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Posted by Mike Jessop on July 18, 2008, 10:19 am
217.206.230.2
A Review of Billy Mitchell at Rothbury Roots , 17th July 2008:
Rothbury Roots is a monthly event in The Queens Head which I have been to often in recent years , It’s always a gem of a night , ably run and promoted by Kevin with help from Andy on sound, this 70 seater conversion of the Hotels dining room with makeshift corner stage gives an intimate wonderful country evening .
They always seem to book such a wide and wonderful committed set of artistes.
Tonight, again, was to prove to be no exception.
Kicking off, Stuart Fenwick, a student of Newcastles Folk Degree course and tutored by Stuart Hardy among others, offered us six set violin pieces , mixing pace with fine delivery - and being so close it was fun to watch the lovely hammers on the strings notably in his third number , a slow aire.
He took us in a confident, informative and enthusiastic style from Sweden to Morpeth in but 22 minutes!
First half from Billy was dominated by the lovely homely atmosphere of Rothbury - “Is there anybody here not from Lindisfarne or Jack The Lad?? “ he joked to begin his usual fine tales and musicianship. Many of the audience and especially those queued outside of this sell out in the lobby were fellow playmates including both Rod Clements and Ray Laidlaw of Lindisfarne.
Rockin’ Chair set us off ahead of the wonderful tales, notably of Dublins gardeners, his grandparents house, mutual toilet habits and the life of Fats Domino. Though we have heard all these before it’ s his first class delivery of jokes and watching others enjoying this brilliant rapport that only Billy delivers, wonderful stuff.
Musical highlights were the delightful picking in E of Blueberry Hill , the D finishes in both Pitman and with harmonica at Primrose Hill.
Some 7 songs covered 57 minutes in the first half demonstrating the strong human mix of comedy, tunes and, dare I say it, pan pipes .(Go along to see what we mean!) .
After almost drawing Hazels ticket – 136 – in the raffle, Billy came back for another fine second half, his gravely delivery of opener Dylans She Belongs To Me was simply outstandingly ahead of anything I’ve ever heard Dylan himself do.
After a beautifully poignant 1915-1972 and more family affection, Billy was well into his usual Mr Bojangles introductions with the Vancouver elevator story and suddenly he introduced- tonight actually all the way from Vancouver – his Sister in Law who put him up all those years back! What a round of applause she got.
The old Uncle George tales were enjoyably long and fantastic and with the ladies mid back left table falling over in howls of laughter we moved towards a stunning Wokin The Dog finish.
How but 70 pairs of hands create such closing noise in a room in a country Inn beats me, it was ecstatic with inevitably one more song before he finally left the room. All night he played with his new matching white goatplus beard, matching his shirt and hair, he explained afterwards to us it’s been there since the “Cinderella” photoshoot 2 weeks back!
For the Anoraks ………….
First = Rockin’ Chair / Blueberry Hill / Dublin Take Me / Pitman and Blackin’ / Primrose Hill (12s ) / Happy Birthday Dad ( 12s ) / Collier Laddies Wife ::
Second = She Belongs To Me /Ghost In Blue Suede Shoes /1915-1972 / Mr Bojangles / Devil’s Ground / Wokin’ The Dog ///// + Born at the Right Time:
Mike & Hazel Jessop.
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