High Fives 2023 (1) – Neil Sheasby
Neil Sheasby @ Islington Assembly Hall 24/11/23 Copyright Allan McKay Here we go again. It’s time for High Fives 2023 and it’s traditional to kick off the feature with a contribution from Neil Sheasby of Stone Foundation. It’s a major anniversary on two counts – Neil’s been contributing to this feature for ten years now, and Stone Foundation have just completed their twenty-fifth anniversary tour, finishing off with a triumphant two nights at Islington Assembly Hall with special guests Emily Capell, Graham Parker, Laville, Mick Talbot and Paul Weller. And I know Neil mentions this at the end of the piece, ...
‘I’d Rather Be Merry’ – Mean Mary
I suspect this is the only Christmas album we’ll be reviewing this year so I’m happy to say that it’s an interesting and varied piece of work. ‘I’d Rather be Merry’ is Mean Mary’s nineteenth album and it applies her usual talents of banjo picking, pure and clean vocals, and a certain amount of songwriting, to a Christmas theme. As always, it’s a combined effort with her brother Frank and brings a certain amount of humour associated with the brother/sister dynamic as well as superb musicianship. The album is an interesting combination of traditional Christmas carol settings with contemporary elements and ...
‘The Harvest’ – Afton Wolfe
If anything’s predictable about the work of Afton Wolfe it’s the unpredictability. He has such a wide range of references and influences that you never know what’s around the next corner. The first surprise about ‘The Harvest’ is that there are no Afton Wolfe originals. The second surprise is that all of the songs are written by his father-in-law L.H. Halliburton so the album’s all about performance and interpretation of someone else’s songs, bringing all of his influences into play. Afton’s gravelly baritone serves all seven songs on this project perfectly the slightly sinister ‘Hello, Mr. Wolf’ – more about ...
‘Get Me to a Nunnery’ – Heather Lynne Horton
‘Get Me to a Nunnery’ is Heather Lynne Horton’s third album, following 2012’s ‘Postcard Saturdays’ and 2017’s ‘Don’t Mess with Mrs Murphy’. You might think that’s a fairly relaxed pace, but she has had other priorities, including raising her daughter and collaborating with her husband, Michael McDermott, on his solo and Westies albums. She’s even done a bit of touring with Michael as well. As you might expect, Michael features heavily on the album along with other collaborators like Will Kimbrough, although the concept, production and direction of the album are purely down to Heather. There’s a theme running through the ...
‘Metaterranea’ – Old Californio
The longer you listen to ‘Metaterranea’ the more you realise what a challenge it is to pin down Old Californio to any given style. There are elements of country, elements of straight-ahead rock and even a bit of jazz thrown in. What you can be certain of is that the songs are well-crafted and the playing is superb throughout. The choice of songs to top and tail the album shines a light on the band’s influences and the musical journey taken by the ten songs. The album opens with a tribute to El Camino Real (definitely not the King’s Road in ...
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High Fives 2023 (1) – Neil Sheasby
Neil Sheasby @ Islington Assembly Hall 24/11/23 Copyright Allan McKay Here we go again. It’s time for High Fives 2023 and it’s traditional to kick off the feature with a contribution from Neil Sheasby of Stone Foundation. It’s a major anniversary on two counts – Neil’s been contributing to this feature for ten years now, and Stone Foundation have just completed their twenty-fifth anniversary... [Read more]
High Fives 2022 17) Dean Owens’ Highlights
Dean @Green Note May 2022 The timing of this piece could not have been better. Dean Owens has had a great year, which has just been crowned by the announcement earlier today that he has won not one, but two, Americana UK awards. ‘Sinner’s Shrine’ has been voted UK Americana album of the year and Dean has been voted UK Americana Act of the Year. Both awards are well-deserved and couldn’t... [Read more]
High Fives 2022 16) Graeme Wheatley’s London Words
Copyright Allan McKay Graeme Wheatley is a songwriter and bass player with band Color Colour and he’s made a few contributions to High Fives in previous years. I think we’ll just leave Graeme to set the scene for this one (by the way there is a bit of creative swearing): Sitting in the New Cross House the other night with Allan McKay talking about the year in review, cos we are eminent Victorian... [Read more]
High Fives 2022 15) Guitar Players
Guitarists; like Madonna, they love to strike a pose, don’t they? It’s all very well playing great solos, but you have to look good at the same time because you might have a halfway decent photographer at the gig. I don’t think it’s an ego thing, I think it’s subliminally taught at the various pop/rock schools and colleges – who teaches guitar players at those institutions? Yep, older... [Read more]
High Fives 2022 14) The Great Indoors
I’ve been landed with editorial duties on this one, so I can explain how this particular theme came about. For various reasons, I’ve not been able to get to the big festivals this year but I’ve done quite a few local multi-site festivals with lots of indoor gigs going on. Maybe the artists aren’t as well known as those on the stages at Cornbury, Glastonbury, Isle of Wight or Reading/Leeds,... [Read more]
