Photo Credit:- Ian Morrall
We arrived at The Hare & Hounds in Birmingham at 7pm. We got our drinks and were chatting in the bar with Sally from Gasoline & Matches parents. Unbeknown to us Lauren April's set had already begun. There was no announcement.
We made our way up the stairs and found ourselves in the smaller of the two rooms. It was already very warm in there. The room was fairly full of people by the time we found a corner to stand in.
LAUREN APRIL was accompanied by a banjo player, a double bass player and she played guitar. It was a lovely stripped back set. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The sound engineer had the sound spot on.
GASOLINE & MATCHES are Sally Rae Morris and Steven Marks. I have seen these guys perform before as a duo but tonight for the first time they had their full band in their home town. You felt that it was special from the first note. This is a band to watch out for in the future. Listen out for their drinking song called Never Have I Ever. Such a cleverly written song.
JESSICA LYNN was the first co-headliner to perform. Her band is a real family affair. Mum singing backing vocals, Dad on bass. Uncle Bob on pedal steel and her husband plays lead guitar. I am not sure who the drummer belongs to though. Hailing from New York they are a good band. Very energetic performance and lots of long no very long hair shaking from Jessica.
RAINTOWN from Glasgow are the final act of the evening. They are one of the most polished bands on the circuit. Husband and wife Paul and Claire sang a selection of songs from both of their albums, 'Hope in Troubled Times' and 'Writing on the Wall' plus their single Run with the Night and a lovely brand new song that I forget the name of but I am sure it will become very well known over the coming months.
It's always a pleasure to catch up with Raintown, and after they had spoken to their fans and had all their pictures taken they took time out to chat to us and we did a little interview about how they thought the tour had gone as this was their penultimate show.
It was a great show. Worth every penny of the £22 ticket price. Four different artists, over three and a half hours. Such good value for money. The choice of artists really complimented each other too. A wonderful night from start to end.