My best friends Jacky & Bill came to visit me for a few days this week. We had a great time. They are keen walkers, so we went on lots of long walks, such as looking for bluebells in Clanger Woods, up to the White Horse, along the Kennet & Avon canal, and a visit to Lacock Abbey. It will help me get fit for Glastonbury. The reason for the visit was to see Kate Rusby at the Cheese & Grain in nearby Frome. This is a great venue, even Paul McCartney played a Glastonbury warm-up gig here last year, and The Pretenders played here the night before we saw Kate. I saw Kate for the very first time at this venue in the late 1990s when her album Sleepless was released. I have seen her many times since then, twice at Glastonbury, Cambridge Folk Festival, The Village Pump Festival, and twice at her wonderful Christmas show in Bath. However, I think the show on Wednesday night was my favourite of all the times I have seen her.
It was a lovely sunny evening when we set off for Frome. The countryside looked lush after all the recent rain which makes the west of England such a green and pleasant place to be. Kate and her excellent five-piece band came on stage promptly at 7.30. The first song was called The Outlandish Knight which is like a medieval murder ballad, and very much the traditional folk fare that I associate with Kate. I was in for a few surprises this evening though because Kate has changed since I last saw her. The next song was a May Day song which she recorded during lockdown for a cover’s album called Hand Me Down. It is called We Will Sing which on her album was recorded with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. They weren’t here tonight, but it was very enjoyable. Likewise with the next song, a sea-faring ballad called Cruel which she informed us she had recorded with an American band called Darlingside. Kate described them as like a cross between The Beach Boys and Bluegrass. I hadn’t heard of them before but will certainly check them out. Three of Kate’s band were playing electric guitars which is something I had never seen with her before, and the guitar playing all evening was first rate. Everybody knows the next song Manic Monday written by Prince and a huge hit for The Bangles. Kate said it made her day when Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles left a nice comment on Youtube saying how much she enjoyed Kate’s version. (I filmed this song; you can see it below if you want)
If I Had A Boat is a song by Lyle Lovett which Kate first heard sung by an English folksinger called Dave Burland. It inspired her to visit her local record library and listen to everything she could find by Lyle Lovett. Kate recorded Only Desire What You Have with Dan Timinsky who is a member of Alison Krause’s band Union Station. It had a more familiar folkier sound to me with accordions and acoustic guitar. As The Lights Go Out is a song Kate was inspired to write after her Underneath The Stars festival when the audience were all looking upward to spot the International Space Station orbiting above. Ghost was inspired by strange happenings when Kate moved into her new house. Again, the guitar playing had an excellent folk-rock sound. Then Kate gave us her wonderful version of a Bob Marley classic Three Little Birds (You can see that below as well) High On A Hill is a song Kate recorded with Sarah Jarosz for her 30 Happy Returns album. Kate’s husband Damien O’Kane played banjo on this one. Until Morning is a very moving song that Kate wrote for a friend of her’s called Jody who passed away.
Kate left the stage for a while and left the band to play some instrumental tunes. They were great all night and all deserve a mention. I hope I have got the names right. Damien O’Kane, Sam Kelly, Nick Cook, Josh Clark, & Duncan Lyle. I can’t remember who played what though. They were all multi-instrumentalists. I said that Kate had changed and the instruments included a Moog mellotron which would have been unheard of early in her career. The next song was called Jenny and Jenny is an old horse. There was a big cheer when Jenny won the race. The last song was Blooming Heather which Kate sang beautifully as ever and the whole band took a bow. They all returned for one final song Who Will Sing Me Lullabies before finally departing, and that was the end. Thank you very much Kate Rusby and your great band for a most enjoyable evening in the wonderful town of Frome.
