Whilst unfortunately I didn't manage to make the Jane Siberry 'meet & greet' yesterday (did any UK jmdlers get there?), I did make it to the Kate Rusby concert, managing to park on Waterloo Bridge, get a drink and watch the world and the boats go by on the Thames for an hour or so on a hot Summer's evening before the show. The concert was 'grand'! - completely sold out, with her new album 'Little Lights' already Number 1 on the UK roots chart only a couple of weeks after its release - Kate's voice really hits 'my' spot and her band are magnificent - each with their own successful careers - led by John McCusker of The Battlefield Band (Kate's partner) on fiddle, Michael McGoldrick on whistles and pipes, Andy Cutting on accordion, Ian Carr on guitar and Andy Seward on double bass. Highlight of the night, for me, was when Kate invited Eddi Reader out of the audience to sing harmonies on Richard Thompson's 'Withered and Died' (as she does on the album. Both of them are on the Compass record label in the States - (Kate at http://www.compassrecords.com/rusby.htm and Eddi at http://www.compassrecords.com/reader.htm. I managed to take a good photo of the two of them, if anyone would like to see. Kate's off to Canada and the States next month, playing at the Mariposa, Winnipeg, and Vancouver Folk Festivals before touring the West Coast of the States, ending at McCabes in Santa Monica on July 21st. Definitely worth seeing her, I reckon, although I doubt you'll understand her patter - she's broad Yorkshire. Last night she told a story about an American guy on her US tour last year who was asking her about "that song you sing about orphans". "Which one?", she asked, "I don't sing any songs about orphans", to which he replied, "That one about 'Annie'" [Her song 'I Courted a Sailor' has the line "I'm bound for the waves, the waves, dearest Annie"]. She told him that "not every 'Annie' is an orphan with red hair and a puppy, you know". Looking puzzled, he said, "Well, what's that about 'the waifs'?" 'Little Lights' is a little gem! PaulC
