Gina Villalobos - Rock'n'Roll Pony revisited

 

Over the Christmas break I rediscovered my iPod and scrolling through the music contained there I found a few artists that to some extent I'd forgotten about. One that really caught my attention was Gina Villalobos a California based singer/songwriter and her album 'Rock'n'Roll Pony'.

I can't quite remember how I first found her - possibly a suggestion on iTunes or searching the internet somewhere. However I'd found her doesn't really matter. It's the music that matters and when I clicked on play the tracks I'd downloaded 'Why', 'Faded' and the cover of World Party's 'Put the Message in the Box' the sound was so fresh and immediate. Gina has a voice for which the word ache was created. These world weary songs, delivered with that soulful ache and a full band rock Americana sound had me in it's spell again. I remembered how excited I was when I first found her music. 

What had happened to her and this wonderful sound?  Was she still recording? Within minutes I was googling to find out. What I found told me that yes, she still produces music intermittently, an album 'Sola' in 2014 (check it out on Spotify) and a single in 2016. It also turns out that she works in the film industry providing sound effects and scores.

I'm glad to have become reacquainted with Gina Villalobos. The music is, to my ear, life affirming and joy to hear. I'd say if you're a fan of Lucinda Williams and Lilly Hiatt you could do yourself a favour and add Gina Villalobos to your playlist.

https://ginavillalobos.com/     

Rock'n'Roll Pony

Frazey Ford at La Belle Angele...at last

 This was a gig that i thought would never happen. Tickets bought early in 2020 for a date in June that year. So before Covid 19 hit and closed down the world and live music with it. Even this rescheduled date at the end of November 2021 had that 'it might not happen' mood preceding it. A cancellation was only ever a positive Covid test away, for the band, the venue, or me.

I was grateful, then, to find myself at the venue duly masked, queued and reflecting on the last time I'd been at La Belle Angele to see Anais Mitchell weeks after that other disrupter Donald Trump had become American President.

Frazey Ford though was a balm sorely needed in these troubled and anxious times. She's been called Americana and she is but it was telling, for me anyway, that pre-show the music playing was Al Green. It seemed apt to me as Frazey's music now is a soulful and funky groove that the Rev. Green would be proud of. Mainly featuring the music from 'U Kin B the Sun' Frazey moved through her songs backed by a band (key players from the album sessions) that gave life to those songs with soul and sophistication. her songs reflect on life with all its nuances and affirm that life with joy.

As this gig turned out to be my last live experience of 2021 thanks to Covid 19's Omicron variant it was certainly a good feeling to leave with a smile on my face (obscured by a mask).

https://www.frazeyford.com/

*******

Another hook for this gig was the appearance of support act Gwenifer Raymond. It is not often I see an act that is purely instrumental and this one was mesmerising playing a punk folk blues inspired by 'American primitive'. One woman and a guitar that's all. The sound she creates reminded me of the folk guitar of Bert Jansch and Davie Graham but heavier and riffier. Well worth catching if you get the chance.

https://gweniferraymond.com/

American primitive guitar

Vitality vs. Nostalgia

 I've written before about nostalgia in music. some might call it 'heritage'. In shorthand, for me, it signifies an inability or a desire not to move on. It sits with views such as 'things were so much better before' and in the case of music 'there is no music worth listening to now'. I don't subscribe to these views.

Sure I listen to music that was made decades ago and enjoy it. I also like to re-evaluate music from my past. While it can give you a warm glow and rekindle memories it is best in my view not to get caught up in a web that devalues what is going on now. There is plenty happening now that is fresh and new and worth listening to.

It is not all about the absolute new. There are bands who have been around for a while and have kept putting out new material, never relying on greatest hits to get people to come and see them.

On Friday I went to see the Nightingales play live, a band that has its roots in the post punk world that shaped my musical choices. Mysteriously I never really listened to them at the time and only discovered them a few years ago - live on the recommendation of a friend. With only lead singer Robert Lloyd remaining from the original line-up this is a band that has astutely avoided the mainstream but managed to keep evolving and making relevant new music. I've seen them three times and the sets are always fresh and full of new material played with with a considerable intensity and brio that would put many bands to shame both old and new. There is something vital about their shows. The current line-up has been stable for a number of years now and produce a powerful live show that is a must see. There is no hint of nostalgia, the songs on Friday night bleed into each other creating a wonderful cascade of sounds and words.

