Marnhull Acoustic Sessions - Pete Robson & Rodney Branigan

I have just returned from another excellent evening at Marnhull Acoustic Sessions that was arguable made even more special as a result of a minor electrical hitch, of which more later. As I have mentioned before I count myself as truly lucky to live within easy reach of so much good live music of all kinds. For anyone within reasonable travelling distance, if you have been wondering whether to give it a try then I strongly recommend that you do. You get to see and hear artists of national stature, at the very least, in an intimate venue. To whet your appetite Marnhull Acoustic sessions return on 22 February 2015 with Miranda Sykes and Rex Preston headlining with, no doubt, some cracking support.

Support artist this evening was Pete Robson whom I had never seen live before. This saw things get under way with a distinctive acoustic blues slant and a melange of covers and his own compositions. I listen to quite a bit of blues inflected music, although more often of the electric and rock-blues persuasion, so this made an interesting and very welcome change.

Rodney Branigan does things with guitars (or occasionally a mandolin and hand drum) that Health and Safety would advise that you never try at home. He hails from Texas and so, although now resident in Somerset, the rules don't apply in his case. Some of them are not actually dangerous; just both hands to the fret.

During the first half-hour or so of the set there was an intermittent issue with the sound and this resulted in a brief pause to investigate the problem. It was swiftly resolved: the performance would continue front of stage. Sometimes you get more than you bargained for.

We got to hear a couple of OutKast songs played in a folk-roots style unplugged, interspersed with his own compilations, some of which are very much blues influenced and all punctuated with the tricks that he does (only video could really do this justice - the point when he swaps them over without ceasing to play either, in particular).

WTF live - this went from the amazing to the quite astonishing almost by accident.

Behind The Castle Festival 2014 - Part 4

I can't remember when I last wrote six posts in the space of a week.
That it has been dominated by coverage of Behind The Castle Festival, which I was attending this time last week, finds me quite unapologetic; it only goes to show the impression that it made on me. I am not unused to festivals either and, judging from what I saw and heard, Behind The Castle made a far more important and favourable impression on those who clearly were.
It was, for many I suspect, their first taste of the arena-action of a multi-day festival but one that just happened to all take place within the space of twelve hours. The setting was exquisite, of course - this was taken from next to the main stage during Newton Faulkner's set.

The Castle Behind.

The setting is not enough a successful festival for to make. I heard nothing but praise for the toilets - and that always seems to be one of the worries most exercising festival newbies.
So the bar was busy, and was later drunk dry, but that only serves to to show that it was offering drinks that folks wanted at prices that they were willing to pay. The only problem was it became a victim of its own success...

This was taken towards the end of the Boat To Row set on Stage 2.

Later in the afternoon, when the weather threatened a shower that never materialised, I returned to Stage 2.

Cara Dillon

The final artist on the MAS stage was another that I had never seen live before. This is despite the fact that originally from Amarillo, TX he now lives in Frome, Somerset as do I.

It was a great set but the tricks came at the end and it did sound good. Here are two versions of it.

Rodney Branigan plays two guitars at once.