Ramblin' Roots Revue (Day 2) - Saturday 7 April - High Wycombe
Saturday, the second day of Ramblin' Roots offered a really full day of live music with bands alternating on the two stages plus new for this year, a separate outdoor "accoustic" stage. Fortunately the weather was kind and the set up with covered tables next to the food concessions encouraged people to sit and listen while eating.
First band on in the Whiskey Saloon were Carousel, normally a 4 piece but today stripped down to just a duo. Their playing and songs were fine but I found that his and her singing clashed to my ears. A check later of Youtube videos of them showed that they usually turn in a much more vibrant set than the performance put on here. Next up were the ever delightful Loud Mountains, the brothers Kevin and Sean, whose voices blend so well together. Not a lot more to say other than, I enjoyed them and I bought the EP (signed of course). You never know, they might be huge one day and along with my Macca autograph it could pay my care home fees!!
A move then to the first on the main stage where Felix Holt and the Radicals had already started their set. I'd seen bits of them on-line beforehand and wasn't expecting them to be quite my thing so it was a surprise to enjoy their set as much as I did, good enough in fact to go looking (without success) to pick up an album from them afterwards. It is an oddity of the recording industry that although the CD's may be in a fully finished state and in the hands of the artist, they are unable to be sold until the official release date. I was probably not the only one after a copy, so quite a few missed sales I would guess.
Next up, back at the whiskey stage were the Hanging Stars - can't seem to recall much about them except they wore cowboy hats - I think we went outside for something to eat.
Finishing our food and keeping an eye on the timetable we spotted that Luke Tuchscherer had just started on the main stage. Luke had played a solo set here last year which I'd enjoyed. This year having relocated from the UK to NYC and with a new album to promote, he had pulled together a band, ...& the Penny Dreadfuls to support him. The band were excellent and included festival organisers, the Tipping brothers on bass and electric mandolin and Americana Music Association instrumentalist of the year 2018 Tom Collinson on peddle steel. The highlight however was the guitar playing of Dave Banks formerly of the Whybirds, Lukes previous band. Dave would turn up in further sets over the weekend, of which more later. Apologies to the drummer who was unknown to me. I was very impressed by the set, which in what seemed to be the theme of the weekend, was closed with a Neil Young cover, a storming Keep on Rocking in the Free World.
Luke Tuchscherer & the Penny Dreadfuls
Next up I took in a couple of songs of "country" Kylie look-alike Jess Klein before the call of further food and the acoustic stage beckoned. Also with a long evening ahead the need for a sit-down seemed in order so I missed a fair bit of Scandinavian visitors Lucky Lips. This is a shame as what I heard of them seemed pretty good - it would have been a better bet to sit out Alan Tyler, the next act on. Arriving in a rather tacky silver wrestlers cape he made a grand entrance by walking up out of the audience to join his band on stage. The band didn't appear to do a lot other than stand around while he recanted a single line over and over and over again for what seemed forever, to the accompaniment of a repetitive metronomic electronic backing track. He singularly failed to impress in anyway. A good section of the crowd however seemed to be hanging on his every word, but I'm afraid it was lost on me. I've discovered subsequently that he is the singer from London based country outfit, the Rockingbirds - to be honest, I've probably already wasted enough on him - time to move on.
Thankfully the next band on raised the standard by a massive amount. Frankly, even if I'd have got up and sung, that would have been the case, but anyhow as I said - move on. The Rails, husband and wife duo James Walbourne formerly of Son Volt and Kami Thompson, daughter of Richard and Linda were superb. Kami's vocals were so reminiscent of her mother and James' guitar playing was excellent. Their voices too chimed together, never more so than on the lovely Bonnie Portmore. My only criticism of them was the perpetual tweaking up and down of each others sound balance - one can take perfectionism a bit too far at times. Maybe though it's all part of their stage act, there seemed some tension between them, but I understand they had arrived with little time to prepare before going on stage. For me however, they were one of the highlights of the weekend.
Well the next change took us back to the smaller stage where half a dozen young Irish lads were preparing to play. The Midnight Union Band were toted as having echoes of the Byrds, the Band and the Beatles in one review I've read. What we experienced when they struck the first chord however was an out and out ear-splitting guitar blitz with the potential to blister the paintwork on the walls of the bar and which sent some of the assembled company scuttling for cover. Two songs in and I was seriously considering joining them, but then everything changed. By the third song they played, whether the sound guy had got the balance right or what, I just don't know but the noise they made now had the feel of Crazy Horse about it with some amazing guitar duelling - suddenly they just clicked. Just to prove the point they followed on with what was the third Neil Young cover of the weekend, a particularly grungy Southern Man. which they did adequate justice to. I'd certainly go see them again, but maybe stand a little further back for the good of my ears.
So on to the nights headliner, the ever reliable Danny & the Champions of the World. "Any questions?" is Danny's oft repeated call from the stage. Well, yes actually we have several we'd like to ask including, wheres Geoff? and Will Chris make it through the set?.
The set started off in usual dramatic style with Let The Water Wash Over You (Don't You Know) from latest album Brilliant Light. With such a large back catalogue to choose from Danny is able to mix up their set to include songs old and new, sometimes chucking in a few surprises. Tonight with Jess Klein in the house it gave him the chance to air an old Grand Drive song (I missed the title) in a duet they had done together 15 or more years ago. The new songs from the latest album made up quite a chunk of the set so it was inevitable that they didn't have time to play as many old favourites as one might like. The set differed quite a bit I seem to think from the one I'd seen them play at Fat Lil's just a couple of months back, so no Henry the Van this time, but they still made room for Space Rocket. The evening will be memorable however for a couple of other events. First, the late arrival on stage, about 4 songs in, of "Free Jazz" Geoff (all the way from Scotland). As was commented, "who else would get applause for turning up late for work?" Then there was the other matter. It would be unkind to go into too much detail other than to say that Chris's bass playing sounded remarkably good all things considered. Danny's opening remark as they took the stage and plugged in was "this is going to be interesting" and I don't think he was referring to the absence of Geoff.
At most normal gigs, the headliner has been and gone and everyone filters out into the night - not however when the likes of both the Bennett brothers and the Tipping brothers are involved - It's hey, lets have a party and invite everyone along. But we need an excuse, so what better one could there be than to get as many of the weekends players onstage together to celebrate the life and music of a legend. So it came to pass that around about midnight the Ramblin' Roots All-stars Tribute to Tom Petty took to the Whiskey Saloon stage. It'd be impossible to list all the players on all the songs but the set was based around a core band prominently featuring the previously mentioned superb guitar work of Dave Banks. About 10 of Tom's songs were covered, each led by a different singer, kicked off once they had found him by Danny who presumably was off elsewhere giving someone a bollocking! If I can track down a set list I'll include it later, but for now some favourites I can recall were Free Fallin', Mary Jane's Last Dance, Into the Great Wide Open and the set closer, the Wilbury's Handle With Care which brought to an end over 12 hours of near non-stop live music. Happy faces and tired feet then wended their way back to their beds, for there was another day to come tomorrow.
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