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The Toy Hearts + Jo Bywater

Venue: The Atkinson
Town: Southport
Date: 8/1/14
Website: http://www.thetoyhearts.com/
http://www.jobywater.com/

The previous time that The Toy Hearts and Jo Bywater shared the bill at Grateful Fred's was on a warm summer's evening in 2011, at Fred's then home at the Freshfield pub in Formby. By total contrast, tonight was a wet and windy night in January but this did not stop a record-breaking [for Grateful Fred's] crowd from attending the show in Fred's plush new home at the superb Atkinson Cultural Centre in Southport.

Despite the weather, there was a real feel-good factor about tonight. The Toy Hearts were looking forward to releasing, at the beginning of February, a new EP which they recorded in the States and Jo Bywater was delighted to have been nominated for a Fatea Award for her splendid EP "Chasing Tales". Jo was even more delighted when she came off stage to learn that she had won the award!

As is Fred's tradition, the evening got underway with a set from the Grateful Fred's House Band who performed, with gusto, their customary eclectic blend of country and pop songs, including fine versions of "The Things We Said Today" by The Beatles, "Love Will Keep Us Alive" [The Eagles], "Before The Next Teardrop Falls"[Freddy Fender] and "I Saw The Light" [Hank Williams].Whilst the GFHB describe themselves as "chaotic", this is far from the case as their combination of harmony vocals [ courtesy of Katrine, Colin and Les] and Fretful Ged's fluid lead guitar [acoustic on this occasion] makes for a very pleasing sound.

Jo Bywater should need little introduction to Fatea readers. Her latest EP "Chasing Tales" has won many plaudits including the aforementioned Fatea Award. Jo is an extraordinary guitarist with a very individual technique, which has many admirers, including fellow musicians. Tonight Jo performed all four songs from "Chasing Tales" as well as a couple ["Disclaimer" and "Wave" -a personal favourite of mine] from her earlier album "Cycle Grace Pulse Break". Jo plays and sings with great intensity and the large audience was clearly impressed with her passionate and skilful performance.

What can I say about The Toy Hearts other than that they are simply one of the best live bands you could wish to see? They have recently returned from a six month sojourn in Austin, Texas where they have been wowing audiences in bars and dancehalls with their infectious brand of bluegrass and western swing. I would lay odds that a few jaws will have dropped in Austin when the locals found that they were from the West Midlands, rather than West Texas ! A clear case of coals to Newcastle.

The first half of the Hearts' set consisted of acoustic bluegrass favourites, including "Pass The Jack", "Tequila And High Heels" and "The Captain"[ which is about being in a British band that plays bluegrass music]. Other treats included fiddle tune "Beaumont Rag" and the gypsy jazz-inspired "Montpellier Street" on which Sophia demonstrated her best Django Reinhardt acoustic guitar style.

For the second part of the show Stewart ["Daddy Cool"] swopped his banjo and dobro for a triple-necked steel guitar and Sophia exchanged her acoustic guitar for an electric and we were ready for some exhilarating western swing. On the menu was plenty of Bob Wills[ "I Hear You Talking", "Baby, That Sure Would Go Good" and "Riding On Down" ] as well as a little Moon Mullican and even some Kay Starr ["Flying Too High"]. We also got the Hearts' own homages to western swing "Bring On The Swing" and "Stutter Blues".

This band really do swing - with Stewart and Sophia exchanging red hot licks on steel and guitar as if by telepathy, whilst Hannah [mandolin ] and Simon Smith [double bass] lay down the rhythm to create that authentic sound of vintage western swing. The icing on the cake is Hannah's voice which is at turns sweet and bluesy as clearly heard on her superb rendition of Bessie Smith's "Me And My Gin" which closed the show. An excellent way to end a great night of music at Grateful Fred's.

Peter Cowley
Pictures Neil King (not taken at gig)