It’s been a long awaited return to the LRB for BELLE ROSCOE, this time Julia and Matt flew in, jet lagged from Singapore after a massive 22 date tour of Japan, but that made no negative impact on what was a stunning performance…
After the rather comical explanation of their brother and sister status and how it confused the Japanese audience, Matty and Julia opened with The Canyon.
Matty created some amazing electric guitar sounds from his twin pick up acoustic guitar that certainly looks like it’s seen plenty of action on the road… This was just a taster for the impressive performance to come…
Julia puts her guitar aside to take up percussion duties for the Belle Roscoe classic…Side Stepping, track 2 on their 2013 album BOOM BOOM. This song has such a rhythmic quality it’s impossible not to be tapping your toes as you are drawn into the music… A song that sticks in your brain for sure…
Bad Man is next, recorded when they lived in Paris, a song about French men… Julia says they are best avoided… laughs… Matty could not say the same about French Women, as he married one…
This is again taken from the BOOM BOOM album. Julia takes a strong heartfelt lead vocal here… 
The LRB audience are clearly loving this as Matty tells us of their recording experience In Nashville with multiple award winning musicians, and their further experience of recording organically and by feel, the Nashville way, not the regimented way things are done elsewhere.
An album done in two days, not three weeks of over production. Love Is Gone is one of these songs that will appear when the new album is released. It also features on the BELLE ROSCOE tour EP.
Goodbye From New York, is yet another ‘one take’ song from the new album recorded with musicians from Jason Isabel’s band along with musicians from The Alabama Shakes…Good company indeed for this beautiful gentle soulful piece… Matty’s harmonica break here is a rather haunting addition to their beautiful harmonies…
As if the room wasn’t hot enough, Matty promises to make the room even hotter, a dance song inspired by being rejected on the dance floor by an unknown beautiful woman… Laughs… He tried his luck anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained… Well, he gained this song Let Me Cut In, again from BOOM BOOM. They had the LRB audience clapping along nicely as the tempo was raised with mote rhythmic percussion and the applause says it all…
A cover next, from their homeland Australia, originally performed by INXS, Never Tear Us Apart from their 1987 KICK 30 album. Again, Matty’s acoustic solo from this special guitar took the song to a new level… Great harmonies, great playing… magic…
A quick re tune and sibling rivalry on stage leads us to a song inspired by a three year drought on their family farm where Matty’s uncle Jimmy borrowed from the wrong people… When they came to collect their money back they realised Jimmy’s cousins were bigger than expected… They never got their money… Come Back Jimmy is the song from the 2006 BELLE ROSCOE album…
This led immediately into more hand clapping as BELLE ROSCOE perform the up tempo Soho Shoes found on the tour EP and forthcoming album. Plenty of audience participation was enjoyed as the LRB audience joined in with gusto…
We come to the last song, another new song after Matty tells his story about his visit to the Muscle Shoals studio and them gate crashing The Swampers session. This led to them enjoying a recording session with The Swampers where they recorded Rob A Bank, Matty also tells of how they met Elvis’s bass player who is a legend of his own…
Rob a bank refers to taking up every opportunity in life and was dedicated to the memory of our great LRB friend and irreplaceable stalwart, TERRY GOLDSMITH…
Thank you Belle Roscoe, another magic performance imprinted into the fabric of the LRB…
Lauren Housley and the Northern Cowboys
It’s always great to welcome Lauren and the boys back to the LRB… Mark Lewis, Bass, Thomas Dibb, Guitars… This time with a southerner Jarrod on drums and Joe on keyboards For the last night of this current tour…
The theme for this evening is Raising The Vibe as Lauren and the Cowboys are guaranteed to do…
The band strike up with One Step Closer from Lauren’s 2017 THE BEAUTY OF THIS LIFE album as Lauren takes the stage and the tone is set for another great performance. Tom, plays some lovely guitar breaks here that drew deserved applause this early on…
The band move straight into High Time, then Something More, both from the 2023 SOMETHING MORE EP… A couple of gentle soulful songs perfect for a summers evening…
