Co-Operative Cambridge Folk Festival
Saturday
It's been a while since we had old timey music at Cambridge, I'm reluctantly giving up the Ella Edmundson showcase to be here, but sure in the knowledge that at least one of the Fatea team is up at the Club Tent taking in the gig from one of Folk's rising stars.
Hot Club Of Cowtown were the first American band ever to tour Azerbaijan and were arguably the last old timey band to play Cambridge, it's a very welcome return for the band.
In theory the band are a three piece, but they always take a drummer on tour with them to augment the sound of guitar, fiddle and standup bass. They concentrate themselves into a tight group in the middle of the stage, almost as if trying to imitate a smaller club type stage.
I thought for a minute they were going to gather around the one mic almost bluegrass style, but they pretty much stayed in a line throughout.
They've got a good number of fans in the audience, even a t-shirt or two and they seem really up for it. Elana James, fiddle and lead vocals, in her shocking pink dress, provided a visual to match her top notch vocal and the set an element of performance.
The band seems to have thought through the presentation, white suits can be a mistake, but Whit Smith carried it off, finally when it comes to the bass, there is nothing that tops the stand up bass. Its such a visual instrument and more versatile than it's guitar imitating compatriot and seems to be making a comeback.
Okay, so they look the part, but can they play the part? The answer, overwhelmingly, is yes. They move effortlessly through a set that takes in western swing, jazz, a bit of folk, a bit of blues and many combinations of the four genres to deliver a routine that entertained throughout. I hope it's not too long before we get to hear more western swing from a Cambridge Stage.
Beth Nielsen Chapman has often impressed me as a songwriter over the years, though I did find "Prism", her recent multi-faith double album a little bit awkward in places, I think she is at her best when she's writing about people and events close to her heart. She's had a lot of bad luck in her lifetime and used that to inspire great songs of thought and fortitude, she is an artist that I'm really looking forward to. As I make the transfer from Stage Two to One I notice that the sky has really darkened, it looks like the forecast, but overdue rain isn't far away.
I may be a bit of a heretic here, swimming against the tide, there were a lot of people that, judging by the applause are going to disagree with what I'm about to say, but I found Beth's set depressing and thinking about it, it wasn't because of the songs it was more the between song banter.
I know the songs were written as a cathartic process, to show hope and they do. On the radio and on the albums they standalone on their merit and you take from them what suits you. Introduced with the weight of their conception they become heavier, it's now Beth's song, rather than ours.
Yes singer/songwriters should always write for themselves first and us afterwards, if we like their songs, that's a bonus for them. Don't get me wrong, I like a bit of banter between songs, but for me, Beth was sucking the life out of the gig. I'm off to catch the rest of Diane Jones.
Diane Jones became an instant hit when she last played the festival. Stage Two is packed so it looks like it was a long lasting impression. Well that and the run of successful albums and touring.
One of the first songs I get to hear is about a woman killing her errant partner. In many respects it's a lot darker than the Beth Nielsen Chapman songs I've just left, but it's about the presentation.
Diane Jones jokes that as a songwriter you can do a lot worse thing in a song than you ever would in real life and not get arrested for it. The song came out of a red wine session with some girlfriends where they also happened to have their guitars. All in all it seems like it was quite a productive session.
Jones was adopted as a baby, but felt the need to find her birth family and ended up successfully bonding with them once she'd found them. Her journey lead her back to Tennessee and in many ways, that's where her musical journey really began.
Introduced to Appalachian music, she discovered a sound that supported the words going around in her head. She lifted what she needed to give her a sound that sits between Americana and country and carries with it her signature.
During her set, the clouds open and she suddenly finds herself with a natural rhythm section to her otherwise unaccompanied set.
To be honest I after the initial sound of the rain it didn't detract from the set one iota, I could have been stood in it and not distracted from the set, Diane Jones is quite some performer and I'm guessing she made herself a few new fans.