Supporting them were the Blue Orchids. Again a band that has a track record date back to the same post punk roots and led again the one surviving member of the original line-up in Martin Bramah an original member of the Fall (another band that had no time for nostalgia). I'd seen the Blue Orchids a few years back supporting the Nightingales and remembered them more clearly. Like the Nightingales they have kept going producing music and touring. This was a new line-up to me and a combination of the new energy in the band, which includes Tansy McNally on lead electric ukulele (yes really), and the power of Bramah's new songs (they are touring new album 'Speed the Day') delivered a set brimming with vitality that left the crowd cheering.

From these two bands that could rest on their heritage and nostalgia there is a clear lesson - vitality beats nostalgia. Keep it contemporary.

Shout out too to the strange and wonderful Kamura Obscura who opened the night with a series of electronic soundscapes that were at times psychedelically chilling, other times dancy. A kaleidoscope. 

https://uknightingales.bandcamp.com/

https://blueorchids.bandcamp.com/

https://www.kamuraobscura.com/

Courtney Marie Andrews - Mackintosh Church Glasgow

It had been too long since I'd seen Courtney Marie Andrews play. December 9th 2018 to be exact at the CCA in Glasgow. A gig that nearly didn't happen as Courtney Marie had contracted flu and had cancelled a number of UK dates only returning to the stage in Perth on the 8th where she was clearly still suffering and the next night in Glasgow. Both those gigs were strong performances and closed off the touring of the 'May Your Kindness Remain' tour.

She should have toured the 'Old Flowers' album in 2020 but a stronger flu virus closed everything down worldwide so that elongated our wait for this much anticipated tour and Glasgow gig. 

The venue for this a Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed church was fitting both for the solo performance but also for her devoted following sitting in pews rapt with attention and in awe of her power and the poignancy of her songs. As a member of the support said 'I guess you're here for some sad songs'. Sad songs indeed but delivered with a lyrical and performative maturity that made the show life affirming.

The set focussed on the songs from 'Old Flowers' with the title song kept for a powerful piano accompanied encore. It was breath-taking and closed the night. Songs from her breakthrough album 'Honest Life' filled out the set. She also featured three new songs (James Dean, On/Off, To Be Wanted) which were unfamiliar but very well received. The single 'Near You' also featured and has graced her setlist for some time now.

While it was a solo show Courtney Marie was joined in stage by support act Memorial who provided beautiful harmonies for a trio of songs from 'Old Flowers' - If I Told, Burlap String and Break the Spell. These unique reinterpretations of the recorded songs made the evening something to savour. 

It was wonderful to see her again that the crowd gave a thunderous call back for her encore and a heartfelt standing ovation at the close.

Welcome back Courtney Marie, we have missed you.

https://www.courtneymarieandrews.com/

https://www.communionmusic.co.uk/artists/memorial/

Nostalgia for a time yet to come: New sounds from Scotland

Someone I know suffered a disappointment recently - the Genesis reunion tour was cancelled due to Covid. I felt for the disappointment but not the band I'm afraid. a group of rich middle class men temporarily unable to top up the pension pot is not something I can get too sympathetic about in this world. I wish love, happiness and health to all bands whatever their age but a Genesis reunion tour is one bus I'm happy to miss.

My focus as I've got older has been to seek out new music. I've never subscribed to the nostalgia circus of bands reforming to play on past glories. There may be the occasional exception....but only for something exceptional (my judgement) like Magazine reforming to perform 'The Correct Use of Soap' album (to be fair they also threw a new album into the mix) and then they were gone. 

In the current landscape of the restarted gig scene I have discovered new music that means more to me than any Genesis redux. 

Mt. Doubt, Victoria Park Hotel

First up was catching Mt Doubt play the Victoria Park Hotel in Leith. This was most probably the first live gig in Leith since Covid hit and closed things down. Indeed at the height of the first Covid lockdown the Victoria Park Hotel became accommodation for homeless people with no recourse to public funds. As a venue its a good size and as I arrived it was clear that Mt Doubt were more than capable of filling the space. It was heartening to see the crowd gather almost as if things were normal but for the adoption of facemasks. 

