This week is a summer special from the Black Deer Festival in Kent and features tunes that were live highlights over the weekend. Enjoy!

First Word

Following last year’s blog on the 2023 Black Deer Festival, we returned to Elridge Park deep in the heart of Kent last weekend along with our friends Alison and John to do it all again. Black Deer is tagged as an Americana festival but, before some of you stop reading, it actually has a very diverse musical line-up.  I see it more as a festival of ‘roots music’, maybe a bit like Celtic Connections in Glasgow which has so much more than Celtic music.  We went down for Black Deer 2022 to see Wilco and had a great time discovering new bands so we’ve been back ding that for the last two years.

We saw about sixteen different acts over the three days and I have really struggled to choose six songs from the best sets to playlist.  After much angst, I’ve settled on the tunes below – only one of these being a headliner and only one being what many people would consider to be Americana. For better or worse, I’m illustrating the songs with crappy images of the acts taken on my phone for an extra authentic in the crowd feel!

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Checking Out – Divorce (2022)

When the festival line-up was published, I spotted Divorce quite far down the bill. I had picked up on their single Checking Out back in late 2022 but had not followed up on it among all the other music there is out there. So when the daily schedule appeared, they got a late Sunday afternoon slot on the ‘third tier’ Haley’s Bar Stage. We were among a small but enthusiastic crowd to hear the Nottingham based 4-piece, who described themselves in the past as an ‘alt-country/grunge-ish’ band.

Having now seen them live I can just about see that description but they do love to throw in a few wonky chords and song structures to challenge the listener. Which makes things more interesting, if a little less straightforward. They bring great energy and a sense of fun to the stage but were wrestling with a sound mix that finally came good about halfway through their short set – throughput on the stage gives the bands a very short sound check, which is far from ideal. Their off-kilter rhythms and occasional atonal melodies can be hard to tune into when you hear their songs for the first time but a couple of the new songs stood out particularly well. Once the sound settled, they started flying when they moved on to the singles Gears and Scratch Your Metal. But it was the finish of a raucous and euphoric Eat My Words (“That’s bad, gets worse/Watch me eat my words”) and then the brilliant Checking Out that knocked the small but highly appreciative crowd out. Playlisting the last track was an easy choice, complete with its confusing lyric which seems to feature the protagonist murdering her mistreating partner with a steak knife. I may have that wrong, but this twisted murder ballad sounds great.

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Going To A Town – Rufus Wainwright (2007)

The only headliner to make the list, Rufus Wainwright was the last act to be announced by the festival organisers. He took up the tricky Sunday night slot on the Main Stage which often suffers from a drop in numbers as some people head off early to travel home for work the next day. While undoubtedly a major star with folk music literally in his DNA, his baroque pop style was not necessarily going to be a big draw either, particularly when performing solo. So, it was really disappointing to be part of a very modest crowd gathered in front of the Main Stage to hear him perform. However, he is nothing if not a showbiz trooper and, after a slighty faltering start, he ended up putting on a great show which was rapturously received by those that were there.

Lynn and I had seen him perform a memorable set at T In The Park back in 2007 at the time of his most commercially successful album Release The Stars. Since then his writing has moved into creative overload with operas and musicals and his performing extended to his ‘Rufus does Judy’ shows, workingon films with visual artists and his lockdown daily “quarantunes”. However, the Rufus we got last Sunday was a stripped-down version with a grand piano centre stage and a couple of acoustic guitars on stands. The second guitar was a back up provided by the organisers which he said he fell in love with while warming up backstage but they wouldn’t let him buy it! I’d forgotten how funny and self-deprecating his monologues were between songs. Front of his mind was the failure of his Opening Night musical which closed early in May this year after mixed reviews. We got to hear his raw and honest post-mortem along with a performance of Ready For Battle from the show.

His singing was exceptional and the set picked off a number of favourites including the amazing The Art Teacher, the mournful Early Morning Madness and his reading of Leonard Cohen’s So Long, Marianne. He pleased the crowd with the title track from Poses and finished his main set with a perfect delivery of Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk from the same album. He returned to encore with the joy that is his Hallelujah but, before that, returned to that 2007 album mentioned above for the beguiling track I’m going to playlist. His short intro suggested his horror at the way his home country is heading politically and the “I’m so tired of America” refrain sounded heartfelt. All in all, a fantastic performance given the circumstances.

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The Only Thing Worth Fighting For – Rosanne Cash (2018)

Not only is Roseanne Cash the only true Americana act to make my pick of six tracks, she is 100% country music royalty. So what in the name of all that is holy was she doing in the early afternoon Main Stage slot on the Sunday? OK, she wasn’t playing with a band, but when you turn up supported by your producer and guitarist husband John Leventhal and knock out a series of great songs together, you deserve to be higher up the bill. Thankfully, unlike Rufus, a significant crowd gathered to hear them play and Cash seemed genuinely moved by the audience reaction.

