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Roving Crows

Venue: The Court House
Town: Otley
Date: 3/10/14
Website: http://www.rovingcrows.com

When a folk fusion band is named Fatea's Band of the Year 2014 they must be mixing it up right. And so it was we ventured to the charming Otley Courthouse in Yorkshire to see the Roving Crows in action.

This five-piece band hail from Gloucestershire - Paul O'Neill is their frontman, lead vocalist and guitarist, Caitlin Barrett is on fiddle, Greg Wilson-Copp is on trumpet, Tim Tolhurst is on drums and Loz Shaw is on bass.

O'Neill is the band's songwriter and during the evening shared the writing process with the audience, describing much of his work as "middle of the night songs".

The first set started fairly low key with "Nancy Valentine" from their recent CD Deliberate Distractions. The charming interplay between trumpet and fiddle was pre-eminent from the off. Difficult to achieve, but the Crow musicians displayed a consummate touch.

The plaintive "Time" from their Bacchanalia album followed, building the atmosphere nicely to an appreciative audience. Trumpet and fiddle were to the fore in "One Day" and the set sparked into life with their first tune of the night, the toe-tapping "White Petticoat" from the Bachannalia album.

The ska-influenced "Love Is The Finest Thing" kept the set moving along smartly. A couple of new-ish songs completed the first set - the sensitive "Passing On The Love" and "If I Had To Choose".

The Crows are a tricky band to pigeon-hole, they mix up their styles with sensitive ballads alongside boisterous tunes. All five members chip in with vocals producing a very full sound and fine harmonies - highlighted in a couple of acapella endings.

The second set saw the band move up a gear with more dazzling tunes that had the audience up dancing.

And once they were on their feet they stayed on their feet as the band reeled off up tempo songs such as "Dirty Habits" and "How Can I Ever Keep You Satisfied" with Caitlin shining brightly on the fiddle.

The Crows were building up a head of steam now and the audience were lapping it up. "All I Ever Have Is Miss You" and the lively "Won't You Come Out Tonight Mary" wrapped up a sparkling set

An encore was demanded and duly delivered with "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" sending everyone home very happy.

John Knighton