Reviews 2005 | ||
Woodman Folk Club - Reviews |
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The Edwards Brothers | ||
Bryn Phillips | 14 January 2005 | |
It was a good start to the evening with extended sets
from both "Nothing To Prove" and "The Bica Band"; both
in excellent form. Then on came the Edwards Brothers. I was expecting two
of them – Tony and Gary, but instead it was a band, with four musicians
on stage. Tony and Gary had been joined by a mandolin player and a
harmonica player. It was apparent from the first few minutes that we were
in for a good evening as it was obvious that they were enjoying
themselves. Mind you, it’s difficult not to when you’re performing
songs such as "Wiggle Your Worm", which started the set,
"Psycho Song" and "Grandad and the Fireman’s
Chopper". Who can be serious with songs like that? I couldn’t help
but think that they were a re-incarnation of Bo Carter – a blues singer
from the 1930s with an unbelievable collection of questionable songs –
which earned him the title "Master of Single Entendre". The
"Single Entendre" label could certainly apply to some of the
Edwards Brothers numbers! However there were other songs in the set as
well – "Angels Tears" and "Working Late" which
betrayed a sensitivity and insight in marked contrast to the clever
silliness of The Tiddler. There is a heavy country influence in their
music and for me one of my favourites was "The Outlaw Song", a
number which really moved along. Apart from a couple of standards, nearly
all of their material was self-penned; an impressive collection.
The mandolin, which was played mainly in a
percussive style, gave the band a good driving rhythm and the harmonica
gave them a really nice retro blues style. In fact, I haven’t heard a
harmonica played through a harp mic for ages. It was played proficiently
and earned a lot of well deserved applause. Nice going. |