Talent Oozing From Ouseburn
IT LOOKS like Ouseburn is the place to be, with the Ouseburn Festival reaching its 12th year.
On Sunday night, The Cluny, at the Byker Bridge end of the burn, has a visit from arguably the hottest blues band of the moment when Watermelon Slim & the Workers set up shop.
Slim, the colourful leader of the outfit, is actually William P Homans who was born in Boston but raised in North Carolina. He has a biography of eyebrow-arching facts – including a stint as an Oklahoma watermelon farmer – which could not be invented.
He dropped out of college to enlist in the US forces and went to Vietnam.
Slim’s first musical outing was back in 1973 with the album Merry Airbrakes, and he has worked alongside any number of bluesmen over the years. His links with former Canned Heat man Henry Vestine were particularly strong but he would often drop back into truck-driving in order to put food on the table.
He had a heart attack in 2002 and that lifethreatening event seemed to galvanise him musically. Since then, he has released four albums of real note and last year, he won six Blues Music Awards categories.
He also won Mojo magazine’s blues album of the year.
Albums Ripe For Picking (2005), Watermelon Slim & the Workers (2006) and Wheel Man (2007) all brought Slim major success and his new album, No Paid Holidays, is certain to follow suit.
His three bandmates, the Workers, are all seasoned veterans of the road with artists from Bo Diddley to Hubert Sumlin. Expect top- class Mississippi Delta-style blues with a lyrical twist.
ON THURSDAY next week, The Cluny has the only UK date for the foundation-threatening, hellraising Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers.
The Nashville band, fronted by the vocals/harmonica of Col Joshua D Wilkes, present a molten alloy of polka/punk, blues/hillbilly and country-rock.
Their five albums, from Hunkerdown (1998) to last year’s Swampblood, can’t really convey the band’s live show. Several wide- eyed (with fear as much as wonder) critics have tried to define the Shack Shakers’ sound, with the Guardian deciding on “a non-stop riot of blitzkreiging barndances, meltdown polkas and black-hearted blues”. The Mirror, in bestowing them with album of the week, said it the record was “a howling-at-the-moon mini-masterpiece”.
Nail down everything that’s loose and leave grandma at home.
TOMORROW’S free Yard Dog event at the Tyne Bar starts at 1pm and runs through until late.
The line-up includes the Austin, Texas AJ Roach Trio, Toy Hearts (Bluegrass), Los Yobos (western swing), Ratty & the Shotkickers (Rockabilly), Staggering Jon Lee & His Lo-Life Drifter, Shipcote & Friends, Caroline Mary, mark Berserk and Jack Wilkinson.
The day is likely to include further guests/surprises!
ON SUNDAY, as part of the SummerTyne festival, there is a Bob Marley tribute concert at The Sage.
Janet Kay, remembered for her Silly Games No 1 single, leads the charge. Ex-Cimarons singer Winston Reedy – a big success at the Boss Sounds 2007 festival – lends his sweet voice to proceedings along with Earl 16, Prince Malachi and Michael Prophet.
There is also a free (outdoor) afternoon event of Latin American/ Jamaican music which starts at 1pm. The outdoor fun (outside the Sage’s east door) culminates with a Boss Sounds Earl 16/Prince Marachi show which runs from 5.45pm to 7pm. The main event starts at 8pm.
THE Sage’s Hall One has an even more diverse musical bill on the same night. Principal guest is the singer Mayra Andrade, from the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde, just off the coast of Senegal, West Africa. Mayra is actually Cuban-born but now based in Paris and she completes the geographically exotic background by fronting a Brazilian band!
Her melodic sound is at times jazzy and also hints at bossa nova. She shares the bill with the ever-inventive and charismatic acoustic guitarist Antonio Forcione. His music is drawn from various sources and incorporates percussive effects and no shortage of humour.
FINALLY, the Saville Exchange in Howard Street, North Shields – more frequently a venue for traditional/classic jazz – has a couple of Australian visitors tonight.
Bluehouse, Jacqueline Walter and Bernadette Carroll are noted for their strong harmonies and vibrant stage act of folky-acoustic pop. They are mid-tour in Europe with ace-guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, who produced the latest Bluehouse CD, One More Kiss.
(c) 2008 Evening Chronicle – Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.