Mt Doubt are new to me. While I have been aware of them for a while I was there on the recommendation of a friend (who couldn't show as he'd was with lurgy though thankfully not that one!). I settled in for the show and was won over by Leo Bargery and band as they worked though the phenomenally good 'Doubtlands' album. I had flashbacks to those bands form Scotland that I'd never saw about a decade ago like The Last Battle or Admiral Fallow but listened to obsessively. Here was a music that was its own but harked back to something recognisable to me but with no hint of nostalgia. These are songs from Scotland and the world now. To say I enjoyed to evening is an understatement - I bought the album on cd and bagged a t-shirt as well. Shout out to Lisburn who opened for Mt Doubt, I really warmed to that sound as well. New music not old nostalgia that's the future.

Lizzie Reid, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut

Hands up my daughter plays music and as a music fan I'm very supportive. So much so I drove in atrocious weather to Dundee and then from the city of jute, jam and journalism to Glasgow and the legendary King Tut's Wah Wah Hut to take her to a support gig for rising talent Lizzie Reid. I hadn't heard Lizzie Reid until the journey from Dundee to Glasgow and those Spotify moments hit home with the songs 'Company Car' and 'Cubicle'. The gig was busy as you might expect for someone shortlisted for the SAY award on the strength of an extended e.p.. After opening sets from Juan Laforet  and Naomi Munn (I confess to many proud dad moments during that return to stage after two years away from live music) Lizzie took to the stage with a full band and put on a show that was as stunning in both song writing and performance as anything I've seen for some time. Whatever that alchemy is that song writers on the rise have she's got it in spades and whether she pulls of a SAY win or not is immaterial really as the strength of these songs indicates that we'll be hearing a lot more from Lizzie Reid. There was a lot of love in the room for her on Friday night and the room was generous enough to share that love with the support acts. As they should as this was a night of new music not nostalgia. This is the future.

To anyone who says they've heard it all before I say really? Shake off your memories of youth and listen to the new sounds of young Scotland. It's all out there now and you don't have to use your pension lump sum to buy a ticket. 

https://mtdoubt.bandcamp.com/

Lizzie Reid - Company Car

Juan Laforet

Naomi Munn

Anna Ash - the Hug & Pint Glasgow 16 September 2021

 This was Leith Notes return to live gigs in the fullest sense. A favourite small venue and a performer who had come all the way from California to be with us (and all the logistics barriers that Covid19 touring entails).

Suitably tested, masked and sanitised I entered the venue and made my way to the downstairs performance venue. When I arrived there was only one other person there - in Covid times do people actually go to gigs like this anymore? That question got its answer as the venue started to fill. The audience was, for me, surprisingly young. It's a usual rule of thumb that artists that fit the singer-songwriter Americana label usually pull in an audience older by far than the performer. Tonight looked like being an exception. The reason became evident once the support acts (Dawn Coulshed and Kirsteen Harvey )took to the stage - these young Scottish performers had brought their followers with them. Smart bit of booking and perfect for creating a lively and engaged audience when Anna Ash took to the stage.

I'd hazard a guess that most of the audience hadn't really heard Anna's music before. Perhaps sensing this Anna opened with an inspired acapella reading of the soul classic 'Do Right Woman, Do Right Man'. Anna possesses a unique and incredible voice and performing this song without any back up instrumentation  certainly caught peoples attention and set the scene for a warm and appreciative rapport with the audience. It wasn't long before someone shouted out 'welcome to Glasgow' and by halfway through the set enthusiastic applause had become loud cheering. Anna had hit her mark and found a new audience and it was a delight to witness.

The set drew heavily on her recent album 'L.A. Flame' with standouts, for me at least being 'Earthquake', 'Apologies' and 'Stalemate'. She also featured her two Lucinda Williams covers 'Fruits of My Labor' and 'Righteously'. There was a story about how she had performed the latter song - if you don't know it a song about sexual desire - on a zoom performance to a fan who was critically ill. His whole family was there, parents, children. It was his favourite song and she had to play it. The other cover that she featured is her sublime version of America's 'Sister Golden Hair'. Key tracks from her previous album 'Floodlights' also featured with the title track and the slinky 'Player' making an impact on the night.

All too soon it was over and there was the queue at the merch stand. Vinyl, CDs, t-shirts and L.A. Flame candles (do you see what she did there?). There were clearly some big fans there some who'd bought their tickets for the postponed 2020 tour. I didn't do that because I thought that will never happen and I held back buying 2021 tickets but did following a social media post from Anna saying the tour was happening. I mentioned this to her and she said 'I just kept saying YES when people asked me if I still wanted to do the tour.' That positivity came over in Glasgow that night, Anna was in town and putting on a show.  

https://annaash.bandcamp.com/album/l-a-flame  

Nanci Griffith: a remembrance

The news that Nanci Griffith had died came to me via a friend's post on Facebook. Like me he was heartbroken to learn that Nanci is no longer with us.

