Review Date May 24, 2012 Review By John Roffey Location The Centre Stage, Bournemouth A prolific songwriter, performer and recording artist since 1976, award-winning Martin Simpson is still churning out quality albums and putting himself through punishing tour schedules. He has worked with the great and the good in the folk world, and his collaborations with June Tabor are now legendary. What a treat therefore it was to see him make a welcomed return to captivate a near full house at the Centre Stage with his wit, great songs and brilliant guitar and banjo work. After a terrific bottle-neck slide intro, classics were the order of the day with “In The Pines,” a song he learned from the recordings of Leadbelly, and “Yip’ Harburg’s “Brother Can You Spare A Dime.” The sad tale of “Sir Patrick Spens” was followed by Leonard Cohen’s “The Stranger Song,” and another Leadbelly classic, “Been On The Job Too Long.” “The Green Linnet,” a song about Napoleon; “Banjo Bill,” a tribute to the late, great Banjo Bill Cornett, and “Diamond Joe” led to Martin closing out the first set with a medley of “Three Day Millionaire” and the instrumental “Don’t Put Your Banjo In Tthe Shed Mr. Waterson”-both tributes to the much lamented doyen of the folk scene, Mike Waterson. Martin was quickly back to work with “Palaces Of Gold” and the wonderful “Killing The Blues;” an already popular number given special treatment by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant on their brilliant album, RAISING SAND. A Scots ballad, “Lord Jamie Douglas” and the ever popular “Never Any Good” led nicely into another instrumental, “Come Write Me Down,” before Martin reminisced over his time in New Orleans with “An Englishman Abroad,” and “Little Lisa Jane”-a macabre story of NO gang warfare which had the audience singing along on the chorus. Sadly and all too quickly, things were drawing to a close, but Martin certainly knows how to handle a finale-a gorgeous rendition of the country classic, “Love Never Dies” and the inevitable encore, with the traditional gospel ballad, “When I Lay My Burden Down;” a staple played at New Orleans jazz funerals. With a finely-honed stage presence, Martin soon warmed to an enthusiastic audience and clearly enjoyed his visit to the South Coast. With any luck, he will be able to fit in another trip to these parts before too long. The evening got underway with a short set from resident soundman, Andy Stone who reminded us all that his musical talents more than match his exceptional technical skills. Find out more at 

Review Date May 31, 2012 Review By John Roffey Location The Centre Stage, Bournemouth For the last gig at the Centre Stage before the summer recess, entered the delicate looking Emily Maguire with Australian husband, Christian Dunham (bass) and a string quartet featuring highly talented cellist, Beth Porter who was taking time out from playing in Eliza Carthy’s band. With her music now regularly played on BBC Radio 2, Emily has come to be noticed by a much wider audience, although she still gets a kick from performing at the Square and Compass, in the beautiful Dorset village of Worth Matravers high in the Purbeck Hills. An eventful career saw her move to the southern hemisphere where she managed to finance her music by making and selling goat’s cheese from her farm in Australia. Her battle with Bipolar Disorder is well documented but during this difficult period and whilst receiving treatment in London, some of her best songs were spawned. A prolific performer and songwriter, Emily already has three critically acclaimed albums under her belt and is now taking a break from touring to concentrate on the next. It was no surprise then, that she included a number of songs from the forthcoming album in a very strong twenty-song set. Whilst many of her songs tended to follow a similar pattern-a mellow introduction before she belied her diminutive stature by belting out powerful and always thought provoking lyrics-this took nothing away from a faultless performance which had the near full house spellbound. Highlights of a terrific first set were “Keep Walking” and “The Real World” (a commentary on modern society), the beautiful “Wanting Time,” in which Emily switched from acoustic guitar to piano, and “Bird Inside A Cage,” which was inspired by Times journalist, Melanie Reid who was badly injured in a horse riding accident. It was more of the same for the second set, with her new songs “Not The Only One” and “Stardust” as well as “Golden And Gorgeous,” (a tale of commuting by train), and “I’d Rather Be” from her current album, BELIEVER. Closing with another new song, “This Love Affair,” Emily returned to encore with “Start Over Again,” which recounted “her whole life in three and a half minutes.’ Emily possesses a wonderful stage presence and keeps chatter to a minimum, preferring to delight her audience with as much top quality music as possible. With her string quartet performing admirably, and Beth Porter chipping in with some great backing vocals, it proved to be a wonderful evening’s entertainment. Find out more at 

