Tamworth Folk Club

Guest Night Review February 2009

Sarah Grey and Kieron Means

Since the Folk Club has moved to Bolehall Manor we now have the opportunity to arrange the venue room to display to the best advantage the musical performers who appear.

I am not talking about the regular resident bands be it The Old Castle Band or Mitres Well, the only way to display their persona to the best advantage would be to surround them with fairground mirrors, you know the sort that make you appear either smaller, taller, thinner or fatter, forget the last one, and all these make absolutely no difference to the sound.

No I mean that we now have space and the ability to provide P.A systems where required which produces a much richer performance for the audience.
And that is what we got on this night. When I arrived Stephen Edkins was busy setting up the speakers and fiddling with the knobs (a technical term) when he received a telephone call from our main guest Sarah Grey to say they were in Preston driving to us and may be a little late . Luckily our support band The Harpers have plenty of songs in there repertoire to fill any gaps.

Anyway, with a fairly healthy audience, I mean the quantity not particularly the medical condition, the evening got under way with Steve, Marion and Rob launching in to a varied and interesting medley of songs and tunes. We all see these performing at the club, either together or singularly, but it’s when you see them as an act; you appreciate how skilful they each are. They chose not to use the carefully arranged microphones, but perhaps they do not need them.

It was at this point that Sarah and Kieron arrived, having negotiated the vagaries of Tamworth’s road system, and it was evident that they had met Marion Harper before because the greeting was mutual to say the least.

Marion acted as M.C. for the rest of the evening to introduce Sarah and Kieron and they took up position carefully positioning the mikes to Stephens’s great relief so he could at last fiddle with the knobs again.

I for one had not seen our guests before but I have to say the music they produce is professional beyond belief.

Sarah’s voice compels you to listen to her with attention; it’s powerful and sweet at the same time which lends it to the Native American, Irish and Scottish ballads which she is renowned for singing.  Sarah accompanies herself on a five string banjo, I know what you may say about banjos, but her playing is not only emotional but is filled with warmth and spirit, and is technically superb.

With songs like Lazy John, Pretty Crowin Chicken, Down in Mississippi and Swannanoa Mountain, you could tell that she grew up in New Hampshire and heard a lot of mountain music and loved the old time banjo music and songs.

Kieron Means is the son of Sarah Grey and is a singer primarily of traditional songs but also of contemporary songs and a guitar player of great merit. He performs songs from Britain and the United States with a smooth voice with many self penned.

Kieron and Sarah gel wonderfully together and their instruments and voices blend perfectly. Over the years they have sung at over 150 folk clubs in England, Scotland and Wales and tonight they were at Bolehall Manor.

 

RDC 2009