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Ewan McLennan + Luke Jackson

Venue: The Railway
Town: Winchester
Date: 1st May
Website: http://www.ewanmclennan.co.uk/
http://www.lukepauljackson.co.uk/

It had been a while since I'd last been to a gig at The Railway, Winchester, too long in fact, but the thought of a double bill of rising star Luke Jackson and Fatea and Radio Two folk award winning artist, Ewan McLennan was way too tempting to resist, especially as Ewan has only just made available his new album "The Last Bird To Sing". Not surprisingly I found myself on the relatively early train from Poole to ensure I didn't miss a note of this.

I'd last seen Luke Jackson at the very same venue back in November when he'd supported another rising star of the folk scene, Lucy Ward. Despite not having yet turned eighteen, Luke has rightly claimed so prestigious support slots, including dates with Steve Knightley and Martyn Joseph, amongst others. Any sensible artist given these sort of opportunities will move forward, having taken some advice from the former on building sets and been in the studio of the latter recording his debut album.

Opening tonight Luke Jackson shows that he continues to grow in stature as a performer, delivering a top flight version of the folk standard, "Wayfaring Stranger", which not only sounds stunning, but also makes me think that he could deliver an incredible version of another folk standard "St. James Infirmary".

Good though his traditional interpretations are, they pale when compared to his own compositions. It seems strange hearing an artist, not quite eighteen, talking about songs that are the oldest in his repertoire, but as he has almost five solid years of stage performance under his belt, it puts the whole thing in focus. He is a great songwriter as his coming of age anthem, "The Big Hill" shows, it's a great start to then night.

Ewan McLennan is making his Winchester debut, he's not even sure he's been in the town before and wasn't sure if someone was winding him up when they said that Winchester used to be the capital on England.(It was.)

Across two sets, Ewan delivered a range of self penned and traditional songs, tunes and unaccompanied numbers, that reminded me of the first time I'd seen him perform. He's a man that understands the folk tradition, be it, Scots, Irish, American or, even, French. He discussed the merits of the original tune for "Auld Lang Syne" was it Scots, French, Geordie or even Yorkshire as suggested by a member of the audience? Irrelevant really when it's as stunning as this interpretation.

On stage McLennan comes across as a modest man, one who engages the audience as equals in the between song banter, but all that stops as he puts in his first note on the guitar or vocal and he loses himself in a song. The sound at The Railway, is pretty much top draw and it seems particularly suited to his double miked guitar, kudos to the soundman, who, like the performers, has had an excellent night.

Over his two sets, Ewan features a number of songs from both his Fellside albums and beyond. On what was a Mayday gig, it seemed appropriate that he should perform a cover of the Utah Phillip's classic, "CHECK NAME" that proves a more than worthy attack on the greed of the banking system, as well as an altogether more positive self-penned song about the rescue of the Chilean miners. A song which he claimed had too happy an ending to be a genuine folk song.

I'm running tight for my train, but there's no way I'm going to leave before the final song, a lullaby as it happens and which turns out to be a great finale to a great night of music. (And there's still another train or two I can catch).

Neil King