Three Chords and the Truth UK

www.marygauthier.com A few eyebrows were raised when this show was announced and unsurprisingly the limited tickets were quickly snapped up. Maybe at this stage of her career, connectivity is driving Mary Gauthier, and there is no finer place to touch your audience’s hearts than the Kitchen Garden. Birmingham doesn’t always feature on the regular UK tour schedule for this esteemed Nashville songwriter but the small was made mighty in the love and affection offered to Mary and Jaimee Harris, the latter opening the show and playing accompanying guitar in the main set.  Happy place is an increasingly used concept to find fulfilment in an ever crazy world. For some, it’s concrete like the surroundings of a favourite venue, for others it might just be a companionship or state of mind. You sense Mary Gauthier being in her bright zone with a specific focus being the relationship with Jaimee Harris. The spark is forthcoming and a duo status is just a couple of rungs down the billing ladder...

  www.pijacobs.co m   SOLDIER ON is the tenth release from Californian singer-songwriter Pi Jacobs and represents an artist at the peak of their powers. The eleven track-forty minute effort often checks in to the bluesier side of the American roots spectrum. This eases immediately into the listeners's lap with some nifty guitar work hailing further catchy credentials wrapped in album opener ' Hallelujah '. This slips seamlessly into an harmonica blowing start to ' Too High Too Low' with Jacobs' gutsy vocals refining an ear worm piece adorned with the relatable lyric sounding like 'we share a few laughs, three chords and the truth'. Sage words in the title chorus also suggests a balanced approach to life. Coincidentally, her last album in 2020 was ironically titled TWO CHORDS AND A LIE.  ' Coyote' picks the beat up a tad and comes across as an affable listen pitching itself to be savoured by many without ditching a roots undercurrent. This posses...

  www.benglover.co.uk   Share the words anonymously with the poetry-inclined and approval is forthcoming. Share the musical nuances detached from the lyrics and sound geeks offer a nod. Combine these two essential elements and the result is Ben Glover back at the peak of the singer-songwriter mantle. A past canon of carefully curated songs left this Nashville-based Northern Irishman heavily stocked in the credit bank and at ease to decide whether a resume would further furnish the pile. Major winners in this return to form include those with the forensic demeanour to extract multiple nuggets from the past work, whether on solo records, co-writing with the  acclaimed or joining forces in the Orphan Brigade. Without glossing over 2020s short EP, it's been six long years since diving deep into a full length solo Ben Glover album. Roads may have branched off elsewhere in the intervening years, but AND THE SUN BREAKS THROUGH THE SKY brings things right back into focus with a c...

  www.giuliamillanta.com Back in 2021 these pages hailed an introduction to Giulia Millanta's music: 'an imaginative and stimulating album'. Forward three years and this Austin-based artist has built upon a lofty assertion by spinning their wares in a parallel world. Millanta has chosen a bi-lingual route for the first time unveiling a sumptuous take on purring vocally through her Italian first language. The native tongue intermingles with English along a celestial landscape brimming with evocative sounds. ONLY LUNA KNOWS is roughly equal split on the linguistic front with the moon providing a constant thread alongside supremely crafted musicianship chiselling an emotive hollow for sultry vocals to blossom.  While a narrow preceptive language horizon is often the case for English speakers, there can be an exotic glint when other tongues come to the fore leaving ample space for the imagination to spark into life. Four tracks are entirely in Italian and you get a sense of the...

The association immediately to jump out when exploring the musical world of Heather Little is Lori McKenna. A few more miles down the track and the names may be placed together in the songwriting pantheon. Without jumping too far ahead, the first task is to wrap your ears around a rare and beautifully cultured album putting a marker down to what this native Texas can do as a recording artist. BY NOW navigates a path into the open world via the Need to Know Music label and presents thirteen preceptive tracks wrapped in the poignant honesty accustomed with the serious songwriting underpinning country music in its finest robes.  A quick scan down the track listing reveals a song from the vaults launched to stardom via the rise of Miranda Lambert. Heather Little was the co-write of the mid 2000s hit ' Gunpowder and Lead'. A decade and a half later, a dusted down version containing an extra verse gets a reboot courtesy of the capable hands of violinist and vocalist Van Plating, w...

www.ramblinrootsrevue.co.uk Ramblin' and maverick are sister words in our vocabulary. They conjure up what is indescribable about a music community roaming around the fringes, punching above its weight in quality and comradeship. Sometimes it tags onto the big beasts adding a touch of class to established genres and the semi mainstream. On the other hand, there is something special when it coalesces on its own terms, albeit small in stature yet big in heart. Ramblin' Roots Revue doesn't stand alone when carving a niche. But what it has nurtured over the last seven years is an identity and sense of belonging. While resolute at its core in terms of operation and support, artists and  audience will drift in and out creating a legacy that lingers. The date may be movable due to outside academic forces; the impact and importance to legions of active followers remains solid.  The aftermath of another High Wycombe gathering is a time to reflect on what makes this event tick. Many ...