Three Chords and the Truth UK

This blog was launched on January 15th 2012 with a review of the Ruth Moody gig in Warwick. It then became a tradition to anoint a favourite gig for each calendar year. This has duly been revealed each December since that opening year and one was even extracted from the curtailed shortlist of 2020.  The wait for live music in 2021 ended on May 26th and through a minefield of restrictions including a vast dearth of overseas touring artists, the end of year tally amounted to a credible 31 shows in addition to 7 days spent in those sacred festival fields. This proved a reasonable return in comparison to normal years on a pro rata basis with the main difference being the reduced options of venues to visit and artists to see.  However life is all about grabbing what is on offer and there is no doubt the ten events selected as the personal elite of 2021 would have featured highly in any of the previous years. I am quite fortunate to curate a gig journey where any disappointing event...

For the first time since 2014 there is going to be no album getting that first among equals status. Maybe this is a tilt towards the trend of art not being a competition or that a suitable candidate did not soar to that spot of towering over others in the personal appreciation stakes. Although merit is seen in the first statement, when it comes to a purely personal perspective there is nothing wrong in evaluating music on an objective basis and ranking preference. A proclamation of the best has always been a ludicrous concept here with the term favourite deemed the most appropriate way of defining a certain album of any given period. Therefore it transpires that 2021 is the first year where one doesn't jump out from a shortlist curated by perusing the lengthy parade of releases accruing plenty of listening time. So there is no successor to Brandy Clark's Your Life is a Record. There was a strong contender but in the final shake up it didn't meet the criteria that elevated e...

  www.hannahaldridge.com If you wanted to put a fiver on which American touring artist would be among the first to return to our shores, odds would be considerable short on Hannah Aldridge. True to form it has taken less than a couple of months from the touring green light for dates to materialise and even less surprising that St.George's Hall in Bewdley emerged as one of the venues hosting her. Hiccups are always around the corner though and this evening's show had faced significant challenges starting from two of her original touring partners being stuck back in the States and evolving issues presenting last minute schedule changes to the UK leg of the tour. Yet as resolute as ever, Hannah strolled onto stage at the stroke of 9 and played the ever consummate professional. Ably assisted by Swedish touring partner Gustav Sjodin, it was soon business as usual. In other words an emotive spilling of the guts in front of a room of fleeting strangers. Just like she has done hundreds...

  www.keilyconnell.com CALUMET QUEEN is one of those albums that springs out of nowhere embodying all that is sought in music parading under the left of centre Americana banner. A unique aura surrounds the music of Kiely Connell radiating from a vocal presence aching with vulnerability and a lyrical output ebbing between personal reflection and astute observation. Great music can come from being challenged and the experience of submerging into the musical world of this now Nashville-based artist is one of sharing the truths, doubts and acts of seeking the light.  Originating from Hammond Indiana before heading to Music City to bring the dream to fruition, Connell takes part of the album name from the nearby Calumet River and the rest from whoever wears the crown. The title track is heralded as using the river as a metaphor for a life path. If you are going to get personal you might as well jump right in and go with the flow. From this starting point Connell lures the listener ...

  www.kenpomeroymusic.com Ken Pomeroy is a prodigious singer-songwriter operating out of that seemingly hotbed state of literary music talent: Oklahoma USA. An exemplar of stripped down song delivery sees her as one of Horton Records shared secrets until word gets around that someone with such innate talent is ready to knock on doors of acute listeners to painstakingly emotive acoustic music. CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN APRIL throws up images of continually searching for some sort of contentment,. This includes doubling up as an eye catching title and the name of the final song concluding this ten-track collection criss crossing the path of highly personalised songwriting output.  Across a spectrum spanning thirty-five minutes you are left with the perception of Pomeroy planting herself in the canyons of your mind gently strumming a simple tune carrying lyrics of such depth and sincerity. A cathartic essence seeps from the echoes of the vocals ensuring a youthful zest blends in acres ...

  www.katherinepriddy.co.uk There may be homecomings in grander surroundings in the future such as the Town or Symphony Hall, but few would have as much meaning as two sold out evenings at the Kitchen Garden with all the venue aura and pin drop tranquility thrown in. She may have been active on the circuit for a number of years (a 2014 show was mentioned). yet 2021 will always be known as Katherine Priddy's breakthrough year. Evidence circulates around the reaction to her debut full length album released on Navigator Records and the horizons it permeated to broaden the appeal. Tickets for these two intimate shows were quickly snapped up and the chosen few were dealt a stunning performance of music wrapped in a rich swathe of tendered beauty. Although her standing on the local circuit as been cut as a solo performer, hooking up with Northallerton-based singer-songwriter-guitarist George Boomsma has proved a decisive move as witnessed by the way they gelled during the second of the t...