I saw Nanci Griffith and her Blue Moon Orchestra many times over the late 1980s and into the mid 1990s. Her songs were as much a soundtrack to my life then as R.E.M. or Huskerdu but the music she played was not rock but a literate folk country that she sometimes called 'folkabilly'. 

She was a performer who engaged her audience - she connected with folk on that human level. People identified with the characters and observations in her songs sure but a major factor in her appeal was the way she built a rapport with her audience. Her folksy song intro, stories that had you laugh and, at times, shed a tear. Her intro to 'Love at the 5 and dime' is legendary and one that I never tired of hearing. 

I remember going to see her at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow and finding myself very nervously perched in the 'gods' feeling I would fall forward at any point. Nanci came on stage looked up at the top of the theatre and said something like 'are you alright up there?' Instead of tipping me over the edge I was reassured and the tension left - she knew we were up there and now she was going to sing to us.

I'm glad I was able to share the room with her and share communion with with her audience over those years and see the mix of people touched by her music, yes there were punks, there were families and there were always sad eyed dreamers.

Thank you Nanci for sharing your time and your songs with us. Rest easy.

The Staves, Edinburgh International Festival

 And just like we were back occupying a space watching a live band. Part of it was like it had never been away and the other part was the odd part of strange. The venue a huge temporary tent structure like a giant long gazebo with a stage at one end and socially distanced seating 'bubbles'. There was app ordered waiter service for drinks - that could catch on. It was both comforting and strange to be back in a space with other people and a live band in the same space.

It was great to see the Staves on stage again singing those gorgeous harmonies and touring their wonderful new album 'Good Woman'. they did reach back to songs like 'Mexico' and the non-album gem 'Tired as Fuck'. That song perhaps voiced what we were all thinking after the 18 month long haul of Covid 19 restrictions, setbacks and anxiety. We are all tired as fuck. The Staves got there first unintendedly but the song now .

Performing as a duo - eldest sister Emily is at home with her baby- the Staves sound as strong as ever  thanks to well placed harmonies by replacement Rob you'd hardly know. Welcome back.

Memphis '69

Fat Possum Records have posted  'Memphis 69' on YouTube - a film of the 1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival and you'd be well advised to give it a watch. Including performances by country blues masters Fred McDowall, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White and Furry Lewis along with the Bar-Keys backing Rufus Thomas the film catches the time when the confluence of the the roots of black blues and r&b met the white blues wave with appearances from John Fahey, Johnny Winter, Jo Ann Kelly, Sid Selvedge and the Insect Trust. 

It shows a coming together, a shared communion through music of different races and cultures that could have signified a new American. The venue used had hosted a Ku Klux Klan rally only weeks before so came loaded with that racist view of America. The young white faces in the audience evidence a freshness and hope. Filmed over 3 days and two nights in June 1969 it captures a time long lost but one well worth revisiting to reflect on that opportunity and what was lost. 

'Baseball' by Dusted

From time to time a record comes along that just strikes you as absolutely sublime. A song you can't get enough of, that you'll play at every opportunity? That's the case with Baseball by Dusted. It's been on repeat on my Spotify and on YouTube since I first heard it. 

This is a record of beauty perfectly balanced between ache and a pop sensibility that shares its beauty on repeated listens. That's my take. 

Check out the 'official video' for the song too. Seemingly made in secret as a back up by Brian Borcherdt's wife Anna when she thought the original video concept was going south. It too is a thing of beauty with a few unexpected turns - no spoilers, give it a watch. https://youtu.be/iFOMQ0rIBjs

Baseball is taken from the third Dusted album the appropriately titled III. I'm diving into the album now - it may be some time before I come up for air.

 https://totallydusted.bandcamp.com/

Shadow Kingdom - Bob Dylan's live stream of sorts

 Bob Dylan's Shadow Kingdom 'livestream' adds like everything he does to his legend and his myth. Was it really a livestream, did the band play the songs live, did Bob mime the words hidden behind a vintage microphone, why the all new band, does the Bon Bon Club in Marseille really exist? 

