Tag: Americana

Feb 13 2024

The Good Lovelies

Sunday 28th January 2024

Review, photos, video by Keith Belcher

Another sold out show for the second gig of the year. It’s becoming a habit. The third one is heading that way too. A debut appearance for Good Lovelies. Good Lovelies are Caroline Brooks: Vocals, Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Kerri Ough: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboard and Susan Passmore: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Percussion, Keyboard. They do sometimes have a larger touring band but tonight we had the original core Good Lovelies trio.

They last toured 2019 and 2017 so this was the first post Covid tour. They did a straw poll at the start and from the hands up it looked like most of the audience were seeing them for the first time. I doubt many were disappointed. I would say everyone went home delighted with the pampering their ears got from the show.

We got 2 sets of great songs, good humour and stories and some of the most delightful harmonies heard at The Live Room. The lead vocals were juggled by all three, instruments alternated also. . There was a lovely tribute at the end of the show to one of their biggest fans and friends, Nick Lawson from Hull who passed away last February.

Rebecca Kemp, tour manager called up to the stage to join in for that. Nick went to all of their gigs in the UK and also travelled to Canada to see them too. RIP Nick , you are missed by those knew you.

The queue at The Merch desk was looong! at the interval and also still long when I had packed up my cameras and was on the way out. . Always a good indicator of popularity. The PA went down just before the start (the stage is not a drinks table!) but Ron sorted it out very quickly and we had the usual highly rated sound we have become accustomed to (Most artists say that , it’s not just me!).

Another band that will be very welcome back at TLR.

Video by Keith Belcher

Not A Lost Cause; and Blurry Days

Jan 30 2024

Tim O’Brien & Jan Fabricius

Friday 19th January 2024

Review, photos and video by Keith Belcher

The first gig of the year. The very welcome return of Tim O’Brien and Jan Fabricius with special guest, master fiddler Kevin Burke for the start of Set 2. We were very lucky to see Tim and Jan. They had a 36 hour nightmare journey from Nashville, delayed by snow. The gig scheduled for Sheffield on Thursday was cancelled. Tim and Jan had travelled up from Heathrow to make our show.

You really would not have guessed they had been travelling for 36 hours. The quality of the playing and singing was top notch. Jan playing mandolin , Tim, guitar, fiddle and mandolin and Kevin fiddle. Tim sang most lead vocals with Jan taking 2 songs as lead and they harmonised beautifully.

Special guest Kevin Burke opened the second set with Tim with 2 instrumentals . Jan joined the stage with Kevin and Tim for a third instrumental (Pear Tree/The Muddy Roads/Ladies Pantalettes/ The Kid On The Mountain and O’Carolans’s Concerto – for those interested) Lots of new songs as it’s been quite a few years and 3 albums since we’ve seen Tim on these shores.

Some old favourites like Brother Wind and Look Down That Lonesome Road.As you would expect at a Tim O’Brien show lots of humour throughout especially in new song Nervous.

70 years young this year and 50 years in the business and he played for just under 2 hours! The beauty of Tim is that it all looks so effortless whether its guitar,mandolin, fiddle or banjo. A true master tradesman.

Videos

Pretty Maid In A Garden; Bear; Pear Tree/The Muddy Roads/Ladies Pantalettes

Nov 14 2023

Daniel Rodriguez & Friends

Sunday 5th November 2023

Review, photos and video by Keith Belcher

Sunday 5th November 2023. Caroline Street Social Club, Saltaire. The debut appearance and I hope the first of many appearances at TLR for Daniel and his band. Emma Rose opened with a short acoustic set and then joined Daniel with and without Zachary and Jason.

The Daniel Rodriguez Band, Daniel Rodriguez Lead Vocals, acoustic guitar, Zachary Jackson, vocals, bass, Jason Mazer, vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, Emma Rose , acoustic guitar, vocals

It’s just me, and the universe, tonight, and together we’re going to have to make things right from “A Thousand Lights” by Daniel Rodriguez

I have pretty much stopped writing reviews and these days I mainly just post pictures/videos with a brief accompanying introduction to the artists. I was very tempted to change that after Sunday night’s show. I had such a good time and felt very uplifted by the show. Without gushing, it genuinely left you with a warm glow.

To be honest a seriously glowing review had pretty much written itself in my head as I left the venue. I’ll just say if you want a really good night that’s going to to leave you feeling very glad you took the time to see this band then go and see them! They are really worth travelling to see. You won’t regret it.

The words below are from the much acclaimed £10 pom Scotsman Eric Bogle and they encapsulate the feelings generated on the night. I heard quite a few people who thought it was THE show of the year. Considering the wealth of talent we have seen this year that’s a strong but justified statement. If not familiar with Daniel’s back history you may also want to check out the music of his band until 2018, Elephant Revival, you won’t be disappointed.

