Richard Hawley

Wow! You certainly do get around efsb, I am most envious of your constant travels and numerous gigs, wishing I could emulate them, as Richard himself once said in a song; "I salute you"

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Be careful what you wish for...

A closer to home gig - Harp and a Monkey supported by Nixon Tate put on a World War 1 themed show at Biddulph Town Hall. Harp and a Monkey mixed in historical samples and some reggae melodica into their sound which lifted it above the normal folk fayre.
Harp and a Monkey

Nixon Tate

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Two gig weekend - firstly it was Lynne Hanson and the Good Intentions at the Royal Oak in Eccleshall -the Canadian country singer played to a welcoming crowd in the upstairs room - a bit smaller than the back room at Greystones but a similar shape with a bar at the back.

Sunday it was up to Manchester to see the MC50 show - the MC5's 50th anniversary tour. Only Wayne Kramer out of the original line-up was in the band (supplanted by members of Soundgarden, Fugazi and Faith No More) but it was a lively, loud energetic show - not the least from support act Michael Monroe, former lead singer of Hanoi Rocks. Sam Yaffa, former Hanoi Rocks band mate was in the band, as was Steve Conte who I'd last seen playing with the New York Dolls when they reformed at the Royal Festival Hall for Morrissey's Meltdown (He seems to have them quite regularly now...). Loud, catchy glam punk. Mr Monroe has obviously been on the same diet as Iggy Pop....


Wayne Kramer (below) is the liveliest septuagenarian I've seen on stage - on a par with Mr Jagger. Incredible energy.

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Martyn Joseph at St Lawrence's Church Biddulph - I've photographed him twice before, but only in the soundcheck and never seen a full gig until now. I really enjoyed him - the Welsh Springsteen is somewhat of a hyperbole, but there's some truth in the comparison.

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..and then off to Oxford the next morning to see J.P. Harris & the Tough Choices at the Jericho Tavern. I saw JP a couple of months back in Nashville and liked his hardcore honky-tonk sound. Quite Dale Watson, with more modern lyrical themes and harder playing - he ended with a terrific version of AC/DC's "It's a long way to the top (If you wanna rock'n'roll)". Fine beard too.

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Next up was Miles Hunt, formerly of The Wonderstuff playing at Biddulph Town Hall. It was an acoustic show with stories and tales from the road that went down well with the sold out crowd. Miles came over as a nice bloke too, before and after the show.

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Friday was a local double-header from the Dixon-Hood sisters for Megan's EP launch gig with the Untold Orchestra. Megan Dixon-Hood is a sort of a mix between Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush - hugely talented keyboard player with a powerful voice. Younger sister Ella has only posted bedroom clips on acoustic guitar before tonight, but made her serious live debut in front of a packed out St Lawrence's church - being streamed worldwide via Fat Pigeon Live. She has a smoky and soulful voice that suited the mix of originals and Americana covers that she took on. For a fiver, you couldn't go wrong.

Ella Dixon-Hood

Megan Dixon-Hood



If you put these girls on Jolls Holland, they'd be top ten within a week. Seriously good.
Here's a video from the gig:

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Well, the intention was to take my eldest niece (who's at Uni in Birmingham) to see Courtney Marie Andrews at the Glee Club in the city centre, but within an hour of meeting up I got a text from See Tickets to say that the gig had been cancelled because of illness. After a swift decamp to a cafe that was playing JD McPherson's Christmas album, Plan B to see Deacon Blue at the Symphony Hall, supported by Blue Rose Code - was hatched. (It was either this or Cypress Hill. No thanks.) We got the last two tickets at the back of the stalls, so photo opportunities were limited, but I snagged one or two. The gig was pleasant enough but a bit too MOR for me.

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Back to Biddulph and a gig from Folk-roots wunderkid Luke Jackson, supported by local songstress Samantha Lloyd. Decent midweek audience for an entertaining evening's music.

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What day was it? Thursday meant a trip up to Manchester amidst the great O2 network outage. Lots of business folk on the train making "contingency plans" for a no-data scenario. I imagine Brexit will be like that but with more roaming gangs of knife-wielding zombies. Anyway, I set up camp early in the Deaf institute - they do excellent food and managed to flog a spare ticket that a friend had passed on to me that he couldn't use. Will Hoge, up first was a punkish and tuneful troubadour who made the most of his short slot. Going to see him again on Monday. Lucero, the headliners were also curfew aware (The Deaf Institute was turning into a club at 11) so cracked on, in fine form - a lot of the new album was played, which i was less familiar with, but a good night all round, only marred by finding out the sad news about Pete Shelley on Piccadilly Station.
Will Hoge

Lucero

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Got a few gigs before then, but just booked for RH on Saturday 2nd Feb at Bury Met.

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December's going out with a bang - went up to Glasgow on Sunday to see Courtney Marie Andrews, to make up for the missed show in Birmingham. Glad I did - she is absolutely top drawer. A top, top performance with a worshipping audience who listened in reverent silence and exploded into applause after every song. Spoke to her afterwards and she even apologised for being ill and missing Birmingham, bless.


Then I caught two trains back home, was in for an hour and then drove to the Bull's Head in Alton (near to Alton Towers) to see Nashville singer-songwriter Will Hoge who I'd seen the previous Thursday supporting Lucero, but this time he was out on his own for the final date of his UK visit. He's a performer who tells it straight, whether singing about US politics ("Thoughts and Prayers" "Nikki's a Republican now") or affairs of the heart.


Just three more gigs and a local band photoshoot this week...

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Thursday meant a trip to Manchester - the Deaf Institute again - to see Lera Lynn supported by the Worry Dolls. In full-on place-name-dropping mode, I last saw the Worry Dolls on the roof terrace of the Nashville Underground in September at Americana Fest - somewhat different, but actually rather more attractive surroundings this time. They are great harmony singers and can write a decent tune too.


Lera Lynn was struggling with a cold - that's two performers in two weeks that I've been to see who have come down with a lurgy - but she soldiered on and apart from a few cracky notes, her cold gave her voice an even more sultry feel. Again it was an early finish so early train back to Crewe where my car was parked, so all good.

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Hometown gig on Friday - Average Joe is the name of the band but they're anything but. Disclaimer - Joe Brennan-Hulme, the singer is one of my former students and he was always a free spirit - cracking lad. He appeared as an extra in the Joy Division biopic "Control" and that was the name of his first band too. After they split he experimented in a variety of line-ups before pairing up with Jim Mycock to form Average Joe - their initial release attracted a lot of label interest but they had to pull it from Bandcamp due to copyright issues over sampling. Undeterred, they've put a band together and can play the damn stuff instead - and ruddy brilliant it was/is too.





One more gig to go for 2018 -at least that I've got booked...

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Last night in Newcastle the ever brilliant Travis....






Supported by the wonderful Turin Brakes...



Well worth the £50 tickets, both had good banter with the crowd, brought back some good memories. X