Review Date March 6, 2012 Review By Alan Harrison Location The Boogaloo, Highgate, London Wearing a trilby at a jaunty angle and being tall, skinny and possessing a voice like a young Tom Waits the young Texan Jarrod Dickenson cuts an odd looking figure on the stage but his songs are all extremely well-crafted with melodies many of his peers would give their left arm for; but it’s his world-weary voice and phrasing that will win him legions of admirers in the very near future. “California,” about the haunting memories of an ex-love was simply breathtaking and “Ballad Of A Lonesome Traveler” will resonate with musicians and traveling salesmen everywhere. Jarrod Dickenson-a name to watch out for. Bap’s evening got off to a swinging start with an old song dedicated to and written about Elvis-“Be Careful What You Wish For£ which was followed by “Domestic Blues” that Bap reminded us had been the theme to a BBC R4 comedy programme. With a new album to promote Kennedy kept the latest songs to a minimum although when he did play “Please Return To Jesus” and “Jimmy Sanchez” they both had an extra “kick’ to them that can only come from being played live. Much of the rest of the night was a celebration of his earlier work with “Vampire” and “Howl On” reminding me what a genuinely great songwriter he is. Thoroughly enjoying himself on a stage that was surrounded by friends, Bap regaled us with a couple of bad jokes and some endearing stories, especially the one that introduced “Moonlight Kiss” which was featured in the hit movie Serendipity and the song itself was better than beautiful. Bearing in mind how much I enjoyed everything else, the two absolute highlights of the evening were when the hastily put together band; that included Gordy McAllister (nearly stealing the show) on semi-acoustic guitar and an impossibly pretty and young-looking Mrs. Brenda Kennedy on bass rocked out on Hank’s “Rambling Man” and turned the bar into a Nashville honky-tonk for 4 minutes and the look on Bap’s face as he dedicated “The Beauty Of You” to his wife, Brenda who was standing right next to him. Now that’s what a love song is for! The evening ended with a comical “will they/won’t they’ do another encore that hastily followed a discussion about which songs they all knew! The choice was the Energy Orchard standard “Sailortown” about Kennedy’s hometown of Belfast and a more fitting end to a great night I couldn’t think of. Find out more at 

Review Date April 22, 2012 Review By John Roffey Location The Centre Stage, Bournemouth A veteran of over forty years, award-winning singer-songwriter Steve Tilston played the Centre Stage to another healthy gathering and concentrated largely on his most recent releases RECKONING from 2011 and ZIGGURAT from 2008 whilst injecting a few surprises along the way. An all-round entertainer, Steve wowed the Bournemouth Folk Club regulars with his trade mark anecdotes and simply gorgeous music. Wizz Jones’ “Weeping Willow Blues” was first to get the Steve Tilston treatment but having messed around with both lyrics and music, he re-titled it “Weeping Willow Replanted”-but it was still great blues. “Fisher Lad Of Whitby,” taken from Holroyd’s Collection of Yorkshire Ballads, related the harrowing story of a boy being press ganged into the navy to fight in the Napoleonic wars and he followed this up with his own composition “Rocky Road” which has of course, been adopted by electric folk legends Fairport Convention. Then came three great numbers from RECKONING, “Rio de la Miel,” a tale of the Spanish Civil War, the title track and an instrumental medley of “Davy Lamp,” which paid homage to hornpipe impresario James Hill, and “Fruit Fly” a lovely reel. Incredibly, the first set was drawing to a close and Steve finished with the classic “Let’s Face The Music And Dance” which he chose to sing at his daughter’s wedding. The second set got underway with ST’s only “happy’ song “Jacaranda,” a beautiful blue flower growing mainly in South America, “Doubting Thomas,” another from RECKONING and Big Bill’s “Been Here And Gone,” a tribute to bluesman Big Bill Broonzy. It was then time to delve into the vast back catalogue with the beautiful “Sometimes In This Life” and then come right up-to-date again with the haunting “Sovereign Of Tides.” “Pretty Penny,” a song about bankers written before the current crisis, “Oil And Water” which Steve performed on Later with Jools Holland and an audience request, “Slip Jigs And Reels” brought this terrific second set to a close. Thunderous applause brought Steve back to encore with the autobiographical “Road When I Was Young.” This was another superb performance from a genuine class act whose songs have been recorded by many of the greats in the folk world. It was no surprise that extremely brisk business was soon being conducted on the merchandise counter. The evening had got underway with a short set from highly talented local musician Bob Burke. Find out more at 

