Native Harrow live at the Hug & Pint Feb 1st 2022

Native Harrow have been my first gig of the year twice. Last time was in 2020 as the first in a clutch of gigs before the Covid lockdown paused live music. To be fair this gig was supposed to be in December 2021 but was postponed due the omicron variant.

It was a great way to open my gig year - a favourite band performing in the cosy cellar that is the Hug & Pint performance space. I have my favourite spot to stand so was set for a good night. And it was. Drawing mainly on their last album 'Closeness' - apt title in these socially distanced times and for an album that came out during the first lockdown. 

In their performance the songs seemed to me to have a tenderness, a softness that spoke of the distance that had been put between the band and the audience by the forced shutdown, and false starts of the last two years. That gentleness of tentatively getting to know one another again suited the songs made for an evening where Native Harrow seemed as assured as I've ever seen them. The music Devin and Stephen make together evidences as much as it hides of its influences and presents a music that is recognisable but also unique and quite itself. 

A wonderful start to my gig year.

Dram Shop Gal - Carson McHone at the Hug & Pint 8/02/2019

Carson McHone is a native of Austin Texas and already a veteran of the city's honky tonk scene. As such you might expect her to be a purveyor of straight ahead four to the floor honky tonk music. Maybe she is with a full band behind her. Tonight she is solo, just her and her acoustic guitar and the songs while showing classic country and honky tonk influences also have a subtlety and quality that mark her as a songwriter to watch.

The songs stripped back in this intimate setting show a spare, stark quality and a lyrical deftness that marks them out. Musically she is steeped in the Texas honk tonk tradition and possesses a voice that can yelp like a best rockabilly girl when she needs it to but can also be gentle and reflective on the likes of 'Dram Shop Gal'.

It's 'Dram Shop Gal' that stands out for me as it shows the quality of her writing offering a tale of a woman working bars with a lyricism that puts her with the best of singer songwriters coming out of the US today. There is also something about the melodies she creates which while based on the classic country she's grown up with is laced with echoes of old time Scots and Irish music which form a key root of country.

Carson McHone did not disappoint and had the audience in the palm of her hand entertaining them between songs with tales of the life and the road. I expected the country honky tonk feel of her songs and she delivered that but what I'd not expected was the references to classic American literature that peppered her show and informed the one new song she sang 'Hawks Do Not Share' which takes its title from a chapter of Hemingway's 'A Movable Feast' about the relationship of the two iconic creative impulses that were Zelda and F.Scott Fitzgerald. She also referenced Thomas Wolfe's 'Look Homeward Angel' and Langston Hughes 'Suicide's Note'.

Recently signed to Loose Records this is Carson's first tour of the UK showcasing her album 'Carousel'. She promises to be back later this year hopefully with her band. I'm looking forward to it already - this is a new talent on the rise.

Playing Old Games - Erin Rae and the Meanwhiles, Hug and Pint Glasgow

I'd only listened to a couple of songs by Erin Rae McKaskle before going to see her. Those songs 'Playing Old Games' and 'Clean Slate' gave me enough to guess that a full set would be more than rewarding.
Good guess! I lucked out. In the dark and cramped basement of the Hug and Pint Erin Rae's songs shone. She worked her way through a wonderful set of old and new songs. All show a refective thoughtfulness and keen insights into the human longing, frailty, joy and loss.
What made the sound of Erin Rae's high clear voice even more stunning were the harmonies provided by her two bandmates. They echoed old time bluegrass country but were altogether modern and truly sublime.
Erin Rae and the Meanwhiles are playing small venues on this tour, building their audience. Should you join that audience you won't be disappointed.


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Leith Depot - the next night.

On my home turf I just could not miss catching Erin Rae again. It was a similar sized venue and size of audience. The set was familiar and again I was struck by the quality of the songwriting and while the themes are well trodden there seems a particular insight that Erin Rae brings to her songs. 'Playing Old Games' remains my favourite but I am liking 'Wild Blue Wind', 'Futile Attempts' and 'Monticello'. Good news too that there is a new album in the offing with a number of new songs being showcased on this UK tour. This is a singer songwriter who is building up a body of work of high quality and is one to watch.

https://www.erinraemusic.com/
https://themeanwhiles.bandcamp.com/
http://www.clubhouserecords.co.uk/

Wild Blue Wind live video
https://youtu.be/5PYc-IIxPfI