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Cara Dillon + Winter Mountain

Venue: The Rose Theatre
Town: Ormskirk
Date: 23/4/14
Website: http://www.caradillon.co.uk/

Standing centre stage and flanked on one side by guitarist, pianist, husband and middle Lakeman brother Sam together with a slightly out of tune grand piano, and on the other side a crack quartet made of guitarists Jon Doyle and James Fagan, fiddler Niall Murphy and on 'the box' Luke Daniels, Cara Dillon has an fragile and modest presence. It pales into significance considering the authority with which she unconsciously commands the attention of a rapt audience.

She seems quite amused (or should that be bemused) by the fact that, as we are later informed, in China she is a bit of a megastar needing dark glasses, a hoody and a minder to keep her safe from adoring fans. They know her songs inside out as one of her records is required reading/listening when used to teach English in their country, yet despite the adulation she modestly delivers a collection of songs, traditional and contemporary, which at times give her vocals an angelic quality.

With her new album due later in May 'A Thousand Hearts', a title coming from a discussion between Cara and Sam during a car journey in which it became clear how many people had been part of the music, the tour is an opportunity to not so much road test the material, but to tease the audience and heighten the anticipation of its release by including a healthy chunk of the new songs in the set.

Amongst the Disney moments and lullabies where many breaths were palpably held, there were those quiet and intimate occasions where she sang accompanied simply by Sam on piano, and times when the boys in the band were able to let off some steam with some tunes - how they can possibly sit down whilst they played beggars belief. The six piece band briefly become eight as Joe and Marty from support act Winter Mountain returned to the stage to join in with some splendid backing vocals to replicate the mass singing on the record for 'Bright Morning Star'. Quite an apt song title for an artist currently right at the top of her game and whose stock as a live performer owes much to the clarity and purity of her voice and the star quality of the players she chooses to work with.

Earlier on, Cara's regular support duo Winter Mountain proved another reinforcement of the old maxim of always checking out the support band by delivering another short but immaculate set of material from their Charcoal Records debut which appeared towards the end of 2013. Having received much support both in the touring and recording arena from Cara and Sam, they've developed into an increasingly confident act with some quality songs ; their luscious harmonies and knack for finding an agreeable melody in their songwriting are all accompanied by Joe Francis' understated acoustic guitar. Forget the well -worn story of their fortuitous meeting on the road and the obvious musical comparisons and take a glimpse into how they arrange the songs in a band format by checking out their album. Anyone witnessing their support (or recent headline) slots can't fail to mark Joe and Marty down as ones to keep under eagle eyed scrutiny.

Words & Pictures Mike Ainscoe