The Words In Between by Dave Evans.

On this rainy January day I thought I’d tell you about a CD which arrived here recently called The Words In Between by Dave Evans. No, I hadn’t heard of Dave Evans either, until recently when I stumbled across a video of him playing on BBC’s The Old Grey Whistle Test in the 1970s, (See video below) I liked what I heard, particularly his acoustic guitar playing, and because I’m always interested in discovering musicians who I missed first time around I ordered his first album from 1971. It was quite expensive because I think it has been out of print for a while, but well worth it because I love this album. The copy I received is a reissue from 2001 which also contains five songs from Dave’s second album Elephantasia from 1972. The album was originally released on the Village Thing label, named after Clifton Village in Bristol, and Greenwich Village in New York. The Village Thing label was the brainchild of Ian A Anderson (No, not the singer in Jethro Tull) and John Turner. 

The recording was made at Ian’s house in Royal York Crescent, Bristol on a Revox tape recorder. It is just Dave on guitar and vocals, a second guitarist Pete Airey, and occasional harmonica and some backing vocals. Simplicity itself, but beautiful. As soon as I listened to the words and music it evoked memories of the early 70s, college rooms and bedsitter images. Al Stewart came into my head and Clifton In The Rain, but all that idea was probably accidentally planted in my head subliminally from the sleeve notes. Dave was originally from Bangor in North Wales. He went to college in Loughborough in the 60s where he ran the Folk Club and was friends with Steve Tilston. Eventually he moved to Honiton in Devon and worked in a pottery. It was after seeing Michael Chapman perform at Exeter University that Dave decided to take his music seriously. He was invited to play on Steve Tilston’s debut album which led to Dave moving to Bristol and becoming a regular performer at The Troubadour folk club in Clifton where he was soon spotted by Ian A Anderson and persuaded to record for Village Thing. 

I should mention that Dave was multi-talented and even made his own guitar. I won’t discuss every song on the album, but most of them seem to be personal observations of places and people that Dave encountered. Some songs such as Circular Line, Grey Lady Morning, and Now Is The Time were inspired by Barbara his love of those days. Rosie was his outrageous landlady who won a kissing contest at the local disco called The Pit Club by kissing a soldier nonstop for 44 minutes. City Road and St Agnes Park are named after places near his Bristol home and feature some of the characters he knew such as a man called Yorkie who had a wooden leg. Beauty Queen is about a lady of the night called Nancy who paraded up and down City Road after dark. Doorway is a poignant song about an old lady who lived in Albert Park Place and would stand for ages in her doorway staring at her overgrown garden. Some of the last five tracks from his Elephantasia album feature some excellent piano playing by Steve Swindells. There is a song called Lady Portia which was the name of Steve Tilston’s cat.

I like all of Dave’s songs, but it his fingerpicking guitar playing that is his forte. I have never played a guitar in my life, but to my ears he is playing in the same league as Bert Jansch, Davy Graham, Nick Drake or any other great British guitar player you care to mention. I don’t think Dave was all that concerned about the trappings of fame or fortune and eventually moved to Belgium with his girlfriend and earned a living repairing and restoring musical instruments. I think it is a shame that he isn’t more recognised. I couldn’t even find a Wikipedia entry for him. I did find out that Dave died peacefully three years ago aged 80. I suppose if he had died young in his 20s, he would be a cult hero now, but I’m sure he was satisfied to have had a long happy life. I hope his reputation as a great guitarist and singer-songwriter continues to grow, and I also hope this album is reissued soon. PS, The song Dave sings in the video below isn’t actually on this album, but it gives you a good idea of his singing and playing.

Dave Evans - Keep Me From The Cold