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Larkin Poe + Fabian Holland

Venue: Wigan Parish Church
Town: Wigan
Date: 7/8/13 Website: http://www.larkinpoe.com/

There is a growing trend for churches and other places of worship to be used for secular music events. I have been to several wonderful concerts in churches recently and tonight was no exception. The venue was the beautiful Wigan Parish Church [aka the Parish Church of All Saints ], one of the oldest churches in Lancashire, which dates back to around 1100.

Rather more recently than that, in May 2009, the Vicar suggested to David Cartlidge that it would be a good place to put on a folk concert. David duly obliged and the venture has gone from strength to strength. Since then David and his small team of Ruth [his wife] and Ian McLoughlin have put on a succession of top acts, such as Show of Hands, Iain Matthews, The Albion Christmas Band, Tir Na Nog and Steve Ashley. David told me that he receives no external funding and that the secret of his success is that he always puts on acts that he likes, so regardless of the financial out-turn, he will always enjoy the show anyway. The Church is not only popular with the audiences but it is also well-liked by the performers. For example, Iain Matthews is making a return visit on 18th October for a rare solo gig.

Tonight was a special event as it was the first show that David has promoted here featuring artists from America, namely the wonderful Larkin Poe from Georgia.

Compere for the evening was another well-known performer, Judy Dunlop, who is playing a show in the Church on December 13th. Judy introduced the opening act, Fabian Holland, who is a major new talent whose self-titled debut album is to be released in early October and on the strength of tonight's performance, it should be excellent.

Fabian is a most accomplished singer, songwriter and guitarist and is destined for great things. His songs tell stories of people he has met and possess great maturity. Songs like "Little Boy Jonny", the tragic tale of a young soldier or the "Landlord's Daughter" have an authentic ring to them and his "Like Father Like Son "deals with the realisation that we all turn into our parents one day. As on his forthcoming album, Fabian played two traditional songs, "Banks of the Dee" and "Dr.Price", both of which were fresh and vital. Definitely one to watch.

After a short break, during which the audience had the opportunity to sample the products of a [very] local micro-brewery, Judy introduced Larkin Poe.

Larkin Poe is made up of sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell [and yes, they really are related to the master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe] together with drummer Marlon Patton and Robby Handley on bass. The sisters are superb harmony singers and multi-instrumentalists, having previously been in bluegrass band The Lovell Sisters [who, in their day, could give Alison Krauss a good run for her money ].Because of this, I was anticipating that the evening would feature acoustic /bluegrass type music. Whilst that would have been equally good, what we actually got was a full-on electric band playing funky Southern blues rock, with wailing slide guitar courtesy of Megan. The sisters describe their music as "Swampadelic Americana with Soul" and I wouldn't demur from that description at all.

The show stated with a spine-tinglingly soulful rendition of the African-American Spiritual "Wade in the Water", which, with its biblical references was most appropriate for the venue. A stunning start.

The sisters told us that at the end of this tour they are going to record their first full-length album and that they are road-testing the songs for that album. All I can say is that if it's as good as their live performance, it should be a cracker of an album. Of the new songs, "Slow Moving Giant" had an epic Neil Young and Crazy Horse feel to it, whilst "Banks of Allatoona" [ a lake outside Atlanta] featured great slide-playing by Megan.

The sisters are not afraid to write about unusual subjects and "Fear and Trembling" deals with the relationship between a parent and an autistic child.

"Goldilocks" is a twisted take on the fairy tale by Robert Southey and sounds more like The Allman Brothers than The Brothers Grimm. Keeping to the twisted side of things, Rebecca and Megan hauled out some family skeletons in their song "Jesse" which is about their Great Grandfather who, somewhat scarily, threatened to shoot his seven children if they did not tell the truth! Another interesting little number was "Mad as a Hatter ",the refrain of which is "Off with their heads"!

The encore of Buddy and Julie Miller's "Take Me Back" was sung by Rebecca and Megan as a duo and featured their wonderful harmony singing. It was a fitting end to a most enjoyable evening, in the beautiful surroundings of Wigan Parish Church. Rebecca and Megan clearly loved the venue and told us that they "have never played in front of so much gold before".

To anyone who lives within a reasonable distance of Wigan, I would certainly recommend that you go to a "concert at the Church", you won't regret it.

Peter Cowley
Pics Neil King not taken at gig