JENNY COLQUITT | RACHEL CROFT | Saturday 04 March 2023

2023 and the stars aligned for this gig with Rachel Croft, her first appearance at LRB, and the welcome return of Jenny Colquitt, this time with a full band who overcame many challenges to make the show. 

Rachel Croft opened with the haunting sound of Only Dreams, the first song she wrote that convinced her she could write songs bigger than ‘one woman one guitar’, ironically performed as ‘one women one guitar’. The tones of her beautiful white Telecaster and Rachel’s immaculate voice drifted across the barn with a sound fit for a cathedral. 

That earned whoop’s and applause from the audience at the very start as Rachel eases us in with a rare love song written from her personal experience. Deep Water. Both these songs and many more from tonight can be found on her Album LIVE AT CROOKED ROOM STUDIO.

Weaver Bird is a beautiful lullaby, also on the album, a song described as “something that has always existed” by a musician friend of Rachel’s. This accolade gave Rachel the confidence to release and perform it and we should all be so thankful she did…and here it is! 

Now we have a song about a man who had the misfortune of crossing Rachel somehow… A pastiche of a James Bond theme for sure… (Included on a BBC Teen drama too). You can see why when you hear it… Reap What You Sow. The smile on Rachel’s face as she sang this shows how much she was enjoying the payback. 

Hurricane was written to rebel against the genre record companies like to box Rachel into, so Weaver Bird and Hurricane are the Yin and Yang of her personality, you can’t fence Rachel in…so good and here it is!

Next, an unreleased song, inspired by the banBlue Violet and their sassy attitude. A Devil By Any Other Name. A song spattered with Shakespearean misquotes that Rachel invites us to count… The whistling solo drew its own worthy  applause… 

Back to her folky roots with the third song Rachel ever wrote, at 4 am on a November Morning. (She likes to write this way) This album has been deleted now as by her own admission “It wasn’t good enough”. Luckily the song Rainier Day from said albumhas been re released on the new album simply because it is superb and people like it. As if we wouldn’t post this one!

Time for a cover of a cover that not many females cover, Tennessee Whiskey, written by  Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove and made famous by Chris Stapleton on his TRAVELLER album.  That was a joy to hear sung by such an accomplished singer as Rachel Croft and she is clearly enjoying her time on the LRB stage, relaxed, confident and self deprecating but holding us spell bound all the same. 

Being six foot tall Rachel tells us laughingly, she is glad she didn’t bring her massive heels whilst she avoids the beam when changing instruments to a beautiful acoustic guitar tuned to DADDAD. (Not DADGAD). Rachel does her own thing and is not afraid to change stuff about in any aspect of her music. 

Youth Is Wasted On The Young is the first of three songs with this guitar, to close the set. An unreleased I’ll See You is next, a song about being haunted by the silly things we may have done and forgiving ourselves as this was the path that led us to where we are now. 

Rachel now give thanks to the LRB crew before the official last song, Storm Song with lots of reverb in an attempt to sound somewhat like Enjabecause Rachel likes it this way. We are back in that Cathedral Of Sound conjured up by Simon and Q at the sound desk. 

We couldn’t let it go there as Rachel, back on the Telecaster, decided to play an Elvis cover I can’t Help Falling In Love With You. 

If you come to the LRB, you are part of the show and it didn’t take long for the many singers in the audience to join in for what was to be a beautiful close to an amazing set from Rachel Croft.

After the amazing food break provided by Lyn and her merry band of helpers… (I still don’t know how she does this) and the opportunity to re set the stage, we welcome the return of Jenny Colquitt.  In what became a tale of two halves brought on by the major challenges Liam and Pete had getting to the gig. 

Jenny opened with a solo set assisted by two sound engineers tonight, Simon (who is on tour with Jenny) and Q, our LRB wizard. It’s great to see these two guys collaborating in a way we could all learn from. 

The opening piano and synth sound underpinning Jenny’s voice, once again confirmed we were in the company of a very special artist as she performed Tell Me Where The Light Is from her 2nd EP,  a song about loss Jenny tells us. 

After Jenny thanked Rachel Croft for her amazing performance and the LRB for hosting, she treated us to Feel Inside from The LOST ANIMALS album, another fine song, this time with the theme of sadness. 