Review Date May 10, 2012 Review By John Roffey Location The Centre Stage, Bournemouth The evening got underway with a short set from grossly underrated folkie Mick Ryan who delivered a short set of hugely entertaining numbers, all sung a cappella. It was then followed by Rosie Carson a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. She had enrolled into the Riley School of Irish Music in her home town at the tender age of eight. She has won numerous awards for her singing and fiddle playing and although still in her teens, displays a maturity way beyond her years. An iconic figure on the home scene, Kevin Dempsey has played with just about anybody that’s anybody in the folk world. With Kevin knowing Rosie’s father for thirty-odd years and having watched Rosie’s musical talents develop, it was no surprise that the two decided to collaborate musically, the result being two excellent albums with another in the offing. Playing an eclectic mix of traditional numbers and covers as well as showcasing their albums and slipping in a fair selection of Irish jigs and reels, this turned out to be an exhilarating evening and it was such a pity that only a handful turned out to witness a pretty special event. Sharing lead vocals and harmonising beautifully, they opened with “Wayfaring Stranger” and you can’t get more traditional than that! A couple of Irish tunes, “The Rolling Waves” and “Morrison’s” led nicely to Kevin taking the lead on Richard Thompson’s achingly beautiful country song “Waltzing’s For Dreamers” and Judee Sill’s “There’s A Rugged Road,” one for the forthcoming album. Another Irish reel, “Julia Delaney’s” was followed by “Silver Dagger” from their 2009 debut offering THE SALTY DIAMOND and the shoemaker’s lament “Peg And Awl” before they closed the first set with more slick instrumental work on a medley of “Jenny Picking Cockles” and “Skipping Lambs.” Picking up from where they left off, the second set got underway with the lovely “Green Grows The Laurel” and a medley of Charlie Lennon’s “Scottish Concerto” and “Chanter’s March,” both included on their latest album BETWEEN THE DISTANCE. After “The Music Bringer£ and a great Appalachian song “Rain And Snow,” it was time for yet more Irish jigging with “Paddy Fahey’s” and “The Butterfly.” Sadly, things were drawing to a close but not before they delivered a great rendition of the traditional “The Bay Of Biscay,” a seafaring ghost story, and Kevin’s own “All For You.” With so few in the audience, one wondered if sufficient noise could be made to persuade the couple to play just one encore. Persuade them they did and Rosie and Kevin returned with “I’m Going To Georgia,” another to be included on the next album. This was terrific stuff although sadly, the haunting “Emigrant’s Farewell” was not included on the set list. Rosie plays a mean fiddle and has a gorgeous voice which at times was very powerful for one so young. For some reason, she failed to project it sufficiently at the start of several numbers making it quite difficult to pick out the lyrics of the first couple of lines. This is certainly not prevalent on their albums where her vocals are just perfect. Kevin? Well, Kevin was just Kevin wowing everyone with his intricate guitar work and gritty vocals which he’s been doing now for more years than he would care to remember. Find out more at 

Review Date May 2. 2012 Review By Eric Thom Location Hugh’s Room, Toronto, Canada It would appear that 65-year old Loudon Wainwright III has a lot on his mind. In fact, the title of his latest release tips the hat that he’s slightly fixated on death and decay; this comes with ageing. Yet, Loudon is now-and always has been-far from a-molderin’ in his grave. There’s too much going on in his personal life and far too much left to observe and complain about-seemingly revelling in mankind’s continual downward slide. Few singer-songwriters subject themselves to so much scrutiny and, on occasion, self-mutilation. He does it in fun but his razor-sharp arsenal of tools blur the lines between irony and sarcasm with each satirical, often cynical, observation on life. The fact that he has made every aspect of his own life and times so public through his work surely