Tag: Ben Parker

Posted on

REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Sons Of Town Hall, Selby Town Hall, November 14  

Sons Of Town Hall become the Sons Of Selby Town Hall for one night only. All pictures: Paul Rhodes

LIKE a pair of salty stormcocks, the duo Sons Of Town Hall seem to like singing in a gale. Two years ago they sang in the snow in Robin Hood’s Bay. Last Friday, with Storm Claudia sheeting down outside, this well-travelled pair produced what must be one of the gigs of the year at this fine old venue where the sound is always immaculate.

Ben Parker and David Berkeley are frequent autumn visitors to these shores. Their act (it is far more than a set of 15 songs) combines wonderfully timed humour with thoughtful, varied songs that are part heartbreak and part brothel and tavern.

They talked and sang about their hardships on the sea and the land (a fair metaphor for any working musician in the 21st century), but time and time again they find their moment in the sun on stage.

Tall tales in Sons Of Town Hall’s concert at Selby Town Hall

While Sons Of Town Hall seem to operate largely under the commercial radar, they find their audience by word of mouth (and the behind-the-scenes efforts by promoters such as Hurricane Promotions’ James Duffy).

Parker and Berkeley are more business-savvy than they let on, of course, and they have crowd-funded a very popular podcast and produced an album made to the highest production standards.

Audiences love them: this pair are twinkle-toed heartbreakers. The boots and hats may be old, but the concept still feels fresh as a night breeze.

Sons Of Town Hall delivering “new jokes (finally!) and, even better, fresh songs, newer even than those on their latest record”

This concert had something for everyone. For the uninitiated, there was the camaraderie, the bromance, the vaudevillian humour and the tall tales and heart-stopping songs.

For those who have seen them before in different times, under different skies, there were new jokes (finally!) and, even better, fresh songs, newer even than those on their latest record (Of Ghosts And Gods, out this month, finally!).

These newer tunes seem to be pulling in a more commercial direction, Bossman being the pick (and better than the Gordon Lightfoot song of the same name).

“There was the camaraderie, the bromance, the vaudevillian humour and the tall tales and heart-stopping songs,” says reviewer Paul Rhodes of Sons Of Town Hall’s performance

Parker and Berkeley have jostled with the setlist since they played in Ripon in May. Antarctica, their “hit” from the 1910s, was present and timeless, and older tunes such as Poseidon made welcome returns.

While their close-knit harmonies are their trademark, their musicianship is also of the highest order. How To Build A Boat was a good example. With their interlocking, separate vocal lines and clever use of their guitar necks and bodies to mimic the build, they inject magic. They also work themselves into a lather, never better than on the old gospel number I Saw The Light

We ended as is their custom, without microphones and up close on Cobbler’s Hill, their voices reaching upwards into the storm.

Review by Paul Rhodes

Posted on

REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Sons Of Town Hall, Ripon Arts Hub, May 17

Sons Of Town Hall: Riparian return to Ripon

THE return of Sons Of Town Hall is always something to be celebrated. Come fair winds or foul, this acoustic duo, who have built a whole world around their fictitious adventures travelling by raft, have a soft spot in their hearts for Ripon, once Britain’s northernmost canal point.

Having seen the pair many times, it’s fascinating how much people care about them, despite never courting popular appeal. Kind folk everywhere, including the Thompsons of Ripon, give them a berth, feed them, then invite them back.

A sold-out Arts Hub was only too ready to welcome them again, just as they had in 2017, 2019 and 2021. The pair may also have spent time in the Ripon Workhouse. You can tell by the way they manage a crowd that they would have no issues controlling a ship’s crew. With just a smile and a look, they can tame a crowd (although Ripon needed very little restraint). It is these warm moments of connection with the audience that summon the goosebumps.

Sons Of Town Hall: “Even William Tell couldn’t split their voices and they had us all singing”

While the songs are full of depth and emotion, it is the theatre and stories that really set them apart from most of their peers. With a hundred years of exploits to draw on, they will hopefully be spinning these yarns for many years to come.

Their tall tales between numbers are well travelled and really set up the songs. From experience, they were perhaps not at their absolutely best. Their jokes have landed better and the repartee has been both warmer and sharper, but their harmonies remain flawless and the guitar rang crisp and clear. Even William Tell couldn’t split their voices and they had us all singing.

We find our heroes at an interesting time. With two strong albums and a world-class talent, they could justifiably look to take their act to bigger stages and leave these homely halls behind.

“On their day, Sons Of Town Hall are the finest acoustic duo touring these rocky shores,” says reviewer Paul Rhodes

Their ambitious podcast, Madmen Cross The Water, shows them embracing our digital age. You wonder if they would want to. Or it might all go south, with Ben Parker becoming a Japanese axeman and David Berkeley free to run the hills of Santa Fe singing for his supper. Hopefully, the former.

Showcasing songs from their second album, Of Ghosts And Gods, the 90-minute set saw the old giving way to the new. Poseidon gave up its spot for the wonderful airborne New Orleans and St Christopher was supplanted by mutiny. There were a number of standouts. Wild Winds’ chorus blew hard, while Whalebone built slowly towards its crescendo.

On their day, Sons Of Town Hall are the finest acoustic duo touring these rocky shores. You’d be mad to miss them.

Review by Paul Rhodes 

Posted on

REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Son Of Town Hall, Ripon Arts Hub, December 4

Son Of Town Hall’s Ben Parker and David Berkeley at Ripon Arts Hub. Picture: Paul Rhodes

AS first impressions go, this transatlantic close-harmony duo make an almighty one.

With their well-worn schtick about being water boatmen on a junk raft, and laugh-out-loud turns between songs, they make friends and admirers easily. Fourth time around? Not so much, but even through a hungover ennui this was still life affirming.

Son Of Town Hall’s Ben Parker, from London and David Berkeley, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, are familiar winter visitors, playing before lockdown in Pickering and Grewelthorpe and York.

Yes, many of the jokes and the songs were the same and to the uninitiated sound similar, but they were delivered with such panache and obvious enjoyment that misgivings were soon swept aside. By the time the concert finished, the rain had passed and the sky was starbright and clear.

Lockdown hasn’t given the pair extra pounds, nor it seems a glut of new material. Instead, they spent the enforced down-time plotting a podcast that they have a Kickstarter campaign for. It would be great to see how their short stories develop.

“At their best, Son Of Town Hall combine their almost brotherly harmonies with the spirit and oomph of the music hall,” says Paul Rhodes. Picture: Paul Rhodes

Of the new tunes, Mutiny was a rum thing, but New Orleans was one of their finest. A tale of their love for a trapeze artist, they prefaced the song with a very amusing skit about their time as gofers for the jealous circus master.

Guilty of the charge of all sounding a bit the same, at their best, Son Of Town Hall combine their almost brotherly harmonies with the spirit and oomph of the music hall (akin to “a much-outdated ruin from a much-outdated style”, as Nick Drake once sang) but the better for ignoring the obvious.

Their one full-length record, The Adventures Of…, was featured extensively, and highlights included The Man With Two Wives and Holes In A Western Town (“sing it like you mean it,” they quipped). And sing we did under the friendly eyes of the operatic society serving at the bar.

Over one hour 45 minutes and 15 numbers, Parker and Berkeley, now recast as George Ulysses Brown and Josiah Chester Jones, spun a soaked web of intrigue and 19th-century bromance so real you could touch it.

The two are showmen, not just singer-songwriters (albeit world-class ones). Over five years into their voyage. you wonder how far they want to take it, or whether it’s all about the getting there that matters.

Review by Paul Rhodes