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REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Katherine Priddy and John Smith, Selby Town Hall, 3/11/2022

John Smith and Katherine Priddy: “Quietly lovely”. All pictures: Paul Rhodes

ANYONE expecting fireworks may have chosen the wrong evening.

So often over the years, this reviewer has been left mulling on what if the performers on the same bill actually played together? The folk world seems more into this swing of things, through necessity and perhaps companionship on the road.

While the prospect of this joint concert between the highly regarded John Smith and rising folk star Katherine Priddy was enough to set sparks flying, the show was rather muted.

That isn’t to say it wasn’t quietly lovely. Priddy, in particular, has the gift of a lovely voice and melodies that feel timeless. With Smith providing extra steel guitar, the two created a beautiful sound that had the sell-out crowd applauding loudly from the start.

The fireworks that were on offer were of the indoor kind. Like in Elvis Costello’s song of that title, Smith’s material was situated in the domestic seam, once star-crossed lovers dealing with relentless normality.

A new tune, Lily, written with the great Joe Henry, bodes well for his next album. Smith has an everyman appeal, and his material expertly, without fuss or fancy, deals with very relatable subjects.

Katherine Priddy: “The gift of a lovely voice and melodies that feel timeless”

Priddy’s songs do too, although her subject matter is sometimes many centuries old. This Eng Lit graduate has used her love of classical literature to craft at least two fine songs, with Eurydice the pick of the two.

From the between-song tuning chats, Priddy sounds like she has packed in plenty of song-worthy experiences that hopefully can be played out over a long career.

The two voices blended well, although Smith had picked up a cold, so his normally smoky warm burr was more of a gentle breeze. This was not a Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood, or Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan study in contrasts.

Combined with a setlist that was pitched mostly at the same pace and on similar subjects, the evening was missing a note or two of variety. Priddy picked up on this, and they included her up-tempo Letters From A Travelling Man, which showcased Smith’s flair for country picking.

Over 14 songs and 100 minutes, the pair made a warm impression. Nestled in the lovely atmosphere of Selby Town Hall, it felt as though they were among friends. For an encore, they played their new single, a cover of The McGarrigle Sisters’ Talk To Me Of Mendocino (from Kate and Anna’s perfect 1976 debut album).

Priddy did a wonderful job with Kate’s song, her voice masterfully conveying a powerful yearning for home. By then we didn’t want them to leave, but the tour must roll on.

Review by Paul Rhodes

Take a bow: John Smith and Katherine Priddy at the finale
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REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on John Smith and Native Harrow, Pocklington Arts Centre, April 5

John Smith: “Great balm for a spring Tuesday”. Picture: Paul Rhodes

JOHN Smith has a slippers-and-onesie type of voice; soft, comforting and a little frayed around the edges. Performing solo, this long-postponed gig was a great balm for a spring Tuesday.

As other have noticed before, Smith’s voice does sound like John Martyn (in his mid- Seventies prime before his lifestyle destroyed it). You could imagine Martyn covering Town To Town, a memorable travelling hangover of a song.

Smith, as his name denotes, is a songwriter with the common touch. As is often the case for songwriters who emerge from the folk scene and then seek to take the middle ground, Smith’s earlier material was the most striking.

Hummingbird was wonderful, as was the encore Winter, played with his guitar on his lap. Many of the newer songs were less memorable. Not all, as Star Crossed Lovers proved, thanks to its more unusual arrangement (and even better on record with Lisa Hannigan guesting). Smith is looking to regain the momentum he was developing pre-pandemic, but his style relies on not trying too hard, and tonight he pulled this off with aplomb.

For performers unaccustomed to this East Yorkshire town, the intensity of the audience’s silence while listening can come as a shock. Smith seemed worried that he’d lost the room by joking about other counties.

He needn’t have fretted, as the near sell-out crowd were quietly but determinedly on his side. With his humorous, wry between-song banter, and hilarious way of dealing with false starts, he took the show firmly in hand and steered it to a successful finale.

