JD does likewise with his stringed accompaniment and harmonica. Vocal compatibility wrapped within a sheen of diversity helps shape the songs, of which many on the night were lifted off the latest album ASSINBOINE & THE RED, a title drawing influence from the duo's home city of Winnipeg. Indeed the whole album featured across the brace of sets that formed this fun-filled evening with numbers like 'Don't Back Down' and 'Sing' proving popular participation pieces.

The lengthy chat interludes didn't outstay their welcome, although material away from the latest album was a little thin with 'Time Wanders On' (a song written with Britain's Bella Hardy) and the unforgettable 'Bring 'Em All In' standing out. The latter was one of Cara's earlier songs pre-dating her link up with JD and recalled from the days when Cara toured alone as when first catching her play Bishop Auckland Town Hall back in 2012. Sadly a show not reviewed on these pages, but still fondly remembered.

Although it had been a couple of years since seeing them last, you only need to have a brief exposure to Cara and JD's infectious onstage persona to instantly realise why you have been a fan for a number of years. Across a show that ran almost up to two hours in active stage time, there was so much to enjoy in The Small Glories with every indication out there that we are likely to see more of Cara Luft and JD Edwards in 2020.

www.thesmallglories.com