Lauren takes up her guitar on this next song, What’s Troubling you, Child? from her GIRL FROM THE NORTH album, after having given a shout out for the LRB team, telling us the story of how she met our dear friend Terry Goldsmith through Bob Harris, and how the LRB gave her their first Americana gig…
Next we enjoyed Stay Awake To Dream another great song from the GIRL FROM THE NORTH album. More spontaneous applause for Thomas’s guitar solo shows just how well these songs are going down tonight…
It’s Trio time, as Thomas and Mark takes to acoustic guitars whilst the stage banter flies regarding Lauren’s ever stronger Yorkshire accent… laughs…
Three Wishes is from the SOMETHING MORE EP and is a great song to showcase this trio’s harmonies, followed by The Song I Sing, the opening track on THE BEAUTY OF THIS LIFE…
Next, a cover song about Trucking and Drugs… Willin’, a Little Feat song from their 1972 SAILIN’ SHOES album… That’s real Americana roots, a style Lauren and The Northern Cowboys play so well…
It’s request time… always risky as Stan has a deep knowledge of Lauren’s back catalogue…
Show Me What Love Is from Lauren’s 2015 SWEET SURRENDER album… and was played at Stan’s request… Such a beautiful song…
It’s back to the band now but Joe gets the opportunity to showcase Arcane Love, a new song from his upcoming album… Lauren was happy to contribute backing vocals as Thomas played some nice slide guitar… That was a lovely catchy number that sticks in your brain…
So, it’s time for more new songs from Lauren, written after they visited Muscle Shoals where they also met and interviewed Candy Staton for a yet to be released documentary they filmed… This led to Keep on Humming inspired by Candy’s humming philosophy to clear your mind…
Early Days is another new song, Lauren tells us how it’s always nerve wracking to perform new music for the first time, but the LRB is a safe place to do it…
Lauren gives a shout out to BELLE ROSCOE before we enjoy something funky, another new song Tell Me What You’re Hiding. That had people clapping from the outset and gave Thomas another chance to shine on guitar, but the whole band were tight and rocking…
The Sky Tonight is yet another new song and a potential new single with a nice anthem style chorus you can’t help but sing along to…
Lauren and the boys have been doing a lot of writing lately as we can see, and it’s time for some Good Vibes another new up tempo number to Raise The Vibe (As it says on the tour T Shirt)
That certainty got the LRB crowd clapping and foot stomping… If you come to the LRB you are part of the band…
So we come to the last number, an uptempo sing-along that made it to the RADIO 2 playlist, but you can now hear it in Tesco, B&M and the like… This Ain’t The Life…
The applause said it all, we couldn’t stop there, we never can…
“This is a camp fire song where we can all do some singing”, Lauren tells us… and we did…
All You Need Is A Friend… By now we are all friends at the LRB, United by such great music played by some of the most talented players around today…
Thank you LAUREN HOUSLEY AND THE NORTHERN COWBOYS.
Thank you to
LAUREN HOUSLEY with THE NORTHERN COWBOYS | BELLE ROSCOE
This was another fabulous evening of the highest quality to follow on from last month’s show with Rachel Croft and Stephanie Lambring
Thanks to everyone involved with the production: James, sound engineer and Geoff our lighting tech; The fabulous little rabbit crew of Chris on video cameras and setup, Stan on setup and artist merchandise; Lyn with artis and guest hospitality; Brian running Little Rabbit Bar and big thanks to Chris and Rebecca, Bob for assistance on the evening. Chris, Karen and Paul with takedown
Special mention for the excellent sound production by James Korniej who was making a first LRB appearence as sound engineer.
Review: Chris. Lauren Housley in progress
Video cams: Chris
Photography: Andy Sheard and Alan May (ATH)
Artist/guest hospitality: Lyn
Artist Merchandise: Stan
AV editing & audio mix: J ( we’ll slot in some vids soon)
Artists: The late Terry Goldsmith
Sound: James Korniej
Lighting crew: Geoff Lee
To all wonderful LRB guests and friends who support live music at LRB, big thanks for filling LRB full and hope to see y’all next time. Big thanks to all the new guests and all your lovely comments.
We will be ready to welcome back EVE SELIS with HOLLY CARTER plus FLORENCE SOMMERVILLE on Saturday 19 July 2025.
Another great evening….thank you everyone for filling this evening.
Best wishes, Keep Safe & See Y’all soon
The LRB team