Whatever the answers to those questions and the attendant conspiracy theories are is immaterial as the legend and the myth has been added to and then some.

Billed as the songs of a young Bob Dylan the selection of songs was definitely a choice of songs from a younger Bob Dylan - nothing from the recent 'Rough & Rowdy Ways' album. The 80 year old Bob reading his back pages was in my view a wonderous thing. The interpretations musically followed a format that that we've grown accustomed to recently a precise and simple blues with a smattering of rockabilly on the more up tempo tunes. Not a note wasted and not a note more. His voice is richer with age, and seems like the most important instrument. Songs of his younger days even his middle age take on a poignancy and truth that sure he was aiming at back then but age has given the wisdom to deliver them effortlessly. He is like an old bluesman knowing instinctively how to deliver these songs and catch that balance between recognition and freshness. He delivered that whatever the myths wrapped up and spun out of this livestream are or become.

In 2017 Dylan released  'Triplicate' a three disc set of covers taken from the great American songbook and watching Shadow Kingdom I came to the conclusion that Dylan has no real need for the great American songbook. It's pretty obvious really, his canon of work is its own great American song book with its own memories, myths and legends.  

Waxahatchee 1 year Anniversary St Cloud livestream - 'live' in Kansas

To mark the 1 year anniversary of the release of St Cloud Waxahatchee performed the album 'live' from La Villa, Kansas City.

 

I've been listening to Waxahatchee for some time now and it was the album St Cloud that really caught my attention. For me Katie Crutchfield has hit her stride. By that I mean that her vision and its realisation, the reason I've been an on and off listener for a few years now, has with St Cloud hit that sweet spot where I fully get and appreciate what she is doing.

The album was released a year ago and has been a favourite of mine since even naming a Spotify playlist after one of its stand out tracks 'Can't Do Much'. Released around the time that the world as we know it went into the rolling Covid lockdowns that have defined our existence since. The album was never toured. This aniversary gig was to present a band performance to a worldwide audience to say thank you for your support. It was worth the wait.

Filmed inside La Villa, Kansas City the airy white space with arched windows and a mix of dried and fresh flowers provided an open and bright, hopeful space to explore these songs.

This was a track by track run through of the album. That statement downplays the presentation - this was a band playing live with heart and sublety allowing the space for these songs to flow and connect with the audience.The band filled the space with a nod to the venue's bright and airy tones all washed out denims and flowers. It seems in these troubled times we need to keep hope, life and beauty to the fore. The band made it seem effortless and what they created was truly beautiful.

 

Those yearning melodic tunes with evocative lyrics -  we leave love behind /without a tear or a long goodbye or Swallow my pride/it's mine to quell/ I'll put you through hell/illput you through hell/ I - release a ramble of a sigh.

 

The mix of venue, band, lyrics and the sheer quality of this set of songs creates a mood at once light and hopeful but with a biting undercurrent that suggests an indie intelligence informing a natural and true americana heartbeat. This is a music that dwells in that cosmic american terrain explored by Gram Parsons where country, folk and rock cross paths. If this was the 1990s Micheal Stipe would be popping up on harmony vocals. He doesn't and those aching harmonies are left to the band members and hit the mark every time.

There are glimpses of the joy of this live set from the band - from Katie herself as the the main focus of the camera, but catch the sheer unbridled joy of the bass player as she delivers her harmonies and delivers her bass lines. This must have been a release for band members on ice for a year and now able to do what they do and do it so well.

 

In a blur of georgeous melodies and subtle playing we're onto the last song and the realisation that the show is nearing its end. What a blessing it is that once the album is complete the show continues with a cover of Dolly Parton's 'Light of a Clear Blue Morning' which starts tender and reflective before gradually building in intensity to a driving cathartic end everthing is going to be alright/it's gonna be ok.

With a bow to the audience and a nod to the band Katie vacates the stage as the band bring the show to an end.

Thank you Katie Crutchfield and Waxahatchee for your time, your beauty and your hope. It's gonna be ok.

Esther Rose 'How Many Times' IGTV pre-album release taster

 

 

Esther Rose - just Esther and a guitar, her voice, her songs...well there was a Hank Williams cover.

This was one of those short lo-fi IGTV to camera performances that Covid has gotten us all used to. Esther's new album has been eagerly anticipated and on the pre-released tracks such as the title track seems set to be a career highlight and one that will hopefully see her find a wider audience.

