JENNY COLQUITT
This was Jenny’s first appearance at LRB and it won’t be her last, such was the impression she made from the first notes of How Do You Feel to the last notes of Fields Of Gold.
The gentle introduction of this song and slow build, set the tone for the rest of her performance, light and shade, emotion, honesty and feel… We had more than our fair share of Pin Drop moments as we enjoyed a mix of styles from Jenny. The next song Lost Animals is an analogy for us all to consider as we make our ways through life…
Captain Tom was a song tribute to the inspiration of Captain Thomas Moore, before Jenny dons her harmonica for a fun song about divorce… laughs Lady Arronrowe.
Little Blue Boy is a song about dreaming, a gentle tune interspersed with some more lovely harmonica.
So now Jenny moves to the LRB house piano (Roland RD-64) with a song from her 2020 EP Dear Daughter. Her confidence at the instrument and voice control stood out to the captivated audience as she progressed through a series of sad songs. Wide Open Spaces, Tell Me Where The Light Is, the title track of her album, Something Beautiful. A song she normally plays with her full band (ELY) so it was stripped back tonight.
Jenny gave a shout out to Paul who brought Jenny to the LRB’s attention as she plays his request, Black Smoke, another of her band’s songs. Soldier Of The Modern Day is Jenny’s latest single and was followed by Dirty Town inspired by her home town Widnes.
To close the show Jenny took inspiration from the late great Eva Cassidy and covered her version of the Sting song Fields Of Gold, after she gave thanks to the very attentive audience who had loved every moment of her set, the applause expressed it all…
Thank you Jenny Colquitt.
CONNOR SELBY
After the amazing food break courtesy of Lyn and her team and as a complete contrast to Jenny Colquitt, we have a night of contemporary, and traditional blues/rock from the Conner Selby Band who opened with Falling In Love Again, track 2 from his self titled album.
Stevie Watts made his presence known from the outset with some great organ solos prior to Conner playing some blues in the classic style you come to expect from the man…
I can’t Let You go The opening track from the album follows on a similar theme and with the backing of Mat Hector, Drums, Sonny Winslow, Bass and Joe Anderton on Rhythm Guitar, who made a great foil for Conner’s blues expression.
My Baby Don’t dig me, A Ray Charles cover continues to show what this band can do…
Conner says, “it’s time to slow things down” with If You Gonna Leave Me. Track 3 from the album and Stevie Watts brings more of the keyboard magic to the fore… Watching him, you can see just how much he enjoys his instrument putting his whole being into it… as do they all in reality.
I Shouldn’t Care is a new song that brought to mind early Eric Clapton and the British Blues Revival of the 60’s which was followed by Goin’ Down Slow A Bobby Bland number from the 70’s. You can tell where Conner’s influences lie and the whole band is true to them.
The Man I Ought To Be is a great laid back blues that reminded me of Sam Lewis, with a lovely guitar solo from Joe Anderton, who also played a great solo on Show Me A Sign, a great artist in his own right, as we found out after he performed a last minute solo set in Billericay for Paul Carr. Track 5 from the album.
It was great to just lose yourself in the groove of In The Deep End as Stevie Watts Traded licks with Conner Selby through an extended set of songs with the aforementioned rock solid backline of drums, bass and guitar.
The extended sounds of B.B.Kings How Blue Can You Get, and Conner’s That’s Alright, and When I Needed You, along with, Keep On Singing The Blues, Show Me A Sign & Emily (Written by Joe) echoed through the ether at LRB.
You hire a blues band? you get the blues… It’s a rare treat to enjoy a blues band of this stature in such an intimate environment, especially with Simon Allen in charge of the sound.
In the great tradition of the blues, these guys could have played all night if we let them, much like a legendary Springsteen concert, but we have a curfew to honour and so the evening ended with The Blues permanently infused into the walls of the LRB once more, along with such greats as Grainne Duffy, Deborah Bonham, Janet Robin, Anne McCue, Elles Bailey and many more… We have been blessed with so much talent over the years, that’s for sure…
THE MAN HIMSELF
MAT HECTOR | DRUMS
STEVIE WATTS | KEYS
SONNY WINSLOW | BASS
JOE ANDERTON | GUITAR | VOCALS
THE BAND
Editor:
Thanks to CONNOR SELBY and JENNY COLQUITT for a brilliant evening. Thanks to the outstanding players including Joe Anderton on guitar, Stevie Watts on keys, Mat Hector drums, Sonny Winslow bass with Connor Selby.
Thanks to everyone involved with the production: Simon Allen sound engineer; The fabulous little rabbit crew of Chris on video cameras and setup, Stan on setup and artist merchandise, Stan and Dave on guest list, Brian running Little Rabbit Bar and big thanks to Chris for helping Lyn with food. Paul and Karen on cleardown
Video credits: J
Photography: Andy Sheard, Alan The Hat, Chris Kyan
AV editing & audio mix: J
To all wonderful LRB guests and friends who support live music at LRB, big thanks and hope to see y’all next time
We will be back and ready to welcome TAMARA STEWART on 03 September 2022.
Best wishes, Keep Safe & See Y’all soon
The LRB team