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Lucy Ward

Venue: Bothy Folk Song Club
Town: Southport
Date: 7th April 2013
Website: http://www.lucywardsings.com

Lucy Ward's fourteen date "The Flown Tour" rolled into Southport tonight and, as is the norm on this tour, she played to a full house. It is not at all surprising that Lucy is such a popular live performer because she is just that- a performer. Lucy does not just sing her songs, she puts an enormous amount of energy in bringing them to life, be they self-penned, traditional or covers. Words like "effervescent", "ebullient" and "charming" spring to mind when you watch her play live.

Lucy began her first set with a lovely version of "The Trees They Do Grow High" from the New Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs [ Lucy has recently taken part in recording an album of songs to accompany the New Book, which was published last year].

However, Lucy is not just an extremely proficient interpreter of traditional material, she is also fine songwriter in her own right, as is clearly demonstrated in "Alice In The Bacon Box" from her debut album "Adelphi Has Flown".This song is based on the true story of Alice Grace from Little Eaton who was forced to leave her home and who lived for many years on the village green in a bacon box donated by the local butcher. It is a touching story of stoicism in the face of adversity.

In total contrast, Lucy followed this with a version Pulp's hit "Common People", as first performed [by Lucy] at the Sidmouth Festival Cabaret. Then it was back to traditional material for Lucy's superbly saucy version of "Maids When You're Young"which was deservedly nominated as best traditional track in the BBC Radio2 Folk Awards in 2012. Lucy's rousing [!] rendition went down a storm with the enthusiastic Bothy crowd, who joined in with all the Faloorums and Dingdorums.

Lucy has recently been recording her second album and we were given a sneak preview of some of her new songs, the standard of which was incredibly high.

The first of the new songs was about sailors known as "Shell Backs", men who were conscripted and lost touch with home whilst away at sea for lengthy periods. On first hearing, this song showed Lucy to be a songwriter of great maturity.

Lucy's first set ended with an unaccompanied version of the "The Canny Lads" which again exemplified the tremendous energy and commitment that Lucy puts into her performances, with the addition of her own verses.

The second set began with a brace of new songs, the first of which, " The Last Pirouette", is about the end of the world and which references "Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds". The second was "Life Backwards" which is based on the life story of Stuart Shorter, who overcame huge personal disadvantages to become an advocate for the homeless but who sadly died aged 33, after being hit by a train.

Again, the atmosphere changed dramatically for the next song, Lucy's nudge-nudge, wink-wink 12-bar blues version of the traditional song "The Blacksmith".

It was back to "Adelphi" for the lovely "Julia", a tender song about leaving someone behind and the equally affecting "Bricks And Love" about a man who hears "The Love Lilt" sung in a folk club and is moved to tears, not by the quality of the singing [to which no one else is listening because they have all gone to the bar] but because it brings back painful memories of his late wife. It's a sad but lovely song.

If the predominant emotions of the previous song were grief and loss, the mood of the next one was very different:

"For The Dead Men", written by Lucy, is undoubtedly one of the best and angriest protest songs written in recent years [ask Billy Bragg]. The song is dedicated to those who, like the Jarrow Marchers, stood up to fight oppression and deprivation and those who "fell between the cracks in our culture that were torn apart by greed". It is a song which is chillingly topical.

Again, the light and shade in Lucy's set was skilfully demonstrated in her last two songs. To end the second set, we had the delightfully silly "Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian" by John Prine, complete with ukulele accompaniment and, as an encore, Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds", on which Lucy got the audience to sing the keyboard parts!

It was a wonderfully varied and energetic performance by Lucy, who put her heart and soul into her performance. Luckily her Dad was on hand to drive her home!

Peter Cowley
Pics Neil King - not taken at gig