Woodman Folk Club - Reviews

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The night kicked off with Velvet Green who not only gave us songs of their usual high standard but also compered the evening. They were followed by Barry’s rendition of ‘Friends in Low Places’ and ‘Live Like you were Dying’ before Pete took to the stage. He introduced himself by saying, ‘It’s nice to be here. In fact, it’s nice to be anywhere at my age’. This reference although said in jest has no meaning as far as I am concerned because I’ve always admired his brilliant song writing and his fresh rapport with his audiences, long may he continue. He did the first half as a solo performer and the second half with the band. Pete has a wonderful and relaxed style that immediately engages the audience. I particularly liked New York City 2.00 a.m. and the Charleston style ‘Tuxedo Bay’. Other songs were ‘That’s all right Mama’ that I remember as the single released by Elvis although it was originally sung by Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup and ‘Midnight Cowboy’ with Marilyn harmonising. Pete then went on to explain that for his wife of 48 years he writes a song for Valentine’s Day. “It saves buying a card”. The one he sang for us was ‘I want to lay with you’, an excellent song and one that he sang in the build up to the Open Mic UK 2011 competition.

After the break Dick gave us two songs then Pete brought on the band.
Then rest of the evening was a mix of traditional, country songs and jazz influenced music. I enjoyed all of it. ‘Lady of the Highway’, with Ken on harmonica and Marilyn on shaker, the Emmylou Harris song, ‘Queen of the Silver Dollar’, ‘Boulder to Birmingham’, ‘Somewhere in the Night’ all led to the finale of ‘We don’t Dance Anymore’. Praise also to Kevin on drums and Chris on bass guitar. I’m looking forward to the next time.