Taking us on tonights musical adventure were three young ladies Charlotte Willacy, Rachel Lucy & Little Rach. This would be the second month in a row we have had an all female line up which was a nice way of continuing the Song Sisters message from last month.
Here at the Shop Sessions we are all for showcasing young new talent and I don't think we will get much younger than 12yr old Charlotte Willacy who was opening up the shop sessions with two instrumental pieces. The beautiful classical music was a lovely way to start the evening with a note perfect performance from Charlotte that had the audience whooping and clapping in appreciation. I have to admit at this point it was one of those proud dad moments for me as Charlotte is my daughter and I was only too happy to let her play when she asked if she could. The shop sessions are all about talent, not age & experience.
As soon as I could coax my face into not grinning so much it was time to introduce a relatively local artist.. Rachel Lucy. We had been in touch with Rachel after seeing her wonderful self produced video Kiss Me and we were really excited when she agreed to come and do tonights guest slot.
Rachel headed straight into her foot tappingly catchy style of acoustic pop. Straight away I was captured head bobbing, leg bouncing the bodies natural nod of agreement with music that moves you.
Nearly all the songs Rachel played were self penned tunes. There was a real nice blend of tones throughout the songs.. light & dark, soft & hard, slow & fast.. which really helps keep you focussed on the performance. I really hope we get to see more of Rachel Lucy in the future and can't wait to hear the recorded music she is currently in the middle of creating. We would totally recommend you go see Rachel... it's music that makes you smile :)
Vid Link
So Little Rach had made her job for the evening a tough one because last time she did a guest spot at the Shop Sessions she blew everyone away. I wasn't sure how she could possibly top that. One thing was certain though, the whole room was waiting with excited anticipation knowing already how ace Little Rach is. As Little Rach started 'Cold Coffee' from the album 'If You Go' it was clear this was going to be a special night. We were in the glass elevator and heading for the roof... the next song in the set is my favourite live song that Little Rach does. 'Stones Throw' whisks you away to the middle of your minds dance floor and makes you move, sway, dance, clap and just want to sing along.. by the end of the song everybody actually was clapping along.. simply superb. I was already enjoying the night but by this time I was in need of some serious muscle relaxant for my face just to stop the grin from sticking. The thing that always sticks with me watching Rach live is how easily she connects with the audience, the stories and links to each song just invite you to come into the world of Little Rach and sit down on the grass next to her smiling in the glow of Rach's sunny personality.
Charlottes Choice
When The Devil Knows
Little Rach finished the set with When The Devil Knows and the audience responded with rapturous applause & shouts of more and never did it feel more sincere. The audience had fallen in love with the music & just as importantly the performance of Little Rach. There was no way there could be any option other than an encore. Having just played Folk In A Box recently Rach decided to perform the first encore song Hallelujah completely in the dark & it worked wonderfully the sense of sound heightened you could hear every breath and sigh of delight. The audience joined in with the chorus and you could just feel the musical bond of everyone in the darkness I'm getting goose bumps just thinking about it again. There were a couple of covers performed on the night the Thompson Twins being a very cool trip back to my youth (which was performed as a birthday song for someone in the audience, how cool is that). But my favourite cover that Little Rach does is her very quirky take on 'You're the one that I want' yep that song from Grease but you wouldn't recognise it and for all the right reasons.. beautiful. I told Little Rach this on the night & I say it to you now I have loved every minute of every Shop Session we have done but Little Rach quite literally 'Takes the biscuit' I was totally blown away as was every other person in the room.
Stones Throw
Little Rach is... little ... likes biscuits.... quirky...... infectious...... wonderful...... bright....... a shining star.
I don't know why you're still here reading this you should be booking tickets to see Little Rach live on her website... Go! Go! Go!
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For everything in the wonderful world of Little Rach..
To see who is coming up next at the Shop Sessions