Now in her late sixties, she appeared on stage beside Leventhal in her father’s dress code, with a beautiful black Nudie jacket offering some tasteful country bling. They opened both playing guitar but as the set progressed, she focussed on singing while Leventhal’s playing on his Collings OM1 was dazzling – deft, measured and full of style. Although there were a few key Cash originals (The Sunken Lands, A Feather’s Not A Bird, Seven Year Ache), the setlist was dominated by covers, several of which came from her 2009 album The List, made up of 12 tunes she recorded from the list of the 100 greatest American songs given to her by her father when she was 18.

She introduced Lefty Frizzell’s murder ballad Long Black Veil as “many people’s idea of the perfect roots song” and also did Hank Snow’s I’m Movin’ On. And when they performed Sea of Heartache, which she had recorded as a duet with Springsteen, she thanked Leventhal for being “the other Boss”. As well as a terrific version of Bobby Gentry’s Ode To Billie Joe, they delighted the crowd with “bringing a little country” to John Lennon’s And Your Bird Can Sing. After Leventhal dealt with the tricky guitar part, Cash quipped that “it took me ages to teach him that solo”.

With so much material to choose from, I’ve decided to playlist a song from earlier in the set when they were playing guitar together. Cash wrote the lyric for The Only Thing Worth Fighting For after an invite from T-Bone Burnett who had developed the tune for the True Detective TV series. Lera Lynn sang the TV version, but Cash loved the song and recorded it herself in 2018 with Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. Again Leventhal’s guitar work was exemplary, and it was one of many highlights in a set that resulted in the audience (including us) roaring for an encore which was not really the done thing at this point in the running order. Everyone was delighted when they re-appeared, probably including the organisers, who must have realised their scheduling error.

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Pedestrian At Best – Courtney Barnett (2015)

Set Of The Weekend Award – Very Close Third

So I kinda knew what I thought I was in for with Courtney Barnett, being aware of a few of her songs over the years and always liking what I heard.  Liking it enough to stick the odd track on a general playlist but not enough to go on a deeper dive.  More fool me as, having been blown away by BC Camplight who were on the main stage before her (see below), I was not expecting to be similarly blown away by Barnett’s set. Her simple three-piece guitar/bass/drums approach contrasted with BC Camplight’s musical complexity but the focus brought by the three players to this performance was brilliant. 

Barnett was strapped to her Jaguar guitar (which was fed through a backline of three identical Fender Deluxe amps), lurching around the stage spraying her crunching chords and feedback-drenched lead lines into the wind. And although Bones Sloan’s bass was thumping into your chest from a bass amp taller than he was, it was drummer Stella Mozgawa that really ran the show. She played with real power and attack which is what Barnett’s music needs, but the colour she added with her fills and her cymbal work was amazing.

What makes Barnett instantly recognisable, and differentiates her from her slacker rock peers, is her deadpan singing style and witty, rambling lyrics. We were treated to several examples of the latter – I particularly enjoyed Depreston‘s “Now we’ve got that percolator/Never made a latte greater/I’m savin’ 23 dollars a week”. I was thinking of playlisting the brilliantly titled Avant Gardener but, in the end, I just can’t resist the joyous racket that is Pedestrian At Best. Belted out on the back of Mozgawa’s thunderous drumming, it had the audience jumping – even those with dodgy knees. There is something about the line in the chorus that goes “Give me all your money and I’ll make some origami, honey” that I find immensely pleasing. Don’t ask me why.

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She’s Gone Cold – BC Camplight (2023)

Set Of The Weekend Award – Runner-Up (Just!)

Taking to the main stage late on Friday afternoon just before Courtney Barnett, this was the set I was looking forward to the most.  Regular readers might recall BC Camplight’s The Last Rotation Of Earth made the New Year playlist as one of the six best records of 2023 and they did not disappoint on my first live experience.  After opening with the title track, American Mancunian Brian Christinzio (the BC in the name) announced to the crowd “we’re not an Americana band!”. True dat! But what the hell are they?  They’re almost beyond definition – the best I’ve come up with so far is that they are like a prog-rock Sparks – but they play some of the strangest and most beautiful music I’ve heard in some time.  

Christinzio seemed slightly bemused to be there but gave everything to winning over a new crowd with his self-deprecating song introductions. On stage, he is completely immersed in the performance of his music from his keyboard centred low at the front of the stage and surrounded by his fellow musicians. He plays his piano from a low stool but frequently gets up to stalk the stage with his mic stand in his hand. Sometimes he has his piano stool in his other hand, waving it above his head like a claymore, only to collapse at his keys again on his knees, giving the performance a kind of wild, unpredictable feel. The band were great, really tight on what must be difficult songs to play live on an open-air stage in daylight with a cursory soundcheck.  Most impressive was the brilliant multi-instrumentalist and backing singer Francesca Pidgeon, whose slight frame standing still at her ‘instrument station’ contrasted with Christinzio prowling the stage like a demented bear.

