With just a tiny bit more ambition Charles Dickens might have written A Tale of Two Countries. Had he joined the queue snaking around the side of The Fleece this evening he might even have managed A Tale of Two Countrys. Y’see, on this beautifully clear October night, there were two bands, both female fronted,Continue reading “Tenille Townes – The Fleece – October 2022”
Author Archives: tallfolk
Slocan Ramblers – Folk House – September 2022
If the very best authors can conjure a sense of place with a beautifully descriptive turn of phrase so the very best bands can do it too. The Slocan Ramblers are a Canadian Bluegrass band and with the merest pick of a banjo string or pluck of a double bass they lift you up, whizzContinue reading “Slocan Ramblers – Folk House – September 2022”
Road Not Taken – Downend Folk & Roots – September 2022
Tonight could have been a sad one. Leaving aside the queue addled, BBC stoked country wide grief there are other reasons for sadness. Bellowhead stalwart and Folk Club friend, Paul Sartin, tragically died on Wednesday leaving a delightfully clever, oddly amusing, oboe shaped hole in the world. This is also the last (for the timeContinue reading “Road Not Taken – Downend Folk & Roots – September 2022”
Valerie June – Thekla – August 2022
This one was for the dreamers and the thinkers, the singers and the shouters, the lovers and the abandoned. Two astonishing singers making something beautiful on a warm and sticky Bristolian evening. Susan O’Neill is from Ireland and is all things husky and heartfelt. With just a guitar, one of those nifty loop machines andContinue reading “Valerie June – Thekla – August 2022”
St Paul and The Broken Bones – O2 Bristol – July
We need to talk about voices. Specifically, the one that belongs to Paul “St Paul” Janeway of Birmingham, Alabama’s eight-piece soul monster The Broken Bones. It’s an amazing thing. Part James Brown, part Al Green, part lunatic hellfire preacher. It’s a controlled falsetto shriek and a silky, woozy croon. It’s the sort of voice thatContinue reading “St Paul and The Broken Bones – O2 Bristol – July”
Sea Power – Trinity – July 2022
What makes a Cult Band? What makes you fall so deeply in love – in L.O.V.E – with a band while the rest of the world smile weakly and say “Oh yeah, I think I’ve heard of them”? What makes a skinny armed, floppy fringed boy jump and point and point and jump and jumpContinue reading “Sea Power – Trinity – July 2022”
Belle and Sebastian – Lloyd’s Amphitheatre – July 2022
This is proper National Treasure stuff. We’re in Helen Mirren territory here, Brian Blessed territory, Bernard Cribbins territory. Belle and Sebastian at Bristol Harbourside should be awarded some kind of a blue plaque, they should be granted English (or Scottish) Heritage status. Towards the end of a set of massive favourites Stuart Murdoch tipped hisContinue reading “Belle and Sebastian – Lloyd’s Amphitheatre – July 2022”
India Electric Co. – Downend Folk Club – June 2022
It was an evening for bare feet, bare arms and baring souls. It was an evening for smiling, cheering and enthusiastic seat dancing. It was, for the third time (and very, very much delayed) an evening of India Electric Co. at Downend Folk Club. And those are the best kind of evenings. If there’s oneContinue reading “India Electric Co. – Downend Folk Club – June 2022”
First Aid Kit – Lloyd’s Amphitheatre – June 2022
Early on in Katy J Pearson’s support slot she surveyed the sun dappled audience and said “Well Bristol this is nuts, there’s a lot of people here”. And indeed, there were. The Swedish country rock sisters, First Aid Kit, had, seemingly, brought out every Bristolian that wasn’t standing in a field in Somerset. There wereContinue reading “First Aid Kit – Lloyd’s Amphitheatre – June 2022”
Cup O’ Joe – Downend Folk Club – May 2022
If there’s something lovely about the early summer sun then there’s something incredibly lovely about Bluegrass played in a church as that early summer sun washes across four amazing musicians. Without wishing to get all biblical, it seems like a blessing. Cup O’Joe aren’t your porch dwelling, grizzled old Bluegrass players huddled around a single microphone,Continue reading “Cup O’ Joe – Downend Folk Club – May 2022”
TallFolk 