Acoustic+ 25 March - Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin

This was the next problem that led to the travails of The Off Chance, as mentioned in the post below.
When you pay £5 ($8) for a ticket to see four acts live you really have no right to expect one of them to be as good as Barbara J. Hunt and Dizzi Dulcimer. When as a very new band just starting out, as is the case with The Off Chance and the first album just a mirage on the horizon, you end up playing immediately after the former and just before Exeter-based duo Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin it is going to be tough; very tough indeed and this flyer, which was everywhere in the Cheese & Grain, says a great deal about the kind of pressure they were up against:

In my humble opinion they were truly worthy of the recommendation.
    

The term roots music is very wisely used here for Phillip often plays a resonator guitar, in the case below one with an electric pick-up, the concept of which only dates back to 1927.

  

They were originally designed to be a louder version of acoustic, which became lost in big-band music, but soon found a place of their own for their unique sound. There are various modifications of the thin spun-metal cone that acts as the primary resonator (in the version above that is amplified by the electric pick-up in the same way as with an electro-acoustic) and are sometimes all known generically as 'dobros'; this is now a registered trademark of Gibson Guitars but there are many manufacturers of  such instruments.

They are often found in both bluegrass and Hawaiian guitar music. In the former case they partner fiddle particularly well, which has a great deal to do with the music here.  Another very suitable partner instrument is this...
  

Hannah Martin playing 4-string banjo.
  

Or even 4-string banjo accompanied by a standard acoustic guitar.

Kathryn Tickell - NXNE versus SXSW!

SXSW is the largest "altenative-indie" showcase in the world and it takes place in venues across Austin, TX each March. Although called a festival it is much more an industry convention but strange in that sense. In an industry that is in many sectors on the verge of desperation, it also has the ability to bring UK artists to popular attention here as well, if not more so, than in North American markets. It has probably also done much to increase the profile of US-based folk/roots/country inspired music in the UK, something that has been a very apparent, and in my view welcome, trend in the last three years or so.

What they are wont to forget is that we also have a huge traditional canon of our own, played in a bewildering range of styles and on a vast range of instruments, that cover almost every topic from the positively ancient to the most modern in almost every way imaginable. What is not so easy to do, quite so simply, is to scan a 12" album cover as it is too large.

Ranting Lads - High Level Ranters

I mentioned this 1976 album [on the phone, in a private conversation, yesterday] and not even a half-decent image can seemingly be found on the internet. That is not a problem - or at least not round here - for this a photo of the original 12" album (TOPIC - 12TS297) taken about an hour ago. In keeping with the album there were no clever digital tricks involved, except to employ a lack of them; no flash, no tripod, and a 1/16 second exposure on my F20 using only the diffuse background lighting in my sitting room. It was originally 2048 pixels each way but, to make it more suitable for posting, I have reduced it to a more manageable 800 x 800 pixels but it seems to have lost little, if anything, in the transformation. Using flash for this kind of thing always results in undesirable brightness and burnt-out reflections. Using a tripod is fine but I decided to try without --- it is easier to centre the image this way. The challenge is to stay sill enough for 1/16 second - and this was the best of three.
I can't wait until Saturday when I'm going to see the Kathryn Tickell Band. It's been a long, long time since I have heard Northumbrian pipes (and Hardanger-tuned fiddles) played live and The Cheese & Grain has much to recommend it as a venue for such music.

Kathryn Tickell - live in 2004

The slightly rustic surroundings do nothing to spoil the atmosphere but nevertheless it also has surprisingly good acoustics for such a venue, a bar serving real ale from Frome's own 'Milk Street Brewery', and it is less than a twenty-minute unhurried walk from home.

Reality Check - Part 3: Get What You Want.

There are more Australians currently on tour in the UK and they might just treat you as though you were still at primary school - if, of course, you are one of the lucky ones.

The teenage bolshiness is quite understandable but surely few younger than Simon Nichol, Peter Knight and Dave Swarbrick ( b. April 1941), variously of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span and all almost certainly much older than her parents, would even dream of being credible while wielding a rather non-threatening electric fiddle?

"Just shut up - you have paid to hear us play!"
Taylor Henderson of Operator Please.

Telling the audience how to behave is another matter entirely and getting away with it is quite an achievement; she seems to have another weapon at the ready so it is probably not the best time to ask any awkward questions anyway.

See them live and they're happy to scribble on your latest purchase, just like a child might, but the performance is very good. In fact child-like they certainly are not and the vocals of, and lyrics by, Amandah Wilkinson are fair proof of that.

Get What You Want - 7" vinyl (BRILS285).

The album 'Yes, Yes Vindictive' sees a full UK release (Vinyl, CD and download) on 17th March 2008 and it would be most welcome, since it is so made for summer, if they could include some weather from Queensland with it. They probably can't but if you pre-order the album from them, and according to their blog, London's Puregroove Records might just treat you with a bonus DVD of the band's recent in-store appearance! In any case, if you want the 12" version, it is much cheaper from Puregroove than from amazon.co.uk who, I can promise, will not give you a bonus DVD!