Lots of the set was lifted from last year’s LP and the incredible cover art formed an impressive backdrop as they played. They did finish with a couple of older tracks – the dark crunch of Cemetery Lifestyle and the pounding I’m Desperate, complete with the wavering pitch of its repeated synth motif. But I’m playlisting something from mid-set; the gentle but slightly disturbing break-up song, She’s Gone Cold. Introduced with a monologue about how you can feel the chill creeping slowly into a failing relationship, it opens with the lyric: “I think I need a drink/Its snowing in the lounge/The fish tank is frozen/Poor sea monkey town”. Rumours persist about how Christinzio is going to pack it all in, but music would be a duller place without his kind of demented genius.

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Docking The Pay – CVC (2023)

Set Of The Weekend Award – Winner!

When I first saw this band’s name on the festival line-up poster I thought – really?  You’ve named your band after those three digits on your bank card??  However, when pre-festival exploring brought me to the joy of their recent single Sophie, I went to find out more. The name is an abbreviation for Church Village Collective as apparently the six young musicians in the band all hail from the area around Church Village which lies in Pontypridd just to the north of Cardiff. It also seems that the two guitarist/vocalists (David Bassey and Elliot Bradfield) are distantly related to Shirley and James Dean but I’m not sure I believe this Welsh musical tall tale.

What I do know is that they make some great music and were a joy to watch perform, even in a tent in a field on a dull grey Saturday afternoon. Listening to them, it’s like the 70s never stopped – in a good way! There is a strong funk-inflected psych-rock feel to their writing and the glorious harmonies in their hook-laden anthemic choruses envelope you like a warm embrace. The tunes are driven on squonking synths, funky guitar chops and some top-drawer drumming. It all forms a sumptuous sonic palette which at times evokes the Doobie Brothers, Average White Band, Bozz Skaggs, 10cc and late period Beach Boys – often in one song! Their look is equally retro with curly hair, handlebar moustaches and some slick shirts on display – I was particularly taken by the keyboard player Naniel Jones’ lime green one. Their positive stage energy is quickly transferred to the Ridge Tent crowd and it felt like being stuck in a wonderful time warp that nobody wanted to get out of.

I’ve subsequently read some criticisms of the band for being derivative and simply a 70s pastiche. While I get this, I think it is unfounded, particularly given their style and charm in the live setting. There may not be a 10-album career beckoning, but for now they are firing on all cylinders. Their debut album Get Real is crammed full of great tunes like the smooth grooves of set-opener Hail Mary, the disco-stomp of Good Morning Vietnam and the aching beauty of the aforementioned Sophie, written by Jones. But it is set-closer Docking The Pay that I’m playlisting. The audience was hooked by its mesmeric rhythms bursting into a sing-along chorus: “Hey, I can’t believe you’re docking my pay/I only make the minimum wage”. Everyone left the tent with a smile on their face. Watch the band play it live in some old house here and make sure you see them live at the first opportunity. At the very least, watch this wee promo clip for the record which gives the flavour of the band – you’ll be seeking them out afterwards!

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Extended Play Bonus Tracks

As it took so much effort to narrow down the songs we heard to only six, I’ve decided to make it one of those bonus weeks where I stick six bonus tracks into the playlist. The extended play tracks are as follows:

Eclipse – Prima Queen (2022)

Guitar-driven, intelligent alt-pop songs performed beautifully by the highly engaging transatlantic duo of Louise Macphail and Kirstin McFadden – Lynn liked them so much she bought a t-shirt!

If You Don’t Want My Love – Jalen Ngonda (2022)

As recommended by guest blogger Dave Heatley, the sweetest of soul voices by the coolest dude in a tent last weekend, and not just on account of his beautiful black Jazzmaster guitar.

Girl From NYC – Brogeal

Winners of the Oasis lookalike contest, the banjos and mandolins of Falkirk’s finest folk-punk outfit had Haley’s Bar jumping and the thumping rhythms of this song took it up a notch or two.

Lottery – Jade Bird (2019)

Although she looked like a small girl lost with her white guitar on the Main Stage, when she opened her mouth to sing, her gigantic gravelly voice was heard way back at the campsite.

The Imperial – The Delines (2019)

World-weary country/soul on this title track from the second album by the Portland Oregon band formed by Amy Boone and Willy Vlautin after the demise of the great Richmond Fontaine.

Misfit – Kezia Gill (2023)

Brassy lass from Derby flying the flag for UK Americana, wearing her heart on her tattoo sleeve while living the country rock dream and striding acroos the stage in a sequinned jumpsuit.

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Last Word

Far, far too many words already so I’ll just quickly tell you that next week is a guest posting by Fraser Maxwell where he picks some great songs to entertain your ears. Meanwhile, all twelve of this week’s tracks have been added to the Master Playlist, which broke the 400 tunes barrier with Dave Heatley’s picks from last week.

WeekInSoundMaster

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