www.bluerosecode.com Tuesday 10th March 2020, a date forever etched into my gig memory bank. When Ross Wilson departed the performing space at the Kitchen Garden after another successful Blue Rose Code show the storm clouds were already gathering. It was to be another six months before live music briefly surfaced in the guise of a single outdoor festival and a solitary Kitchen Garden gig. Eventually it would be close on fifteen months before light appeared out of the cultural darkness of 20-21. It was little surprise to see Blue Rose Code back on the road as soon as restrictions eased, and a renewal of their growing love affair with a devoted audience frequenting the Kitchen Garden for what is now a regular tour stopping off point.  It is to Blue Rose Code's credit that they manage to make each show unique without any compromise of the quality. This was the fifth time seeing them play the Kitchen Garden and if you thought you had seen all the permutations Ross Wilson could bring to...

  www.jennysturgeonmusic.com There are conventional gigs and those inspired to do things a little differently. While so much pleasure can be derived from high quality convention, a touch of deviation can inspire an awakening to the alternative places where musical art can take you. From the outset of the blue touch paper being lit on Jenny Sturgeon's latest project, the culmination was always likely to be an evening like presented in the English West Midlands tonight. The Living Mountain - a book by Nan Shepherd and an album by Jenny Sturgeon - transports the beauty, harshness and vibrancy of the Cairngorms to anywhere a mind opens its portal. This is just the starting point of a journey that terminates when the amalgam of inspired literature, gorgeously curated music and innovative filmmaking collide in a mosaic of integrated art. Thimblemill Library bristles in an emporium of great writing and purveys a cultural air that aligns with sisterly art. The fit for Jenny Sturgeon to ven...

  www.frazeyford.com The music of Frazey Ford doesn't ebb and flow, nor does it meander around a plethora of moods and emotions. It aims for the pulse and once settled drifts along in a rhythmic haze. This is an artist raised on a diet of folk and its alternative strands before finding a rich seam blending in the most hypnotic restful soul. The pinnacle of a three album solo expanse since the gradual wind down of the Be Good Tanyas came in 2020 with the utterly delightful U KIN BE THE SUN. Now the time has arrived to ramp up the live presence and take its luscious sound on the road.  With a 5-piece band intact, the departure from western Canada for a return to European shores was in safe hands. Early reports from the initial shows sounded positive and this proved the case as Frazey and her band returned to the lavish surroundings of Warwick Arts Centre right at the heart of the campus of the university of the same name.  It was the larger of this venue's two auditoriums t...

A quick trawl through the gig archives revealed that this was the third occasion of seeing Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle at the Midlands Art Centre. It is hard to split the effect of each show such is the lofty consistency and high calibre of their musicianship. Taking each one as a stand alone exhibition of British Isles folk music in its finest and most exhilarating form is all that is required, and a latest visit to Birmingham produced no exception to the rule. The MAC has been one of the more proactive multi arts venues getting back into performances, and checking their listings or perusing the promotional emails has thrown up a series of good events with folk becoming their preferred genre for staging live music. The venue was also praised by the trio for being hospitable hosts and this evening's show transpired to be the culmination of a 5-week run of getting back on the road after that enforced break. Apart from the virtuoso playing which is akin to classical...

  www.abbyposner.com A little research into the background of Abby Posner reveals a fully diversified musician dipping into every facet of their skillset to pop up in a multitude of arenas from scoring film music to treading the boards as a touring musician flitting between bands and solo. It appears the music does get ahead of the name, which while not being a bad thing if your heart is in your craft may inhibit full exploration of what can be offered. The release of a brand new solo album with an international horizon could correct that and KISBEE RING is set to give the career of this LA based artist a boost. From a perspective of writing, producing, arranging, mixing and playing, this ten track effort is just a trio of slight contributions short of being the ultimate one person affair. The result is a transparent piece of work that allows the considerable talent of Abby Posner to flourish and shine. Any listener tuning in with a particular ear for music fluctuating between indi...

  www.martinsimpson.com Mix things up, step out of the comfort zone and good things will happen in the live music world. There was an air of unfamiliarity to this gig bound together by one of the legends from the folk scene popping into your local town. This show was like many others in the late 2021 diary, subject to postponements and rescheduling since first announced. It helps when you are in the safe hands of Martin Simpson, and a turnout in the vicinity of three figures proved that patience is a virtue. A new scene was set and a gig with a difference joined the annals of those springing up from left field with a propensity to create more than a ripple. The first unique feature was doors at 1:30 with organiser and local musician Sunjay playing for half an hour ahead of a short break suitable for the surroundings followed by Martin Simpson delivering a mesmerising hour and three quarter main set. All done and dusted by 5 and home for tea. Sunday afternoon shows have an air of ci...

www.baskery.com There was no Sunday slumber when Baskery come to town. The Bondesson sisters do have a habit of flicking the on and off switch, but when fully tuned in they prove one heck of an entertaining night out. The pattern of live Baskery experiences does have a certain spaced out theme to it - 2008, 2012, 2014, 2019 and 2021- and the promise from the stage this evening was that we should do this more often. From the early days of supporting Seth Lakeman and a fleeting festival appearance at Shrewsbury, the band have settled with the Kitchen Garden as their West Midlands host when they decide to hop on the tour bus around the UK. Greeted by a sizeable turnout, the sisters - Greta, Stella and Sunniva - responded with an effortless display of rampant rhythm, habitual harmonies and a zestful demeanour. Album releases of original material tend to be lopsided towards the early years of Baskery mounting a world challenge. Nowadays they appear content with mixing old favourites with co...