The IGTV performance was low key, honest and above all, and what these should be, intimate. The honesty of those songs, their worlds and the delivery via voice and guitar makes the point that Esther Rose is a talent and one we're going to enjoy hearing more from. Three songs from new LP How Many Times - 'real Good Time', 'Coyote Creek' and the title track plus a reading of Hank Williams 'I Can't Help It (if I'm still in love with you) and it was over. Leave 'em wanting more Esther!

I always like to reflect on how I found an artist, what platform, what link brought them to me. In this case it was a suggestion on Bandcamp and I clicked a few links and liked what I heard. I found I kept returning and listening some more. Then the songs for the new album started to appear and I was hooked.

So as I found her via Bandcamp here's the link so you can too - How Many Times | Esther Rose (bandcamp.com) 

photo credit : Galin Foley 

Patti Smith and her band perform Horses, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Tuesday 9 June 2015

 From the Archive

I remember the instant buying of tickets when I heard about this gig - no questions I was going. I remember the journey through to Glasgow - waiting for the train at Waverley Station and noticing a certain cohort of people waiting to board the train - too many leather jackets and boots for the commuter crowd. This is an impression of her that night.

Patti Smith and her band - Horses

Patti Smith performs 'Horses' her first album 40 years on, track by track a & b side. That first album that hit and redefined everything in rock'n'roll. 

This is rock'n'roll and everything that rock'n'roll should be - electric, enviserating, alive, real, poetic and authentic.

Her voice distictive, aged, lived in, strong, revisits songs of love and death, hope and fear, power, passion and revelation. Her voice, hers, a womans voice, raw, tender, clear, sharp, yearning, resigned, rasping, distinctly hers.

Her music tonight is rock'n'roll as it should be, as it must be - a distillation of everything in popular music. Patti is rock, she is soul, she is the blues, she is the Chiffons, she is the Crystals, the Ronettes, the Rolling Stones, she is Little Richard, she is punk, she is a poet, she is a street troubadour, she is human, she is a girl, she is a woman, she is the real deal. 

Patti is my generation. Patti is a 69 year old woman singing rock'n'roll. Singing the perfect rock'n'roll album. Break it up.

'Jesus died for somebody's sins/but not mine'

originally written longhand without an Imperial or Olivetti typewriter an Apple Mac or PC.

The weekend gigs - enjoying music during the time of Covid

In this time of Covid-19 music is what i miss and what gets me through the restrictions and disruptions to the life that we once knew. The fact that musicians and venues are hit by the virus is something that to me makes keeping connected to music important.

Music is a shared, mutual experience where a musician shares their work with an audience through some means of communication - live, product, radio, streaming. There is something about live music that is special. Sharing that room whatever its size with an audience, pleasing fans, winning new converts building a rapport, a feeling a shared experience. Bringing recorded music to life and the reaction of the crowd large or small. That reaction can be enthusiastic, ecstatic, polite, joyous by degrees and creates a mood in the room which can't be found through other channels.

The abrupt stopping of live music last year left me with tickets that would never be used. Most have been refunded or held against rescheduled gigs that I expect will be rescheduled again. such is gig life (or life itself) during the time of Covid.

I've made my peace to some extent with the closedown and have sought to use what's left to connect with music. Livestreaming of gigs has to some extent filled the gap. At first, I tried to join as much as I could and to be honest found it too much. I realised after a bit that there was always choice in the old gig world - will I go to that gig? How much are the tickets? What else have I got on that night? I simply had to apply that measure and be aware that trying to join livestreams in other time-zones was unsustainable - I did have a life after all. I’ll write again about specific livestreams I've joined over the past year in a future post but to close off this one I want to use my musical journey of this particular weekend as an example of this new world.

On Friday night I had a paid for gig - a livestream from Lafayette in London by the Staves to launch their new album 'Good Woman'. I long been a fan of them and their harmonies, but it had been a long time since I'd seen them live - almost 5 years to the day since they played Edinburgh's Queen's Hall. They played with a full band and it was wonderful to see them 'live' again. Due to the lack of audience in the venue they used the whole space by leaving the stage and performing in the snug and bar for some quieter acoustic numbers. Unlike some of the other livestreams I've 'attended' for new albums this was not a run through of the album. The Staves played key tracks from the new album interspersed with songs from across their back catalogue. They even indulged in a bit of chat between the songs. It was a great start to weekend. I put the lights down as the stage lights came on popped open a beer and enjoyed people making music.

