Three Chords and the Truth UK

  www.hillaryklug.com It was one part of the jigsaw complete when the sold out sign went up for Hillary Klug's Birmingham debut. The capacity at the Kitchen Garden may be modest, but the first test for this UK tour was to send messages that a phenomenal digital presence can be converted into real bodies. Touring momentum is next on the agenda and there was an inkling that a band may be in tow the next time to add a different dynamic to the live presence of this dancing fiddle player from the state of Tennessee. In the meantime it was the single entity of a National Buck Dancing champion equipped with a pair of strategically tuned fiddles, a banjo, a platform to share the poise of her foot movement and a fistful of songs and tunes transplanting the essence of Appalachia to venues far and wide.  Entertainment and connectivity are the two key take aways from sampling the wares and offerings of this Nashville-based musician. A no holds barred full on presentation ran over the two-...

www.thesamchase.com The Maverick Festival without The Sam Chase Trio was an odd experience this year after the San Francisco outfit made the event the centrepiece of their trips in 2021 and 2022. The upside of not making it three appearances on the trot is an opportunity to widen their horizon with an extra series of dates around the UK during their two-week stay. The trio of Sam Chase (vocals/guitar), Chandra Johnson (violin) and Devon McClive (cello) called into the West Midlands last July in the tailwind of their festival stint for a rather intimate show in Birmingham. Twelve months later they made the short hop over the border into Sandwell to become the latest transatlantic act to grace the literary surroundings of Thimblemill Library. Books by day; performance art by night with the odd tipple offered to enhance the music venue experience is the essence of this community beacon in a metropolitan heartland. Many quality artists have passed through leaving a notable mark and to that...

  www.lukasnelson.com Collaboration and project work has frequently featured in the lengthening career of Lukas Nelson. However, family, films and enhancing the work of others is slightly put in the shade on STICKS AND STONES. This self-prodcued album delivered to market with a lift from the influential Thirty Tigers operation unashamedly clicks into artist DNA. Across a dozen- strong collection Nelson guides his Promise of the Real outfit into a bubbling well of country music embracing several phases of time and motion. Trusted themes and iconic sounds froth to the top of this accessible take that brims with assured quality. Smooth and sweet to the core, the record acts as a simple timely reminder to how country music glitters in the right hands.  Head scratching moments are aplenty establishing similarities, influences and interpretations. For starters, scribing "fighting side of me" into the lyrics of title track and most recent single ' Sticks and Stones' echoed ...

  www.sarapetite.com The signs are looking good that Sara Petite's intermittent love affair with taking her music overseas will transcend into something more regular. This San Diego-based artist has many recording years behind her and flirted with fans in the UK for close on a decade. Now we are entering a phase where there has been two tours in just over eighteen months and plans afoot to return to our shores within the next year. This is good news to those well acquainted with her music and for the heaps of dormant fans who will no doubt be smitten once the stars of connection align. Previous solo trips now seem consigned to the past as evidenced by hooking up with three established, adaptable and rather excellent musicians who added an essential dynamic to the Sara Petite Band. The prime conduit for re-acquainting herself with the UK in recent times has been multiple bookings at the Maverick Festival where her several sets went down a storm. There is even an adage here that the ...

www.rachelcroftmusic.com Around eighteen months ago when gigs weren't as plentiful as now, a chance was taken on a relatively unknown singer-songwriter that didn't appear to fit any definable moulds. That is not to say this is a necessary precursor but it sometimes helps an artist find an audience. The person in question is Rachel Croft who was making her Kitchen Garden debut after previously securing a minor slot at an earlier staging of the Moseley Folk Festival. She shared the bill that evening, but left an enormous impression to linger as one of the year's more memorable gig outings. The key was a diverse allure that hit many right notes while retaining a appealable mystique. Since February 2022, her career has been loosely tracked via mailing list communication and social media activity. Sufficient on one level but lacking the intensity of sitting in the unfiltered midst of an artist revealing their artistic identity through live chat and song. The return of Rachel Cro...

  www.agsconnolly.com When the hot sun beats down and a dormant landscape fires up the imagination taking your time is the best way forward. There is a twist of Spanish longevity in the title as the brand new album by Ags Connolly settles down for a lengthy journey pondering life and love to its core. The lure of Texas country permeates deep into the musical calling, but on this his fourth LP outing he takes it right to the edge with an inhibited leap into a world where two cultures collide. SIEMPRE (the translation reveals all whether poetic or realistic) is a triple headed homage to the border inducing meticulously blended accordion, fiddle and guitar. The border may be more Tex-Mex than Oxon-Glos but it has been long stated that the music of this lonesome troubadour carries no national identities.  Lonesome is Ags on his usual stage pedestal and a staunchly independent approach to curating a niche place in multiple scenes. However he knows the value of collaboration whether...

Maverick 16 was plastered all over Easton Farm Park this weekend. To translate, this was the 16th festival planned for what so far has become 15 annual gatherings in Suffolk and a solitary sad log onto our computer screens for some videos on the first Saturday of July 2020. I have a postcard from Nashville of a bluebird saying 'I don't come from the South but I got here as fast as I could'. On this side of the pond 'I don't come from Suffolk but I got to Maverick as fast as I could'. So from a Maverick debut in 2010, it's an unbroken streak of 13 festivals and a clear signal of unfinished business. So enough of the personal indulgence, let's take a look back at what crossed my path in 2023, which while not being an entirety was still a pretty healthy haul of fine acts and great music.  First of all a couple of minor differences to the site. A different entrance to surprise new arrivals on Friday afternoon and a re-location of the Travelling Medicine pop-...

Are The Chicks a retro band with a progressive streak or a progressive band with a retro streak? The intent and identity strive is definitely with the latter. From a different perspective the former strikes a chord when surveying the surroundings of a show smack bang in the middle of 2023. The band’s colourful history is as luminous as the rainbow ethos that filters through their musical stability of recent times. The trajectory though has been framed by a 14 year recording hiatus. The chasm between Taking the Long Way in 2006 and 2020s GASLIGHTER is a massive leap when committing your sound to the studio then taking it out on the road full on.  The shadow looming over the new songs is a legendary 8 year stint starting from the country explosion of WIDE OPEN SPACES in 1998 and a string of connective anthems with enormous far reaching appeal. The reaction to timeless classics such as ‘ Travelin’ Soldier’, ‘Cowboy Take Me Away’, ‘Wide Open Spaces’, ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’ and ‘Goodb...