Don’t know what music means to you,

but that’s what music means to me,

it can capture my heart, yet somehow set it free.

It can tear me to pieces, yet somehow make me whole,

it gives me hope and feeds my soul.

The Last Note – Eric Bogle

Video by Keith Belcher

Colorado; Vast Nothing; and Birds and Stars

Oct 30 2023

Ali McGuirk

Thursday 19th October 2023

Photos & video by Keith Belcher

Video by Keith Belcher

Evaline

Oct 15 2023

Lauren Housley & The Northern Cowboys

Thursday 12th October 7.30pm

Photos and video by Keith Belcher

Videos by Keith Belcher

What's Troubling You Child?; This Ain't The Life; and Something More

Sep 26 2023

Annie Keating Band

Sunday 10th September 2023

Review & photos by Keith Belcher

Sunday 10th September 2023. After a 7 week break the new Live Room season kicked off with the return visit of The Annie Keating Band. The band tonight being Annie Keating, guitar and lead vocals, Joe Coombs, guitars, Jamie Dawson, drums and Mark Lewis , upright and electric bass.

Almost a year since the debut visit on 25th September 2022. They rocked the summer off in style to a very appreciative audience who had (hopefully ) dodged the late afternoon’s torrential rainfall. The entire show was pro filmed, hopefully clips will be available soon. Catch the tour if you can.

Jul 25 2023

Hamilton Loomis

Sunday 23rd July 2023

Review and photos by Ron Pengelly

Saltaire visit on Sunday evening from Texan electric bluesman Hamilton Loomis and his band at the conclusion of their UK tour.

All kinds of blues plus a healthy dollop of funk and rock blew the roof off and made for a rather special show full of energy. The audience loved every minute, and huge appreciation from him both for the audience and the venue.

Hurry back Hamilton!

Jul 25 2023

Carter Sampson & Amelia White

Sunday 9th July 2023

Review and photos by Ron Pengelly

Lots of love at The Live Room at Saltaire for a superb Americana double bill on Sunday evening. Great show from Carter Sampson and Amelia White of Oklahoma and Nashville towards the end of their UK tour.

Jul 25 2023

The Hoth Brothers

Sunday 25th June 2023

Review and photos by Ron Pengelly

A taste of the wilderness of New Mexico came to Saltaire on Friday with the Hoth Brothers. My photos of a hugely entertaining set of toe tapping Appalachian inspired songs from Bard Edrington and Sarah Ferrell, with Karina Wilson on fiddle and vocals standing in for Boris McCutcheon who couldn’t make the tour.

Great show, thanks folks.

Jun 10 2023

Guy Davis

Thursday 1st June 2023

Review, photos and video by Keith Belcher

Thursday 1st June 2023. The return appearance of the multi talented bluesman, Guy Davis. Guy is someone I have wanted to see for a long time but never quite managed it. He’s not just an extremely talented guitarist, banjo player, harmonica player, songwriter, storyteller and singer. He has theatre and film acting credits to his name and has written many plays also.

An excerpt from his press biography tells it all better than I could:

“His performances feature a mix of his original songs and cover songs by Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Mance Lipscombe, Blind Willie McTell, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and many others. His admiration for antiquities parallels his love of music, “I like antiques and old things, old places, that still have the dust of those who’ve gone before us lying upon them.” Blowing that dust off just enough to see its beauty is something Guy has excelled at for over twenty-five years of songwriting and performing. like savoring the ghosts of old sounds while still enjoying modern music.

Guy is a songwriter greatly influenced by his love of theater and storytelling, who derives joy from touring and seeing people from all walks of life. His hope is to bring people together, with the commonality that we are all people regardless of class, race, or personal experience, a lesson he learned from his long time friendship with Pete Seeger. Guy feels that Pete’s greatest strength was his ability to bring total strangers together, and have them all singing harmony by the time they left at the end of the night. “

It had been almost 10 years since his last show at TLR during the snows of 2013. Ron and Hilary had presented him twice before that at their venue in Wales. We got a superbly classy performance from a very classy artist. A beautifully paced show, along with the superb playing and singing the show layered with stories, anecdotes and a lot of humour and rapport with the audience. He has a huge back catalogue to his name, 20 albums over a more than 35 year career (and still counting) starting with 1978’s Dreams about Life to 2021’s, written during the pandemic, Be Ready When I Call You. Quite a few songs featured were from the latest award nominated album including the splendid ‘Palestine, Oh Palestine’.

After the very funny It Was You (a song about Orange 45) Guy asked if it was OK for him to play a few more, needless to say there were no objections . Full marks go to the Live Room Choir who provided lovely accompaniment to Guy’s songs when requested. A really enjoyable night made me wish I’d got around to seeing him a long time ago.

Interviews

Low Down Women