works some therapeutic wonder. If nothing else, he’s damned funny. Acid-tongued and acerbic-but very funny. Touring his latest masterwork, OLDER THAN MY OLD MAN NOW, Wainwright clearly relishes the bonus time he’s got left. This 15-track exercise in stand-up comedy would suffice based on its lyrics alone-yet Loudon is a master entertainer and his understated guitar-playing and gift for a hook turns the singer-songwriter category on its ear. He delivers, live, more than anyone might expect and the storytelling that glues the set-list together is, alone, worth the price of admission. As much as this release embraces all the touchstones of the over 60-set, so much of its content filters down from his too-personal diary, involving many of the members of his infamous family-many of whom were involved in its recording. From his late, ex-wife Kate comes a co-write on “Over The Hill” as daughter Martha contributes vocals while, despite the much-publicised rift between he and son Rufus, the two came together for “The Days That We Die” as if they “were’ family. And that’s the other side of this coin. Loudon may fear following in his father’s final footsteps but, as messed up as they all appear to be, Loudon holds his family close-as if his life depended on it. He’s never been shy about admitting his mistakes. Thankfully, it’s become his most endearing quality. It doesn’t get more naked than Loudon, alone, on a stage. Amidst his arsenal of Eastwood winces, head-shakes and tongue-curls, he strips each song to its skeletal beginnings, leaning on his guitar to dazzle between each witty stanza. Beginning with the borderline funky “The Here & The Now,” Loudon’s stripped-down version highlights its autobiographical nature-wherein his entire life is squeezed into its 3:44 length. Suffering from slight overselling, Wainwright took some time to secure the room yet, like any talented comedian, it’s simply a matter of reorganising one’s best material. A world premiere of “Haven’t Got The Blues Yet” segued into the fast-paced, hilarious “Double Lifetime,” originally recorded with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. The title track, which featured some exceptional guitar-picking, was prefaced by Wainwright’s summation of his life’s work: the 1970s and 1980s were all about chronicling “shitty relationships’ while his focus now is on “death and decay.’ His unreleased, morgue-friendly “A Guilty Conscience And A Broken Heart” proved a side-splitter joined by an equally funny song about city life, “Man & Dog”. Two tracks from his last release, 10 SONGS FOR THE NEW DEPRESSION altered the mood somewhat until a Liberace moment drove him to the piano for a few songs, most notably the lovely “In C.” The evening also addressed the many requests tossed his way-“Five Years Old” became a singalong while “Be Careful, There’s A Baby In The House” and the gut-ripping “Hardy Boys At The Y” proved favourites. His take on “I Remember Sex” hit a nerve, albeit a funny one, while a slowed down, serious version of “April Fool’s Day Morn” hit its bittersweet, beautiful mark. From laughing “til you cry and crying “til you need to laugh, Wainwright is a master of the mood swing. At the same time, he packs a lot of evening into one tiny stage. And whether he dips back into “Red Guitar” or “Motel Blues” or moves things forward with the haunting “Something’s Out To Get Me” or the fall-down hilarity of “My Meds,” Loudon has consistently delivered beyond “the new Dylan’ tag that dogged his early career. Here’s hoping he gets to be a pallbearer. The last laugh will be his. Find out more at 

Review Date September 19, 2011 Review By Keith Clark Location The Tunnels, Bristol This was one of those gigs that underline the importance of turning up on time to catch the supporting act as you just never know when you are going to be presented with a real and unexpected treat. Laura Gibson, a singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon, who is touring with Richmond Fontaine on this tour was certainly not someone you would have wanted to miss. Blessed with a wonderfully clear, fragile voice and accompanied by highly talented multi-instrumentalist Sean Ogilvie, she delivered a mesmerising set of mostly her own songs plus a few from the folk tradition. Her version of In The Pines owed more to Nirvana than to Leadbelly and was simply stunning. Richmond Fontaine have released a brand new album, THE HIGH COUNTRY, so it was to be expected that like most bands on promo tours their set list would probably include a small number of the new songs scattered amongst the big hits. The Oregon-based band obviously don’t believe in taking the easy route however for when they came on stage frontman Willy Vlautin informed us that actually