Gig Review: Jaywalkers - Kitchen Garden, Kings Heath, Birmingham. Sunday 23rd November 2025

 

Jaywalkers induce a sense of satisfaction from an audience savouring fine musicianship at a close proximity. Hailing from North West England, Mike Giverin, Jay Bradberry and Lucille Williams have been plying their trade the length and breadth of our isles for many years, yet fly under the radar to recruit new fans left wondering why it’s taken so long to jump aboard. The trio retains a humility, just doing what comes naturally and making music capable of extending far from the current boundaries. Joy emanates from the breathtakingly tight virtuoso playing and is received with awe. The Kitchen Garden, buoyed by an authoritative display of stringed eminence, was in its element. 

The focal point of 2025 has been the band’s fifth album, Move On, and dates supporting it have run right up to the end of the year. Birmingham concert goers making a wise choice had the pleasure of the album played in its entirety as all ten tracks were built for a live airing. Mix in some innovative covers and a few ear catching songs from the back catalogue and the structure was in place for a fabulous blend of mandolin, fiddle, guitar and bass.

You would have to dig deep to find a finer mandolin player on the circuit than Giverin. If the playing was hot in the first set, it soared to boiling point in the second. Take a bow the American greats, we have a match on our doorstep. For a tempered respite from the intensity, the guitar playing was pretty good especially when required for the classic country effort ‘How Many Whiskeys?’

Like Giverin, Bradberry tended to major on one instrument, for her the fiddle, and occasionally turned to the guitar for a change of tone. Similarly, the playing was top notch floating folky bluegrass vibes into the air. She also doubled up as lead vocalist, where a slight American lilt informed the style and source of a number of the songs. 

The third cog is often deemed the most important to any cohesive roots band and the double bass playing of Williams kept impeccable time for the more flamboyant sounds to prosper. She followed her associates in doubling up when joining Bradberry on a twin fiddle instrumental to open the second set.

Instrumentals played an important part in the show where  ‘Leaving Lerwick’ featured strongly preceded by the Shetland Folk Festival travel story, ‘Flight of the Snipe’ celebrated Giverin’s twitching passion and a marvellous curveball Brazilian mandolin tune dazzled during the finale. A fair chunk of the writing tended to come from Giverin but far from exclusive as exemplified by Bradberry’s ‘Homage to Fromage’. 

Smart covers added value. The Norman Blake-written ‘Randall Collins’ thrilled both aficionados and mere knowledgable mortals, while ‘Ain’t No Business’ is a standard jazz classic designed to be covered. ‘House of the Rising Sun’ was the first of two invited singalongs and if you doubted ‘Tainted Love’ could benefit from a bluegrass makeover, think again. 

The three vocal picks from the new album were split across both sets. Title track ‘Move On’ excelled in the first half which ended with the entertaining ‘Playsuit’ preluded by some creative merch advertising. ‘The Radio’ was one of the flagship songs after the break with its noted line about not being played on the radio now rectified on multiple stations.

Intimate shows often end in invited vocal audience participation and ‘December in the Desert’ perfectly enacted this role. Its message though slightly conflicted as rather than a theme lamenting the year just gone, Jaywalkers can proudly reflect on a successful 2025. A fitting end to a super show.