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From A Distance-Southport's Americana Festival

Venue: The Atkinson Arts Centre
Town: Southport
Date: 20-22/9/13

The centrepiece of "From A Distance", Southport's Americana Festival, was "Trouble in the Fields", a musical tribute to Nanci Griffith featuring her close friends and producers The Kennedys, together with special guests The Carrivick Sisters and Edwina Hayes. If anyone is qualified to perform a tribute concert to Nanci Griffith it is Pete and Maura Kennedy.

Pete was already Nanci's lead guitarist when he met Maura in Austin in 1992. They instantly connected and when, in 1993, Nanci needed a harmony singer to replace Iris Dement, Maura was the obvious choice. Since then, Pete and Maura have worked with Nanci, both on the road and as producers.

Indeed, in 2012, Pete and Maura produced the album "Trouble In The Fields-An Artists' Tribute To Nanci Griffith" which features fourteen of Nanci's songs performed by artists including Jerry Jeff Walker, Tom Russell and John Stewart, as well as The Kennedys themselves and tonight's guest, Edwina Hayes. The idea behind the album was to raise money for the Mines Advisory Group, a charity which Nanci supports enthusiastically.I know this because I was lucky enough to attend the Concert For A Landmine-Free World in London in 2002, which featured a stellar line-up of Nanci, Emmylou Harris,Steve Earle,John Prine and Elvis Costello.As you can imagine, it was an unforgettable show.

Pete and Maura flew in from the States specially for this concert [and one other in Camden], shrugging off the jet-lag with "It's only a six hour flight". Pete told me that the idea behind this show [which they hope to tour more extensively next year] was to create an ideal set-list of Nanci's songs and songs associated with Nanci. It includes songs that Nanci no longer performs and songs that she has rarely sung live.

Support act for this evening was......The Kennedys, who played a short set of their "own" songs, including the highly topical [unfortunately] "You Can't Kill Hope With A Gun", "Didn't It Rain" and the lovely "I'll Come Over". The train song "Midnight Ghost" featured some lightning-quick picking from Pete. The Kennedys also played a couple of great covers- John Stewart's "Jasmine"with beautiful vocals from Maura, and the late Dave Carter's superb song "When I Go".

For the second half of the show, the Tribute to Nanci, the Kennedys enlisted the support of three highly talented British artists, Edwina Hayes [vocals and guitar] and Laura and Charlotte [The Carrivick Sisters] on fiddle/dobro and mandolin respectively.

This excellent line-up took us through some of Nanci's best-loved and most enduring songs. For me, it was a wonderful experience to hear again great songs such as "Trouble in the Fields", "Late Night Grande Hotel "and "Lone Star State Of Mind", which featured a stunning dobro solo by Laura. We heard the rarely performed "There's A Light Beyond These Woods[Mary Margaret], which Nanci wrote about her best friend and also "Love Wore A Halo", which was described as a "Cajun song about a New Jersey house of ill-repute". Again Laura excelled herself with an authentically-sounding Cajun fiddle solo.

"Gulf Coast Highway" is one of my favourite Nanci-songs and the band did it full justice, with Pete duetting with Maura, just as Nanci did with Mac McAnally on the "Little Love Affairs" record.

Not all the songs in this show were written by Nanci. We heard three of the songs which Nanci covered so successfully- Julie Gold's "Gift from God" song "From A Distance"; the late Kate Wolf's uplifting "Across The Great Divide", on which Edwina took lead vocals and John Prine's superlative "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness".

Edwina also sang the song that she performs on the "Trouble In The Fields" album, the poignant "It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go",which is still as meaningful today as when Nanci released it in 1989 [is it really that long ago?].

The show ended with a rousing version of "Ford Econoline", which received rapturous applause.

This was a marvellous show featuring some truly great songs by the "Queen of Folkabilly", Nanci Griffith, and played and sung with great respect by a superb group of musicians who clearly adore her music. They should be back to tour with the show in June next year. Miss it at your peril!

Peter Cowley

Photocredits
The Kennedys:Jeremy LeBled
Edwina Hayes:Neil King