Brilliant. brilliant and brilliant. Kelly Joe is the man. Virtuoso, fingerstyle guitar playing, that famous, rich, gravelly voice and superb songwriting which sits widely between folk and jazz. It was the kind of live performance that makes want to immediately go home & play all his songs, only when I get there I find that my hands are most definitely not his. ..
This is the fourth time I have been to see Mr. Phelps play live. First in a quartet at the Jazz Cafe, second in a trio at The Union Chapel, as a solo artist back at the Jazz Cafe and tonight's gig at Trinity Arts Centre, Tunbridge Wells. This time he brought his banjo along for a couple of numbers including Handful of Arrows. As one of my top five guitarists in the world, ever, I'm heartily looking forward to the next show.
You'd be a fool to miss out if he's playing in your area, find tour dates & more at Kelly Joe's website.
Kelly Joe Phelps @ Trinity Arts Centre
Richard Thompson - Grizzly Guitarist
Last year, Werner Herzog's documentary Grizzly Man was released. The tragic hero of this story being Timothy Treadwell, a maverick, Steve Irwin type of character who spent thirteen summers living with wild grizzly bears in an Alaskan nature reserve, and was eventually eaten alive by one of his 'bear friends'.
This film itself is a little monotonous. The general feeling is there from the first five minutes & cutting it's lenth in half may have held my interest more tightly. The animals, of course, are brilliant to watch. Even more entertaining than the bears are the friendly foxes who climb on Timothy's tent and steal his hat!
The jewel in Grizzly Man's crown though is the soundtrack and the hour-long special feature on the DVD showing the group of musicians who scored it, one of whom was Richard Thompson.
Richard's guitar work since his Fairport Convention days is built upon his range of influences which span both jazz greats and rock legends, Django Reinhardt, Louis Armstrong, Jerry Lee Lewis. His style of playing in this soundstrack has all the grace of Mark Knopfler's electric guitar fused with the down-to-earth acoustic sound of John Martin. He explains his musical philosophy; "I always liked a sound that is harmonically sophisticated, but crude. If you take those edges away, you've got a load of notes, but no music."
This footage is well worth watching, it's the creation of the glue that holds the Grizzly Man main feature together.
Caliko @ Tenterden Folk Festival
The Caliko Acoustic Tour came back home to the South East on Saturday for the Tenterden Folk Festival. Entering the small town by car I took a quick sight-seeing tour of the early happenings of the day. Most of the High Street was alight with white hankies flung far from their Morris Men owners during a hundred strong-precession of colour & mirth. I have to say, Morris Men aren't really my cup of tea, the musical side of the Folk world has so much more appeal...
Jo & Jon were playing in the Eight Bells pub - a folkie's joint for many years - with a Cruella Deville look-a-like singing acapella, a husband and wife outfit straight from the bargain bin, a young singer-songwriter-guitarist with clear and well pronounced vocals, and a burly, northern, harmonious sea shanty quartet - one of whom had the deepest and loudest voice any of us had ever heard.
In the midst of such traditional music, Caliko's songs sounded really quite modern. In particular, Home has a contemporary, warm feeling that reminds me of Zero Seven's first album. Yet in spite of that, not out of place at all. For Jon's musical musings tend toward the story-telling kind. Very much like these traditional songs other folkies have sung for centuries.
New versions of Monsoon & Marty, arranged for just the duo, sounded excellent. Jo's voice sweet as always with great harmonies from Jon creeping into just the right spaces. There was even some inventive use of two capos on one guitar to create an alternate tuning without risking string breakage, curious... what's he building in there?
Caliko have a superb website and MySpace page.
