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Troubadours of Divine Bliss + Josh Harty

Venue: Grateful Freds
Town: Formby
Date: 2/10/13
Website: http://www.troubadoursofdivinebliss.com

Grateful Fred's in Formby has a well-deserved reputation for serving up some of the tastiest Americana in the North West of England, and, some might say, anywhere else in the country, for that matter.

Tonight was no exception, as the menu consisted of, for starters, the Grateful Fred House Band, for entree, Josh Harty and for the main course, The Troubadours of Divine Bliss. And for dessert- a jam session [sorry !] featuring all of the above.

As ever, the evening got underway with the Grateful Fred's House Band, now back up to full strength with the return of Karine Woodward [vocals and violin] and the enigmatic Fretful Ged [Gerard M Sugrue] on lead guitar. The GFHB took us through some of their "greatest hits", including a powerful version of "Ride On" featuring Les on vocals, Ged's instrumental "The Pigeon on the Pigeon on the Gate" featuring his stunning jazz/folk fusion fretwork and a harmony-filled "Out of the Woods" featuring Karine on lead vocals. Other delights included a breezy version of "The Things We Said Today" and Ged playing Cigar Box guitar on "Love Will Keep Us Alive" [to demonstrate the raffle prize !].

Next up was the superb singer-songwriter Josh Harty. Josh first played at Fred's two years ago [how time flies]and tonight he was making his eagerly-awaited return. Josh was brought up on the Great Plains of North Dakota, near Fargo. His father was a Police Chief and Preacher [both at the same time] and was Josh's musical mentor. By the age of 12,Josh had made two records with his Dad, which together sold 10,000 copies! Josh continued the musical tradition and has made three solo albums- "Three Day Notice"[2006];"Long List of Lies"[2008] and "Nowhere"[2011.

Josh's music combines the essential elements of Americana- folk, country and blues -with skilful songwriting.

Josh's "Nowhere" album is a frequent visitor to my CD player and it was great to hear some of the songs from it played live, particularly the title track and the chilling, confessional "Whiskey and Morphine" [Josh joked that this is one song of his that his father would not approve of]. Josh also played his dazzling version of Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"[ according to some, the best British road song ever written].All too soon Josh's short set was over, leaving the audience wanting more.

Headliners for the evening were the delightful "Troubadours of Divine Bliss" who are [the aptly named] Aim Me Smiley [lead vocals and guitar],Renee Ananda [harmonies and accordion] and Steph Dlugon [violin].

It's worth recounting the story of the Troubadours. Aim Me and Renee first met in a Church, where Renee's Dad was the Pastor and Aim Me's Dad was a Deacon. The Deacon fired the Pastor but their daughters remained friends and they took up busking in the streets of New Orleans, wrapped in battery operated Christmas lights. They met up with Steph [a wonderfully skilled violinist] about fourteen years ago.

Like the Jambalaya for which New Orleans is famous, the Troubadours' music is a rich mixture of different ingredients- vaudeville, gospel, bluegrass, folk and soul. It has been described as "Electric Folk Americana".

Aim Me and Renee are troubadours in the true sense of the word, as they spend their time travelling around the US, Canada and Europe whilst "living out of a car". They still busk and they dream of owning "a cherry farm in Montana" as one of their songs tells us.

Their music combines dazzling violin from Steph with lively accordion and guitar but what stands out are their sublime harmonies which are "as soft as Spanish Moss and as smooth as Kentucky Bourbon".

The Troubadours' latest album is "Awakening to Love" and their set naturally featured several life-affirming songs from this album including "Holy Now/Amazing Grace", "Life is Sweet"and the title track.

As well as songs of enlightenment, the Troubadours also have more strident songs of social comment. Take for example, "Shaking The Devil's Hand" which deals with corporate greed[ "Let's kick the money changers out of the Temple"].This featured some amazing pizzicato violin playing from Steph.

As an encore, The Troubadours played a delightful version of "Over The Rainbow" from "The Wizard of Oz" but this was not the end.

For a finale, The Troubadours were joined by the Grateful Fred Band and Josh Harty for a rousing version of "I'll Fly Away/Will The Circle Be Unbroken" featuring Colin from the Fred's on lead vocals.

And so ended a night of superb music. Even in the glorious annals of Grateful Fred's, tonight will be remembered as something special.

Peter Cowley