they were going to do the whole of the new album, all 17 tracks of it including spoken narratives and instrumental interludes, before doing some of their older familiar songs. Whether in his much acclaimed novels, his short stories or his songs, Vlautin has always tended to write extremely literate but often very bleak tales of drifters, dreamers, drunks, gamblers, murderers, the disaffected and others for whom the American Dream has turned into a nightmare. The songs that make up THE HIGH COUNTRY were therefore in familiar territory. A kind of country-rock opera it told the story of the doomed love affair between a mechanic and the girl at the auto parts shop in a remote logging community and contains more killings than a Tarantino movie. That might sound far too sombre and melancholy to be much fun but actually it was a performance that completely held your interest. A lot of that was due to Vlautin’s narrative songs which were so vivid you couldn’t help feeling that you were listening to the soundtrack to a piece of Film Noir. It also helped that the songs were set to suitably sparse and very atmospheric arrangements that ranged from quiet acoustic to a restrained bar band rock swagger. Amy Boone from the Texan band the Damnations TX, who had been drafted in to provide the female leads sung by her sister Deborah Kelly on the album, produced one of the standouts of the set with the quiet Let Me Dream Of The High Country. Her I Can See A Room, a duet with Vlautin, was painfully beautiful. The sparse The Mechanic, which the singer told us was his favourite of all the songs he has written, was haunting and there was chilly horror in On A Spree. They really rocked out on The Chainsaw Sea and Lost In The Trees, while in The Eagles Lodge there was a reference to Brummie Metal Gods Judas Priest. After the shortest of breaks the band returned to the stage and played a set that was actually longer than complete gigs from some bands and included a number of more familiar songs from their previous eight studio albums, including the country punk 1968, a very well-received Post To The Wire, Making It Back, the Calexico-like Moving Back Home #2 and a superb version of Western Skyline featuring some exceptional guitar work from Dan Eccles. Amy Boone got the chance to take the lead on one of her own band’s songs, No Sign Of Water. If more than 20 songs wasn’t enough, the band returned to do Two Alone and closed with Winner’s Casino. It was a thoroughly satisfying epic of a gig by an outfit that has consistently shown itself to be one of the most creative bands on the Americana scene. Find out more at 

Review Date October 7, 2011 Review By Nick Dalton Location East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf, London Just around the corner in the heart of Canary Wharf, the Friday evening throng is in full session, thousands of office workers loudly spilling out of bars, drinks in hand. We’re in a curious but pleasing glass-roofed space snuggled between office buildings, a haven of peace and civility, as a group of 10 disparate individuals wander on to the stage. They break into what could be described as rootsy classical music, a glorious 90-minute set of riffs and soaring violin, grand piano and ukulele. It’s the first of another series of left-of-centre performances sneaking into the city workplace (another is a semi-acoustic show by melodious indie-rockers British Sea Power). Penguin Café are the child of the Penguin Café Orchestra, the dreamy, elegantly different ensemble led by Simon Jeffes until his death more than a decade ago, a group that was home to everyone from classical moonlighters to country fiddle virtuoso Bob Loveday. This version is led by Jeffes Junior, Arthur, a superb pianist, keeping alive his father’s legacy, while adding to it. Bearded and waistcoated he looks like the male lead from a Thomas Hardy movie adaptation; the chap who darts between percussion and violin wears a white cap and plus-fours, there are longhairs and short hairs and mop hairs the classic mix of classical players (a cellist who looks exactly like a cellist should, otherwordly, her long, dark hair tied back) and rock types. The music kicks off with Dirt, one of the original group’s numbers, a joyous southern states Americana romp based around violin, viola, lap steel and ukulele (or something that looked like a ukulele but was a bit bigger). People chop and change as they swing through what is essentially quiet music but which acquires a lot of power when played at volume: Swing The Cat (an erudite take on Irish jigging), the pastoral sweep of Air a Danser, the medieval tinge of Paul’s Dance (Jeffes leading a four-piece ukulele ensemble) and the resonant Music For A Found Harmonium. Newer pieces such as