Attending a Honey & the Bear show is
a guided tour across the expanses of rural and coastal Suffolk, peering at its
wildlife and landscape, listening to local tales and absorbing characters
buried deep in its folklore. If an ambassadorial candidate was sought, Lucy and
Jon Hart are at your service. A compendium of stories and anecdotes sit
alongside a melange of instrumentation coaxed to fruition through a couple of
entwined voices. This is folk music from the regions at its finest, and the
Kitchen Garden Cafe is the perfect setting to deliver to the people.
This was the
first Honey & the Bear headline gig in Birmingham, though not the first
appearance. Back in June they opened for Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys at the
nearby Hare and Hounds and the effects of that performance rippled through a
return to the area. A further link to that evening was inviting Lost Boys
member Toby Shaer to join them and turn Honey & the Bear into a trio for
the Kitchen Garden date.
If your ears are
tuned into the music and your mind the stories, the eyes can’t help but fixate
on the array of instruments on display and their rotational exchange. It must
have been a Kitchen Garden record for a trio. Shaer’s contribution was a vital
addition with whistles, flutes and fiddles in constant use. This in-demand
musician boosts any combo he joins and lit up an exhibition of songs filling
the acoustic charm of this brick-walled wood-ceilinged intimate venue. The
Harts are an exemplar of multi-musicianship swapping double bass and multiple
guitars while frequently turning to banjo, ukulele and bouzouki. Throw in
Lucy’s improvised foot percussion and the sound exceeded the sum of the
core.
Honey & the
Bear is a decade into their existence as a working duo, although some solo
material pre-dates this. They are the architects of three albums with a fourth
set for release in April 2026. Songs from multiple sources filled a brace of
sets each exceeding the standard forty-five minutes especially the second when
you sensed a band in full flow. Perhaps touring not being an extensive part of
their focus buoyed them to make the most of this opportunity especially with
their talented friend on board.
From a setlist
of seventeen songs, the outlier was a cover of ‘Who Knows Where the Time
Goes’. A fairly standard show closer on the circuit but Lucy’s beautiful
vocals did the song justice. An insight into material not on the three existing
albums came in ‘Close to the Edge’ and ‘Place Like My Home’. The
former featured Toby Shaer on whistle and the latter is emerging as a live
participation favourite. Maybe a taster of what to expect in 2026.
The most popular
album serving the setlist was 2019s Made in the Aker with the energetically
played ‘Wristburner’ a memorable inclusion. The evening opened with
the excellent ‘3 Miles Out’ lifted off the second album Journey
Through The Roke, a record that also contributed one of the many story songs in
‘Freddie Cooper’ named after an Aldeburgh lifeboat. The latest
record Away Beyond the Fret was thinly represented, though ‘Dear Grandmother’
was significantly shared at the start of the second set and ‘Finn’s Jig’
was one of the musical highlights of the evening.
Lucy and Jon
Hart fashion a common bond with audiences. For many in attendance this was the
longest engagement with Honey & the Bear in a live setting, sealing an
appreciation formed from the recordings. The Kitchen Garden laid out the invite
and a slice of Suffolk bloomed in the West Midlands.
