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Nicol And Mills

Venue: Bothy Folk Song Club
Town: Southport
Date: 20/7/14
Website: http://kennicolmusic.com
http://www.beckymills.co.uk/

When Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York in 1486, he brought the Houses of Lancaster and York together and thus brought to an end the Wars Of The Roses.

Now, in 2014, we have the Tour Of The Roses. Representing the Red Rose we have Ken Nicol [from Preston, just up the road from here] and for the White Rose we have Yorkshire's own Becky Mills [from Leeds via Pickering].

I am sure that Ken Nicol needs no introduction to readers of this magazine, but here goes anyway. Ken was, of course, lead guitarist with Steeleye Span from 2002 to 2010. He has also worked extensively the Guv'nor of British Folk Rock, Ashley Hutchings, both in The Albion Band and as a duo. Ashley has been quoted as saying that Ken is "one of the greatest guitarists in the world", and, on the strength of tonight's performance, I would not disagree with Ashley's view [not that I would, anyway].

Becky Mills is a superb singer and songwriter who is also championed by Ashley. She was formerly one quarter of Leeds band Waking The Witch and, in 2012, released a highly acclaimed solo album called "Dandelion", the opening track from which, "Amy Sharpe" was featured on the Fatea Showcase Session Spring 14.

The combined talents of Ken and Becky are formidable indeed and tonight's superb performance was drawn from Ken's solo albums, his duo album with Ashley [Copper, Russet And Gold] and Becky's "Dandelion" album. Also, Becky and Ken have just self-released a duo album "Together At Last"to coincide with the Tour of the Roses.

On a beautifully hot, sunny Southport evening it was an absolute joy to listen to these two exceptionally talented musicians, with Becky's gorgeous voice complemented by Ken's amazing musicianship on guitar, banjo, mandolin and ukulele [the only one that has ever been made by Fylde guitars, especially for Ken].

"Copper, Russet and Gold" was represented by "I Am Prologue", "The Wink Of An Eye" and "Raggle Taggle Lad", whilst from Becky's delicious "Dandelion" we had the poignant "Pretty Young Things", the aforementioned [and superb] "Amy Sharpe"[ aided and abetted by Ken's bluegrassy banjo], "The North Wind Will" [also with banjo], "Princess And The Pea", "Monkey" and "Dandelions And Foxgloves".

The new duo album "Together At Last" was, of course, well-represented, with one of the standouts being Ken and Ashley's gorgeous "Song Of Two Bridges", which readers may know from Blair Dunlop's excellent album "House Of Jacks". Also from the duo album were a pair of cover songs which demonstrated the full range of Becky's voice. The contrast between her renditions of "A Case Of You" [Joni Mitchell] and "One Man Woman"[James Taylor] was amazing. On the former she emulated Joni's stunning vocal [including all the impossibly high notes] whilst on the latter she showed that she can sing earthy blues, seemingly with equal ease.

Two of the songs on "Together At Last", Becky's "Beggar Girl" and Ken's lovely "Gipsy Hill" demonstrate their strength as songwriters and both were beautifully sung by Becky.

Ken's solo spots were just stunning. His guitar playing on two instrumentals ["FY" and "In The Wake Of Forward Motion"] left the audience agog at his virtuosity and his version of James Taylor's "Steamroller Blues" was simply sensational [check it out on-line and you will see what I mean]. On a lighter note, there were shades of George Formby on Ken's ukulele -driven "The Complete Banker" [think rhyming slang here] and some fine ragtime on "All He Wants To Do Is Go Fishing".

In conclusion, this was a wonderful performance by two incredibly talented musicians. Do try to get to see them live on the Tour of the Roses. You won't regret it, believe me.

Peter Cowley