It was a special night for us as a family because myself and my 12 yr old daughter were opening up with one song to celebrate her completing her latest guitar exam (I know self indulgent dad gushing in progress, feel free to skip on). Suffice to say the family was very proud....
Anyway on with the show as they say..
The nights guest artist was Shop Sessions favourite Jo Bywater fresh from a succesful 12 months with a FATEA award winning EP 'Chasing Tales' and collecting the Liverpool Acoustic songwriting challenge award. Jo was straight into the distinctive riff of 'Chopping Wood' a track from the 'Chasing Tales' EP it never fails to get the foot tapping. The raw tones of the resonator Jo plays filled the room to great effect and I totally found myself following the rise and fall of each track with plenty of swaying and moving going on (not drink induced before you say anything). We've been lucky enough to see Jo play a few times over the last 12 months and it's been great to hear new songs emerging as she explores the sounds of resonator and blues harp like 'Empty Promises' which we heard for the first time. 'Riches to Rags' brings a side of Jo's vocals to the fore that breathes atmosphere and life into the song making it easy to hear how the sound and writing captivated Liverpool Acoustic.
Well, what a brilliant way to set the night up. If you've never heard Jo Bywater make sure you follow the links below and go see Jo live you'll be as captivated as we are..
Jo Bywater - Empty Promises
To say we were excited about being included in Sean Taylor's latest UK tour was a massive understatement. Having been wowed previously by Sean at the Liverpool Irish festival I knew this was going to be an amazing evening of Blues.
Sean kicked of with a new tune 'Les Rouge Et Les Noirs' which proved a beautiful introduction to Sean's deft touch on the guitar, the notes and vocals just floating in the air. After some schooling in the pronouncation of Sandbach, Sean picked up the pace with Texas Boogie an infectious foot tapping song which I think will be on Sean's forthcoming album just recorded in Austin Texas. Now don't tell anyone(Top secret info follows ;) ) but Sean did use a delay effect on the evening but we were happy to forego our 'Unplugged' status for such a haunting sound it was simply wonderful and totally immersed you into songs like 'Heaven' & 'So Fine'.
Charlotte's Choice
Sean Taylor - Texas Boogie
Looking around the room everyone seemed just as entranced in the guitar mastery happening in front of us as I was and couple this with interesting and poetic lyrics meant we were lucky enough to witness some music filled magic. Sean doesn't do many cover songs but when he does there is always an interesting reworking to remove the song from it's original guise like the powerful 'Sixteen Tons' which I don't think you will hear anywhere else in the same form. A first for the Shop Sessions was a spoken word piece that reinforced Sean's poetic style and the feedback from the evening was that it really caught the audiences attention. Sean finished the night with a high energy cover of Richie Havens Freedom followed by the warm appreciation of some very happy music lovers and who could blame them we'd just been treated to as good a night of acoustic blues as you'd find anywhere.
Sean Taylor - Hold On
A very big thankyou to Jo Bywater & the wonderful Sean Taylor for an amazing night of blues infused music. Make sure you keep a watchful eye out for Sean's new album which will be out later this year.
For eveything Jo Bywater head to
http://jobywater.com/
To find out what's happening with Sean Taylor go to
http://www.seantaylorsongs.com/
Finally to find out who is coming up at the Shop Sessions
http://www.thecyclejunction.com/blog/?page_id=1447
