We were treated to a second fantastic gig Upstairs at the Crown and Sceptre on Friday. Ohio-born Tim Easton, who now lives in Nashville, is a superb songwriter and guitarist, plus he can actually play his harmonicas tunefully! There weren't quite as many of us crammed in to see him as there had been for Kelley McRae a couple of weeks ago which was a shame on two counts. Firstly because Easton absolutely deserves full house audiences wherever he plays and secondly because having a little room to move seemed to encourage people to keep walking in and out to get more drinks, banging the door each time. Grrr! Fortunately our performer was a consumate professional and wasn't phased at all. He was even kind enough to say on his Facebook page that this gig had been his best performance of the tour so far!
Dave and I both loved Easton's style of Americana blues music so much that we splashed out his new album, American Fork, at the gig and today Dave has also bought a live album, Live At Water Canyon. The band sound on American Fork is great and adds new dimensions to the songs, but I think I like the pared-back one-man acoustic sound of the live album even more because this is pretty much exactly as we heard him.
Continuing our run of busy weekends, we are cramming two festivals into this one! Yesterday we were fortunate to have been invited to join our friends Steve and Frances at a fabulous little festival local to their village of Crowhurst, near Hastings in East Sussex. Broadstock Music Festival has been running for several years now, with a brief hiatus last year, and takes place in the beautiful grounds of Broadwood. Limited to just 300 adult tickets, it's a perfect size of music festival for me and its proceeds are reinvested back into the village. There is a camping field, children's activities including a very good face painter, one music stage and two food options - pizza or cupcakes!
Before I mention the music, I will say thank you to
The Pizza Laundry
everyone who baked cakes and womanned the refreshments stall. I should have taken a photo of the selection early in the day because it was certainly an enticing display! I thought the pizzas were tasty too and was glad to see the van doing a steady trade. If you spot this Pizza Laundry van anywhere, do give them a try! They really do have a wood fired oven in there and I was impressed with our very thin crust red onion, pine nut, mozzarella and basil pizza. I did mean to find out why the Pizza Laundry name, but forgot to go back and read the sign. If anyone knows, please Comment!
The main event for me was, of course, the music and,
Sharpe And Larsson at Broadstock
although we only stayed until about half past seven rather than until the death at ten, we got talented musicians and a well-thought through variety. I was pleased to finally meet and hear local guitarist Hratch. He and Dave played together in pre-me days and we both loved his set. Entirely new to us were bluesy trio Sharpe And Larsson and this was perfect laid-back music for a sunny festival afternoon! If you liked their sound as much as I did, further dates are on Helen Sharpe's Facebook page and they are playing at a jazz breakfast in Crowhurst sometime in October. I'm not sure if we will be back this way again then or not.
Brief mentions also to two other sets that particularly caught my ear: we only got to hear Son Of Kirk as a duo instead of their usual four piece, but I loved their sound and lyrics and we tracked them down online when we got home to experience the full sound with cello. Love cello! My other favourites were Tunbridge Wells-based Island Cassettes with their fun indie/worldbeat music which reminded me a little of Graceland-era Paul Simon.
Huge thanks to everyone who made this festival happen. I'll finish with a few YouTubes so you can hear the great music too!
Dave played guitar regularly at the Six Bells Folk and Blues Club and at White Horse Folk amongst others up until a couple of years ago and it was due to these Sussex folk club gatherings that we initially found each other. At the beginning, I was nervously singing a cappella and Dave is an amazing guitarist so a mutual friend suggested we make sweet music together! I gave up on the singing fairly soon afterwards – too scary! – but some eleven-and-a-half years later, our relationship is still going strong. Awww!
I mention this because were invited to an unusual party yesterday which was also attended by several friends who have been around since ‘the beginning’. The party was unusual for two reasons: firstly because the hosts, our friends Simon and Lesley, rarely give big parties; and secondly because the venue was a dramatic Moroccan-style marquee erected in their paddock. (The ponies were relegated to a corner of their normal space, but didn't seem to mind too much!) For me, the event seemed particularly apt as the closing of a circle, this part of our lives being marked by similar music and company to its inception. We weren’t sure who would be there but as it turned out, we were given the chance to say our goodbyes to people we might not otherwise have seen before we departed. Dave hardly left the stage for the first couple of hours. He was in demand to accompany others and I was so proud seeing and hearing him play.
