Home, home on the range

And so here we are high up in the Mendip Hills in the pitch January dark trying to look for an unlit village hall that’s set back from the road. So you look for the greatest concentration of lost souls. Yes, it’s folk night. But what a night. In Priddy Village Hall we have (after an impressive instrumental support slot from Tristan from Guildford) Martin Simpson, much acclaimed folk singer/ guitarist, mentioned in the same breath as Ry Cooder by some for his roots work (and we’re not talking teeth or gardening). A strange venue and the swansong of the Old Down Acoustic Club who chose this evening to bow out. Well what a show to go with. And for an aside on them, they have run a fairly amazing series of shows over the years – a Seth Lakeman performance in a pub in Litton stands out as a highlight – and I’m sure Cathy and John deserve a rest but hopefully they will be back to do the things they do.
Despite the slight weirdness of the venue – you half-expected the hall to be surrounded by God-knows-what and that we would have to escape back to civilisation guns blazing – the acoustics were great and Martin Simpson, armed only with a pair of acoustic guitars (am I overdoing this cowboy outlaw angle?) played and played. And also explained what he was up to and where the songs came from in between. Much of the material was from his last – and excellent – album but also thrown in was a Little Feat song that he had learned from a studio demo tape his friend (in California) had found and shipped over – but with an extra verse that didn’t make it to that album. Seasoned readers will know that anyone who knows and likes Lowell George is all right by me but who would think you can discover new stuff on one of California’s finest ever bands from the depths of the Mendip Hills. Cosmic or what?Anyway, it was all taken in the stride of the audience, don’t want to give too much away after all, reserve and all but, underneath it all, we all knew that we had been watching and listening to a fairly stratospheric talent (later confirmed by various awards from Radio 2) matched to deep humanity. What a wonderful man and cracking stuff. Staggering off back into the cold and dark with plenty to think about. Not least, two gigs into the year and they’re going great.

British Psych-folk-rock rides again

It’s January, and what happens in January? You can count on Robyn Hitchcock hoving into view and performing at the Fleece. Trust me, you can set your watch by him. After two – or is it three now? – years performing with the Venus Three (you know, the REM set) this was almost a solo appearance, aided by Terry Williams (I think – but not the Terry Williams I thought) on keyboard and trumpet. Although he also had his sisters on occasional backing vocals, Tim Keegan (who had had the support slot) and some old cohorts – Kimberley Rew on frenzied guitar (no wonder he only helped out on a few tracks) and Morris (or “Morris from Gloucester” as he is always welcomed onstage) on percussion – but those last two only came on at the end. This was, essentially, Robyn-night.
And what we were due to get was his concentration on I Often Dream of Trains. This was a bit of a surprise to me, never having heard of the album, but that’s why you go and see these people – to see what else they can do. And what he can do is still be entertaining and great and musical and so it goes from being completely unknown to something you’d like to hear again. (And this and others are pretty much all now re-released as far as I can tell.) But what – I suspect but will have to prove to myself – you don’t get on the album are the entertaining explanations and asides that splatter around in between the songs so making a grand evening of all round entertainment. I can’t help thinking that his continuing presence at the Fleece suggests that he is not as popular as he should be – although the Financial Times no less were featuring his upcoming show at the Royal Festival Hall so maybe it’s just a Bristol low profile. But if you want your winter blues shaken loose and dumped by the wayside (in a bio-degradable style) then this is your man – and in any format that he chooses to turn up. But for this year you’ve missed your chance. My guess is that he’ll be back – ooh, in January probably. If you want to see him in Bristol anyway.

Oh and by the way, Tim Keegan was good and worth checking out too.

And a very merry wassail to you too

Is it the start of the St George’s backlash? Having praised the venue on various occasions in the past might it have come unstuck with its latest guests? The evening was to celebrate songs of winter and Christmas as presented by Waterson Carthy. These are the individually and collectively celebrated Martin Carthy, his wife Norma Waterson and their daughter Eliza Carthy. In addition to their excellent voices they also have their guitar and violin skills. However, with Waterson Carthy you get a fourth member, so we had Saul Rose on melodeon. But then in addition to that we had a further three singers – going under the collective name of the Devil’s Interval. So seven in all, singing individually and in various combinations, accompanied and unaccompanied. And in such an entrancing manner that you want to be up there with them (admittedly probably not a very good idea). And this was the minor issue with St Georges, it was such a fantastic evening it should have been in your local pub keeping out the cold on a winter’s evening with beer or cider glass in hand and singing along. But instead you got the very slightly clinical atmosphere of everyone sitting quietly – albeit appreciatively – and all the work being done onstage. Which may be for the best but it slightly lacked something. Of course what you got in exchange was the excellent acoustics so that you could hear everything with absolute clarity. (Perhaps I should concede at this point that this is not that much of a backlash.)
They were mostly playing material from their new album – Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man – although they featured at least one that they had unfortunately had to leave off a previous album which was made around 30 plus years previously – so there’s nothing wrong with their memories or depth of repertoire. And so good was this new (ish – it came out in 2006) album that it just had to be bought and became the sound of Christmas. And now no Christmas can be complete without rousing versions of various Wassails (Jacobstowe and Sugar) and many of the other songs. I tried it and, after some scepticism, the enjoyment was infectious. So, if you’ve missed them, get the album anyway, turn it up and sing along – you’ll feel infinitely better for the whole experience. And I have every confidence it’s just as good when the sun’s shining.