It's always exciting to see and hear music that's a bit left field and The Grateful Fred Ukulele Trio definitely offered something a bit different with a Rhythm, Lead & Bass Ukulele filling the room with sound. With 'Vinnie' on lead Uke & blues harp, Peter McPartland on Rhythm and Vocals and Grateful Fred himself (Colin) on Bass & Vocals a sound is created that seems like a trick of the light it's so full and captivating that you keep needing to double check.... yep all that sound is coming from those mini-me stringed instruments. It was made extra special to me as last time I saw the Trio live they were still cover song heavy but on this night in the spirit of the evening TGFT played a good mix of self penned songs and classics and they all sounded great. What an ace start to the evening...
The Grateful Fred Ukulele Trio - Friendly Fire
Right, so anyone who has talked to me about music for more than 5 minutes probably knows that one of my favourite bands of the last 3 or 4 years has been The Civil Wars, so when I checked out a Civil Warsesque version of Billie Jean by Rita Payne I knew this was going to be a Shop Session I would really enjoy. Rhiannon Scutt & Pete Sowerby make up the constituent parts of Rita Payne. Rhiannon provides wonderful guitar riffs and vocals while Pete quite often takes the lead in vocals and adds atmospheric percussion that worked perfectly in these unique surroundings. Right from the word go Rita Payne created a captivating sound that had people hooked in and clapping along with the opening track 'Caught In the Middle' from the album 'We're Getting There, Aren't We?'.
Charlotte's Choice
Rita Payne - Goodbye
The duo continued effortlessly through the night moving from Rhythmic, energy infused tracks into beautifully crafted harmony filled songs making sure the senses were never bored or stuck in a rut. One minute our feet & heads would be urging themselves to move with the sounds and the next we would be floated away from the mundanity(not even sure if this is a proper word, but you get what I mean ) of every day living with gorgeous songs like Goodbye. All that remained was for Rita Payne to finish with my personal favourite track Ashes as the encore which they duly delivered to a very appreciative audience(especially me).
Rita Payne - Ashes
Massive thanks to The Grateful Fred Ukulele Trio and the very amazing Rita Payne. Make sure you checkout the links below to keep track of both these artists they are well worth following and seeing live....
Rita Payne...
The Grateful Fred Ukulele Trio
The Shop Sessions