I’d been aware that there was a clash with the Staves gig – Edinburgh based Pianodrome had a session with rising singer songwriter Magpie Blue on the same night. It was a free gig so I was able to catch up with her music the next morning via Pianodrome on YouTube. The music worked well in the quietness of Saturday morning creating a reflective mood for the start of the day.

In the evening I had marked on my calendar the tv premiere of King Rocker a film about Robert Lloyd and the Nightingales by Michael Cumming and Stewart Lee. Not a live gig or a livestream gig I’ll give you but the live tie in is as follows! I have a journalist friend Neil Cooper who a few years back was posting about them on social media and the name vaguely rang a bell. The Nightingales are a band I continually feel I should have been more aware of back in the day. They were championed by John Peel and were contemporaries of bands I love like the Fall and Vic Godard & the Subway Sect but somehow, I had missed them. Neil’s enthusiasm was infectious however and got a ticket was purchased to see them at local venue Leith Depot. What a gig! Packed, loud, incedible band, crazy dancing. I was hooked – why had I not discovered them before? Never mind though I had found them at last. The film followed the path of Robert Lloyd’s creative trajectory from its origins in the band the Prefects through to the present day which has seen regular albums and a committed band. There was a lot of humour and I found even more evidence that I should have been a fan a long time ago. I’ll give you no spoilers just urge you to see it and discover the route though music of a singular creative talent. The parallel story of the King Kong statue by British Pop Artist Nicholas Monro which was originally sited in the Birmingham hometown of Lloyd and Lee and at one point bizarrely found a home for a time at the Ingilston Market in Edinburgh before stories of its demise were confounded and it now stands proud near Penrith. A metaphor.

After I’d finished watching King Rocker I discovered that I’d missed a live stream from Bryde broadcast by the Queens Hall Narberth. A big fan of Sarah Howells since she was in Paper Aeroplanes, I’d seen Bryde three times before actually live in Sneaky Pete’s and Henry’s Cellar Bar. Again, I caught up via YouTube in the morning. It was good to watch her play solo with electric guitar and hear those taut dynamic songs yearning for a live audience. I was there belatedly but thanks to the Queens Hall Narberth and YouTube I was able to connect virtually and hope for the real live experience...soon.

How long will this go on? Vaccine and Covid suppression will answer that but despite the ability to drop in on these gigs and this music I yearn for the excitement of the live gig. The feeling I remember when after a few years of no live gigs I found myself at a Martha Wainwright gig in a small venue and thought I like this; I really like this.

#staysafe #livemusic #keeponrocking

 

As the Storm Broke: the gigs of early 2020 before Covid-19 shut down live music

Reflections on the live music that brought in 2020. Before the music stopped. These gigs took place between January 15th and March 1st 2020.

 

As 2020 started my gig going was mapped out through to the summer. Tickets were booked for a series of gigs by artists I hadn't seen before. Some thought was being given to going to a festival with costs being weighed up against the roster of artists performing. Then it all stopped, quite abruptly. Coronavirus was known and its potential to shut things down was known and being trailed. 

These are the performers I saw live before the lockdown and the end of live music as we knew it.

Native Harrow

A welcome return from Native Harrow the collective name of Devin Tuel and Stephen Harms whose music causes me to use the word mesmerising to describe it because it simply is. I'd seen them before in a badly suited venue where they'd soldiered on while the audience dwindled and the casual drinkers wondered why the football was not on the screens. I'd stayed to the end of that gig out of solidarity but was too embarrassed for them to stay and chat afterwards. I did pen a review and hoped they'd be back soon.

And they were. This time they were in the more appropriate surroundings of the Voodoo Rooms and played a wonderful set of songs drawn from their breakthrough album 'Happier Now' and the at that point unreleased follow-up 'Closeness'. I stayed and spoke to them thanking them for coming back so soon and sharing a joke about the previous gig. It was a great start to the gig year and I left full of hope for a great year of live gigs.

https://www.nativeharrow.com/

https://nativeharrow.bandcamp.com/album/closeness 

KT Tunstell

What a night! Part of the 'Burns and Beyond' festival where attendees ticket allows them access to various venues across Edinburgh for a night of music and poetry celebrating Robert Burns. I decided to stay at the assembly Rooms for the evening and catch 4 sets from KT Tunstell and band. It was worth it. Yes I heard some songs several times though thanks to some skillful rearrangements I was well entertained and got the jokes.