Native Harrow: “Would have been worthy headliners in their own right”. Picture: Paul Rhodes

Before all that, Native Harrow played a very welcome opening set. After the musical imagination on display on their 2020 album Closeness, their pared-back set seemed a little spartan. Some of the more standout moments from the record were absent, Smoke Burns and Shake most obviously, so the set didn’t exactly grab you by your lapels.

The husband-and-wife duo of Devin Tuel and Stephen Hams have a more subtle approach, and would have been worthy headliners in their own right.

Tuel has a beautiful voice that she uses to supreme effect. In dress, and perhaps in musical style, Carole King or Judee Sill would be influences, but as she said at the interval, the heart music of Tim Buckley was at play too.

Turn Turn could have sat, broodingly, on Buckley’s Blue Afternoon album. Hams’ fluid bass and elegant guitar work embellished skilfully, all in the service of the song. Their songcraft has grown better and better over their four albums to date and their career also seems on the upswing. Hopefully both acts will return soon.

Review by Paul Rhodes  

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on University of York Chamber Orchestra

John Stringer: “Moulded University of York Chamber Orchestra into a fine ensemble”

University of York Chamber Orchestra/John Stringer, Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, February 23

THE big attraction of the evening was Mendelssohn’s Second Piano Concerto, but it was attractively preceded by Kaija Saariaho’s Terra Memoria and Britten’s song-cycle A Charm Of Lullabies, in the version orchestrated by Colin Matthews.

Despite this nicely varied menu, it was a slightly strange choice. The Saariaho is for string orchestra, which left wind and brass on the sidelines. No harm in that, except that the remaining pieces relegated the orchestra to an accompanying role, leaving it little chance to show its full colours. For John Stringer has moulded this orchestra into a fine ensemble – it deserved more exposure here.

Saariaho, who celebrates her 70th birthday in October, has lived in Paris for 40 years, although born in Helsinki. Her outlook is very much pan-European. Terra Memoria, which dates from 2007, is marked “for those departed”.

In under eight minutes, it articulates six different moods. Stealing on the ear as if already underway, it meanders gently, with snippets of solo violin: the string principals are a major feature of the piece.

It becomes a little angrier before calming into a plaintive, slithering motif in the upper strings. Still favouring upper voices, it then gets darker. Now laced with tremolo, it becomes more insistent as it gains in rhythmic momentum and reaches a tutti unison, a most effective climax.

Thereafter it slows into something more diffuse, echoing the opening. Although not specifically in a minor key, it has the feeling of one.  The orchestra approached it tenderly, which made it even more engaging.

Time for another gripe. The printed programme fell a long way short of its usual standard here. The five songs of the Britten were neither numbered nor laid out properly, still less were there any texts, which is de rigueur for a solo vocal work. The concerto movements were not listed either.

This was especially unhelpful for the singer, Ellie Stamp. She was listed as a soprano, although the cycle is written for mezzo-soprano: Stamp’s lower range was not really strong enough, but when given the chance she showed plenty of heft above the stave.

Without the texts, however, it was not immediately obvious to the casual listener where she was, a task not made easier by Matthews running the first three and the last two songs together.

In general, despite the added intensity of the title song, the orchestra was a little too heavy in its accompaniment, with a preponderance of low tone provided by three double basses – at least one too many. Stamp has a good sound and a pleasing personality, but she was not best served here.

John Smith – he might be encouraged to use his middle name, if he has one – was the fluent soloist in the Mendelssohn. He graduated from this department last summer. He frowns a lot, no doubt in pursuit of expression, but otherwise is free of histrionics in what is a free-wheeling technique. The runs in the opening Allegro were admirably clear and he discovered plenty of drama in its development section.

He was inclined to over-romanticise the slow movement, which slowed almost to a halt, but when he increased the tone here it was out of scale with what had preceded it. His best was kept till last. His staccato touch in the finale was excellent; he maintained an exciting pace, injecting sforzandos without mannerisms, and the orchestra caught his enthusiasm.

Review by Martin Dreyer