I Am Yours (a song about addiction), follows. As you listen to the words, Jenny asks us to think about the addiction as talking to us… Jenny is not afraid to tackle some deep subjects with her songwriting, but the music makes it all so accessible. 

Now on acoustic guitar Jenny cheers us all up with some northern banter whilst appreciation the listening audience of the LRB before performing a new song Fading. A song that will grow and change as it’s performed more often she says. 

Jenny was relieved to be informed at this moment that her band have finally arrived… Lyn will be feeding them… 

This Side, is track 2 of Jenny’s 2021 Album SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL and Jenny explains that normally the sad songs are mixed in the set, but tonight, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are getting them all in one go. 

And now we enjoy another new song Without you (a song of loss) before a cover of the Eva Cassidy classic version of the Sting song, Fields Of Gold. Once more we enjoy that cathedral of sound as Jenny’s voice floats across the room. Stunning… and here it is!

Another short break follows as we get the band in after their traumatic journey to LRB, but what troupers? They didn’t give up, the show must go on… 

How Do You Feel?, track 8 on SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL, with its brooding opening, starts the band set. As the song builds it takes the sound to another level, Jenny and her band could easily fill the biggest of arenas… 

Jenny introduces the band to us all, Pete Muldoon on the Bass Guitar, Liam Kent playing Electric Guitar (very atmospheric sounds) and Josh Roscoe at the Drums. 

The City follows and can be found on the 2016 Ep THE QUIET KIND.

Soldier Of The Modern Day, is an epic performance showcasing just how big a sound a four piece band can deliver with such great songwriting and musicianship to hand. You will find this on The LOST ANIMALS ep or better still, catch Jenny Colquitt live. 

Lost Animals the title track of the latest EP features a great bass solo from Pete, a solo you might expect from a lead guitar. Liam plays some lovely atmospheric guitar also on this one. 

Shape Track 5 From SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL is next before a superb cover of The Boys Of Summer Don Henley.

 Jenny cannot stick to a set list it seems… From an audience point of view, who cares? When the performance is this good.

Jenny, always striving for the next thing, wrote Paradise on that theme, another epic song that would make a great movie theme. So good!

Jenny knows how to write songs to fill the big stage. I suspect that is where she is heading, and rightly so. 

Next she performs a song about her dog Spark (unreleased) and she proudly shows us all a picture of her Staffordshire Bull Terrier as she banters with the audience whilst tuning. 

That big sound is a signature of Jenny Colquitt and her music. It’s there on Open Pages and the brand new song Fallen Angels (Also Unreleased) Jenny promises a new album soon as she rehearses the LRB audience on their harmony part. 

You come to the LRB and you are in the band and tonight you excelled yourselves with some beautiful harmonies… The applause says it all as we approach the closing number Something Beautiful and it really is another superb epic Jenny Colquitt song. Wow! The crowd called for more with a standing ovation… 

So, after Jenny thanking everyone including Stan the merch man, we close with Dirty Town also found on The SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL album. Another unforgettable performance etched into the fabric of the barn. Thank you Jenny Colquitt. 

Editor: 

Thanks to JENNY COLQUITT, RACHEL CROFT for a brilliant evening …it’s so nice to welcome artists back to Little Rabbit Barn. Thanks to the outstanding players Pete Muldoon on the Bass Guitar, Liam Kent playing Electric Guitar (very atmospheric sounds) and Josh Roscoe at the Drums

Thanks to everyone involved with the production:   Q and Simon sound engineers; The fabulous little rabbit crew of Chris on video cameras and setup, Stan on setup and artist merchandise, Stan and Fran on guest list, Brian running Little Rabbit Bar and big thanks to Chris for helping Lyn with food.

Review: Chris
Photography: Andy Sheard, ATHat
Artist/guest hospitality: Lyn
AV editing & audio mix: J
Artists: Terry
Sound: Q and Simon

To all wonderful LRB guests and friends who support live music at LRB,  big thanks for filling LRB full like the good times and hope to see y’all next time

We will be back and ready to welcome GEMMA HAYES | DANNI NICHOLLS | SORREL NATION | Saturday 22 April 2023.
What a very special treble bill….thank you everyone for filling this evening full.

Best wishes, Keep Safe & See Y’all soon

The LRB team

Posted in Gig Reviews