KT's all woman band played at full pelt throughout never lacking for energy. KT herself respendent in tartan encouraged the ever-changing crowd to join in. This was a party and eveyone was invited. As I said at the start what a night! 

Postscipt: I came down with a flu-like illness following the gig hich saw me take most of the week off and I slept mostly. A precurser for the Covid-19 pandemic to come? 

Ginger Cowgirl

I'd spotted the name Ginger Cowgirl on the listings of upcoming gigs at local bar the Leith Depot and was intrigued. Quick research revealed that Ginger Cowgirl was the stage persona of Stacy Antonel a young appropriately flame haired American singer/songwriter with a liking for honky-tonk music. I was in!

Touring alone she was backed on some songs by members of the support acts for the night and performed a set centred on the country honky-tonk styles of her eponymous e.p. On the song '6 weeks in Nashville' you could almost smell the bourbon (it possible did help that she was performing in a bar in Leith). There was an infectiousness about the performance as she drew the audience into the songs. The songs had swing to them that showed that she'd absorbed the various styles that make up country music - swing, country blues, honk-tonk vis Bakersfield and more besides. This is a talented songwriter with surely more to come.

https://gingercowgirl.com/epk

https://gingercowgirl.bandcamp.com/album/ginger-cowgirl 

Ira Wolf/Izaac Opatz  

This was a first for me - an actual house concert. One of my newfound gig buddies Kendall had invited me and so a weekday journey to Stirling was undertaken. Ira Wolf is a singer/songwriter I'd found online and loved but didn't think I'd get the chance to see but here she was along with Izaac Opatz who again I'd found online (thanks to the random choices of Spotify).  

By its very nature this was an intimate gig audience and performers mixing beforehand like any house party, getting to know one another, laughing, exchanging anecdotes. 

To hear Ira and Izaac's songs so stripped back just voice and guitar was an experience I'll not forget quickly. Ira has a lonesome sound all of her own that no doubt comes from her solo touring round the states like a restless troubadour - another town, another audience, another set of songs, new acquaintances, thank you and goodbye see you later. 

Izaac Opatz songs are a mix of wry observations of life and the things that happen that induce a smile and the occasional nod of recognition of some insight.

The two worked well together and the night was a good one with some other gig buddies there to chat to before the drive home. 

Badge news: Ira wore an enamel badge that bore the legend 'Listen to Townes Van Zandt'. Good advice. She also had her own badges that say 'Ira Wolf made me cry'. True.

http://irawolfmusic.com/ 

https://irawolf.bandcamp.com/ 

https://www.izaakopatz.com/

https://izaakopatz.bandcamp.com/merch 

My Glass World

This gig was the surprise in my early year gig schedule. In fact it wasn't scheduled at all. I got a text from a neighbour as I was returning home from a day in Fife saying he had a spare ticket and was I interested. To be honest I had to look up the band and was intrigued. The leader had played with various bands and other members had been in a variety of groups. It was Sunday night and it as the Voodoo Rooms (a certain symmetry there) so why not.

As we travelled to venue we talked about Covid 19 restrictions and the possible threat to gigs not really knowing that this gig was likely to be our last of the year.

My Glass World are lead by Jamie Telford (who my neighbour knew from University days). Jamie is a musician who has had a varied musical career that includes playing on hits by the Jam among others which would explain the quality of a band that also includes Sean Read who's worked with Beth Orton, Edwyn Collins and Dexy's Midnight Runners.

This was sophisticated music that showed flashes of influence from across the decades but was and is its own sound and song writing. It said to me this is what live music should and can be - something you've not heard before played well with life and exuberance matched with lyrics that both amuse and make you think, played by a band steeped in music playing their tunes their way.

As my last live music event of 2020 this was an unexpected delight. 

https://www.facebook.com/MyGlassWorlds/ 

Spotify 

Where now? After the lockdown I joined the livestreams online at times finding it difficult to keep up with the various Facebook, YouTube and Instagram 'live' gigs. I started watching the pay to view gigs increasingly put on by many musicians but became choosy - I craved the event, entering a space with a group of musicians and sharing that space with them, the best of these gigs give you that albiet a strange distanced intimacy.