Thirteen on the Stage
Never mind superstitions, thirteen actually turned out to be a lucky number this week.
Thirteen acts comprising seventeen performers made for a great evening’s entertainment at The Feathers.
One of those performers was a “first timer” – in the form of local lad Brian. His opening song was Keys to the Highway, a blues standard first recorded by pianist Charlie Segar in 1940, later popularised by B.B. King, Clapton and The Stones. The sound of Brian’s voice and his Fender made us all sit up and listen. By the time he moved on to a version of Finbar Furey’s traditional Irish folk song The Night Ferry is Bringing Me Home Again, he’d commanded our full and undivided attention. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of Brian in the future.
Songbird Jez introduced herself as the “Scouser with the Loot”. She had neither a striped top nor mask and swag bag, so I guess she was referring to her brand new lute. And beautiful it was too. It sounded sweet and went really well with her lovely soft singing voice.
Peter Leslie also turned up with a brand new toy this week. His Escape Traveller Guitar was a dinky little axe with a big sound. Although solid bodied, the acoustic bridge and under saddle piezo produced a near-as-damn-it acoustic guitar sound. He used it to deliver a touch of reggae with No Woman No Crime followed by a bit of J.T. and then a self penned song My Boat is Drifting.
Peter (John Denver) Stephens was back again and sang about it, giving us Good to be Back Home Again before boarding The Midnight Special.
Joe came over all Orbison and Fury with Too Soon To Know and I’ll Never Find Another You. Chris told us about The Girl From The North Country Bob Dylan style and Lynda described those Wild Montana Skies.
Tom accompanied Lynda of course and then stayed on stage, joining John Bass to accompany Harry for a touch of blues with Going Down Slow and Memphis Tennessee.
They say a true gentleman is someone who can play the bagpipes, but doesn’t. Well I’m glad to say Tim is obviously not a true gentleman because he can and he did! We’ve heard him play the border pipes before, of course, and it always goes down well. This time he cajoled John Bass back into the stage to accompany him. Strange bedfellows perhaps, pipes and the fretless bass, but wow, what a great sound! A few bars into the tune, and every table in the room became part of the percussion section and Peter Stephens even magicked up a pair of spoons to complete the ensemble.
Ros sang a Mucky Kid tribute to Cilla, whose funeral had taken place that afternoon, and John sang Sweets for my Sweet and Sweet Georgia Brown.
Enid and Neil’s version of McCartney’s Yesterday in Welsh was beautiful, as was their rendition of Dylan’s Is Your Love in Vain.
Wendy and Richard’s spot saw Richard throwing a jumper around his neck to give us Walk Tall Val Doonican style, and Wendy singing another lovely Edwina Hayes song Tell Me So.
And it was Wendy who took the finale spot. She too made a foray into the Welsh language with the traditional Welsh hymn, Calon Lân. It was particularly nice for me to have that song echoing around my head after the room fell silent because it is one my dear late Mum used to sing on a Saturday night at The Drovers. The pub was my family home and as a child I used to fall asleep to the sound of Calon Lân, in my bedroom above the Smoke Room.
Happy Days…
