The weather did its best, but nothing was going to stop us put this show on, the last of the 2021 season, a season that finished almost before it began…
So, tonight we had an old friend David Booth supporting Kelly Bayfield at her first appearance at the LRB.
David was sporting his new custom built fan fret acoustic guitar for tonight’s show as J introduced them both recapping David’s long history of support for the LRB. Kelly was clearly pleased to be here.
John Marney was the first delicate number before Kelly moved to the piano to play two songs combined, Sing and Hitchhiker, the first song being the result of getting the chords wrong whilst practicing the second song, she tells us…
Apparently Kelly can write songs on her guitar but does not feel confident to play them live that way just yet, that’s where David comes in… He has his uses… laughs, and so we have Bird Of Prey.
A Trip to Scotland for a songwriters retreat with Shelly Poole and Ally McErlaine (Red Sky July and Texas) gave birth to the next song Michael.
At this point Jonathan Evans took to the stage to play some Cello accompaniment for Away Away, A David Booth song and the title track from his 2018 album of the same name.
Wave Machine next, possibly the title track from Kelly’s forthcoming new album… to be decided… after which Kelly was pleased to thank the LRB team and Simon Allen on sound…
David has now changed to his hollow body electric guitar for Vapour Trails, the first single release from new album WAVE MACHINE.
This leads us to the penultimate song of the evening, and a cover of the beautiful John Prine song Hello In There. We enjoyed more lovely cello in all these songs.
So, to wrap up this set, a song dealing with grief in an uptempo fashion, originally written by David but re imagined by Kelly, Safe For Now.
Thank you Kelly, David and Jonathan, a lovely start to the evening…
Now we have the legendary food break where Lyn and her team do their stuff to see everyone is well fed and watered as we re-set the stage for what is to come. Sadly the raffle is on hold along with reduced numbers in the audience, to prevent pinch points for everyone’s safety in these Covid times…
Sean Taylor is clearly delighted to be back at LRB and we are equally delighted to have him back at LRB as he opens gently with The Only Good Addiction is Love The title track to his great 2015 album.
That went down a storm already and leads to Sean’s spoken word song he would like as a new national anthem This Is England… Rap at the LRB? who would have thought it? The opening track from his PATH INTO BLUE album.
Mike Seal is now invited to the stage with his double bass guitar for (The Optimists Blues) Life Goes On from Sean’s FLOOD & BURN album, 2016.
The Cruelty of Man Track 3 from FLOOD & BURN a song Sean jokes he wrote about X Factor… Happy in the knowledge we chose to go out and enjoy live music rather than watch TV.
A song about addiction, Heaven, is the opening track from the LIVE IN LONDON album which flows nicely into Hold On, track 2 from the WALK WITH ME album. Sean’s guitar pyrotechnics are coming to the fore now, he is a master of his instrument and the LRB crowd reaction confirms this…
Much banter follows as Sean tells us that by contractual obligation he has to do one love song, for all the ladies in the room… Whoops of approval from the ladies… Perfect Candlelight The opening song from WALK WITH ME.
The influence of Hard House Raves, from Sean’s younger days led to the ‘Folk, Blues, Psychedelic Hard House’ genre unique to Sean Taylor… Guitar pyrotechnics at their finest… She’s So Fine…Track 3 CHASE THE NIGHT. A guitar master class…
So, now to the piano for two new songs as Stan repositions the microphone stands…
Sean has a new album recorded and the first track could be the title track… The Beat Goes On.
Sean tells us this next song took 15 years to write, a love song for the sea called The Heart of The Ocean… Simply beautiful.
Time for a little piano boogie rhythm and blues… Way Down… with a great bass solo from Mike Seal. People often ask me, What kind of music do you host at the LRB? The real answer… Just great music…
Back to the guitar and a song dedicated to all of us for the hard times we have endured… The Path Into Blue… The title track to Sean’s great 2019 album…
As Sean pays credit to the opening act of Kelly, David and Jonathan, he talks us through all the different venue types he has played; but at the first wedding he was instructed not to play political or depressing songs… That left him with four songs and She’s Gone was not going to go down well… Laughs… Well, the song went down a storm tonight as we knew it would…
“Long Live Little Rabbit Barn” says Sean, as he thanks everyone before his last song, a football song.
Sean tells us he lost interest in Football after his first visit to Glastonbury festival where, incidentally, he met Mike Seal… You’ll Never Walk Alone as you have never heard it before if you haven’t been to a Sean Taylor gig.
Well, that was never going to be the end of the night as the audience demanded an encore… Sean tells how he met Barbara Nesbit and The Flyin’ A’s in Austin Texas who both played the LRB, the LRB goes global… Laughs. That leads nicely into Texas Boogie… and then, with instructions to sing along, a tribute to Skip James, Hard Time, Killing Floor Blues.
Just Amazing!
Editor:
Thanks to Sean Taylor, Mike Seal, Kelly Bayfield and David Booth. So nice to welcome artists, now old friends, back to Little Rabbit Barn.
Thanks to everyone involved with the production: Simon Allen sound engineer; The fabulous little rabbit team of Chris on video cameras and setup, Stan on setup and artist merchandise, Dave and Stan on guest list, Brian and Chris running Little Rabbit Bar and helping Lyn with food.
Review, Video & Picture credits: Chris
AV editing: 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 a popular return for MORGANWAY on 12 March 2022. Congratulations to them for the big win in the British Country Music Association awards (BCMA)
Best wishes, Keep Safe & See Y’all in 2022
The LRB team
Do keep a check on LRB website for videos and updates for 2022.