From A Blue Temple (from the recent album A MATTER OF LIFE …) sat perfectly alongside favourites including Perpetuum Mobile. A highpoint was Telephone And Rubber Band, a tune constructed over a tape loop of telephone ringing and engaged tones, the noises played by Jeffes from his iPhone, before the exquisite Giles Farnaby’s Dream, finishing with another US-inflected composition, Bean Fields. There was the air of classical music but played with the sound and rhythm of a barnyard dance in an evening of irrepressible good humour, Jeffes beaming as he performed the music he’d grown up loving. The encore featured a piano piece he’d composed for his father’s memorial service, then the lively Salty Bean Fumble. We then left our tables at the Penguin Café and emerged into the noise of the night. Find out more at 

Review Date November 16, 2011 Review By Jela Webb Location The Roundhouse, London You know you’re at a Low Anthem show when the stage is set with an array of instruments (including amongst others, guitars, drums, clarinet, pump organ, double bass, glockenspiel, bowed saw, trumpets) and when the four-piece appear it remains in semi-darkness and continues so throughout the evening. And so it was at the Roundhouse; the largest venue the Low Anthem has played (except of course, festival shows) and to judge by the sizeable attendance for this single date in the UK on the European tour, it was a smart move as it allowed their many fans the opportunity to experience their particular brand of folk-rock in an apt setting. The standing space was pretty much full and the seated balconies nicely populated too. The Low Anthem’s songs range from the most delicate whispered harmonies of “To Ohio” to the most muscular of sounds of “Boeing 737″ and they seem to move effortlessly between one and the other just as they do in swapping instruments between nearly every song. Tonight’s set list leaned heavily towards the latest album SMART FLESH opening with the title track. Not much of a surprise there but the choice of songs, for the just shy of two hours performance, was nicely complemented by a few surprises along the way. They performed three songs from 2007’s WHAT THE CROW BRINGS-“This God Damn House”, “Bless Your Tombstone Heart” and “Yellowed By The Sun.” The former appears regularly in a set list, but the other two rarely make an outing. It was a treat therefore to hear them play less familiar material. Additionally, they gave us a new song whose title I’d guess at being “Her Little Cosmos.” Inspired by a kidnapping which took place in the street where Ben Knox Miller grew up, it is one of “a bunch of songs’ written about the incident. Their big breakthrough came with 2009’s OH MY GOD, CHARLIE DARWIN yet they performed only four tracks from that collection with the lead “Charlie Darwin” garnering the loudest applause of the night. A three-part harmony around one microphone (newest member Mike Irwin wasn’t in view for this one) was preceded by a shout from the crowd: “what a band! What a f****** band’ to which Miller responded quick as a flash” “what happened to English modesty?’ Modesty was in evidence though as between each song the stage was completely blacked out, yet no one took this as an opportunity to chat; the audience was so respectful, almost reverent in its behaviour, quietly anticipating what might come next. Rewarded with a 16-song main set, the audience clamoured for more so the Rhode Islanders returned for a three-song encore. The first was Blind Willie McTell’s “Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around” followed by “To Ohio” and then Leonard Cohen’s “Bird On A Wire” for which they were joined by tonight’s opening acts Simon Felice and William Elliott Whitmore. Initially a six-part harmony, Felice then moved quietly to the drum kit and that was a signal for the audience to join in by clapping to the beat. Miller finished by turning the microphone to wave it in front of the audience as he’d introduced the song by asking people to: “sing along, if you know the song’-they obliged, gladly. There’s a sense of gentleness about the Low Anthem but they then surprise you by belting out a real “stomper’ like their version of Jack Kerouac’s “Home I’ll Never Be” that somehow doesn’t seem at all incongruous. It is very different from Tom Waits’ recording of the song. Their idiosyncrasies have a certain appeal and I love the contrast between styles. After three years on the road the group was anticipating taking a break from touring but has accepted an invitation to tour in Canada during the first two months of 2012. After that, in their words they are “cocooning’ to concentrate on new material and projects. I look forward to seeing and hearing what the future brings. Find out more at