  www.salthousemusic.com The autumn gig thread of likeminded Scottish folk music added an extra notch this evening as Salt House popped into the West Midlands for a show in the final throes of a short UK tour. The original thread was due to start and end with solo shows from Hannah Rarity and Jenny Sturgeon interspersed with catching the trio formats of Karine Polwart and Siobhan Miller as they passed through Birmingham. One current link between this quartet and Salt House is that Jenny Sturgeon is the third member of that trio alongside guitar/vocalist/songwriter Ewan MacPherson and fiddle player/vocalist Lauren MacColl. A more distant connection unearthed from delving into Salt House's back catalogue revealed Siobhan Miller providing the lead vocals on a 2013 album. You start to get the picture that a certain scene in Scotland is highly collaborative as they all strive to the same end of framing folk music in its twin posture of capturing the past through song and projecting issu...

  www.alecbowman.com Two significant changes in the music of Alec Bowman since the release of his debut album in 2020. The surname is extended to reflect his marital union with fellow artist Josienne Clarke and the sound has accrued a makeover courtesy of a trip down to Lukas Drinkwater's Polyphonic Recording studio in Stroud. These two changes are intrinsically linked by Josienne Clarke taking an apparent more active role alongside adding some fine touches of backing vocal and brass to a sound a little fuller than what first introduced his music. Still piercing the sound waves alongside these subtle moves is the trademark style of an artist sharp with words, upfront on delivery and highly articulate in deep thought. A PLACE LIKE HOME is a less in stature than its predecessor in terms of length, but it has the potential to prove a significant link between an artist starting point and where their music eventually ends up. Mr. Alec Bowman_Clarke, to formalise things, only politely re...

  www.storysongscientists.com The juxtaposition of art and science is alive and kicking when Findlay Napier and Megan Henwood get their heads together. Fresh from a pre-pandemic debut outing of The Story Song Scientists, the unlikely pairing of an established Scottish folk singer-songwriter and one from Oxfordshire with a tendency to blend some indie style electronica into her music is back and right on cue to entertain and educate in equal portions. QUANTUM LYRICS is basically five stories doubling to ten tracks when each one has a song and multi media piece attached. The result is an album quite like no other, and hugely satisfying when you ultimately digest the content.  The pick of the conventional songs is the country tinged ' Lo and Behold' where the duo cleverly weave in a clash of the technology giants personifying the twin phenomena of Siri and Alexa. From the multi media inclusions, a recording of the manifesto of the Cloud Appreciation Society inspires, enthrals an...

  www.courtneymarieandrews.com There is a vision of Courtney Marie Andrews departing a grand stage such as the splendid 900-seater Birmingham Town Hall with its extraordinary acoustics after delivering a spellbinding performance befit of a platform of grandeur. In the meantime, being present for immaculate shows like tonight at the slightly less spectacular Gorilla venue in Manchester captures the here and now perfectly.  The missing link from absorbing an abundance of music made available during the lockdown months of 2020 was the hugely anticipated live airing accompanying the release of OLD FLOWERS. These add so much more dimension to the music of Courtney Marie Andrews. Anyway that wait is now over and an inadvertent wrong is corrected.  It may have been a stroke of good fortune that personal circumstances and convenience shifted the opportunity to see a tour show from Birmingham on opening night to Manchester right at the heart of the UK schedule. This meant anecdota...

  www.wearefinelines.com This year's Beardy Folk Festival is gradually becoming a fertile ground for revised, renewed and new discoveries. Joining a growing list of featured acts getting extended focus is Cheshire based band Fine Lines who brought a spark of diversity to the fields and hills of south Shropshire in June. From a thoroughly enjoyable hour long Saturday afternoon set, we now move onto an equally admirable full length release almost pushing a similar time span yet far from outstaying its welcome. DEADBEAT LULLABIES is a prime example of UK Americana done well and an agreeable nod that the provinces can match what seemingly feels like the domain of the South East.  If starting and finishing an album is a pre-requisite to a highly engaging listen then Fine Lines have nailed this concept right to the top of the mast. Storytelling, emotive context, endearing melodies and framing an iconic sound are full to the brim in the twin pairing of ' King of These Streets ' an...

  www.harbottleandjonas.com A waft of folk serenity floated across the Kitchen Garden this evening as Devon-based duo Harbottle and Jonas brought their alluring style of music to the good folks of Kings Heath and beyond. It was the sort of night which began with the formalities of surnames, but easily slipped into the domain of Dave and Freya courtesy of a friendly demeanour. Throughout a two-hour span interjected by the obligatory commercial break, a light shone brightly on the duo's affirmed ability to sing, play, write, observe and interpret. If the top table of the folk fraternity is a little congested with the female-male duo format, I'm afraid room will have to be made for one more now the stature of Harbottle and Jonas is rising. My journey following the duo has been a little stuttered. Acquaintance with their music was first made reviewing the 2019 album THE SEA IS MY BROTHER. Unfortunately the plan to double up with a live viewing was scuppered at the time and like man...