| Reviews 2025 | |||
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Woodman Folk Club - Reviews |
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| The Salts |
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| Andy Whitehouse | 13 June 2025 |
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The Salts sailed in to Ashwood Marina on Friday(13th) with their own blend
of rocked up traditional and self penned sea shanties. The five piece
group of established musicians hailing from land locked Surrey did not
put a note wrong with an energetic, well rehearsed repertoire that could
make many bands think twice about their own careers. Described as shanty
punk, that was quickly dispelled as almost an insult to their musical
skills. Now known as nautical folk rock giving a much better recognition
to the band. Opening with the traditional Johnny Comes Down to Hilo, the band set the scene with a solid foot tapper and wonderful five part vocal harmonies that filled the room. Lee Collinson’s banjo playing driving the song and incidentally the only band member to grace the Woodman stage albeit some 20 years previously. Well worth waiting for the invite back. Hanging Johnny saw Brian Doran swap mandolin for whistle and another stirring rendition of a traditional shanty, Doran, Collinson and guitarist Jeremy Hart sharing lead vocals to great effect. Hart taking the lead on Good Ship Bess with a story about a former teacher. Lifted from their debut album, She Rises, the song affords the opportunity for the audience to participate in some armchair aerobics. Alabama John Cherokee takes a slightly different road, combining the traditional with the almost modern Back to Life Soul to Soul groove and to great effect the merging of two genres. Richard Nash and Tim Cantrell, drums and stand up bass respectively driving the beat under the recognised band sound. Silver And Shame tells the story of the gentlemen of the night. A more complex song than previous tracks but balances the set out quite nicely, Collinson’s slide guitar weaving throughout and Doran’s whistle give the title a lovely late 60s album track vibe. Dead Horse came to prominence for many on the Assassin's Creed 4 soundtrack and The Salts delivered a lovely version of the title with some fine fretwork from both Collinson and Doran. Come ill Winds is a sobering track of the slavery days of the Americas and the retribution we are facing today, Beautiful, deep, rich vocal harmonies and a droning bass set the song’s atmosphere perfectly. Closing the first half Nelson’s Blood tells the story of Nelson’s body being placed in a barrel of rum for the journey to London along Trafalgar Way. More armchair aerobics and singalongs for the crowd ensured We didn’t get left behind for a much anticipated second half. Hold The Line opens up the second half, a gorgeous song which could be the bands power ballad, a slow build of guitars and vocal harmonies, reminiscent of CSN in places which is no bad thing. Cantrell’s bass drone underpinning the song. Fire Marengo, a short and punchy song sees the vocals once again the highlight. Apparently not a lot is known about the song…….. Shadow Falls is a powerful song about the Battle of Donegal and is rooted in the Celtic vibe, Once again Collinson’s subtle guitar work cutting through this harder song from the band. A couple of songs follow about two countries which almost touch, Santiano and the snappy Running Down To Cuba, a song about the transportation of sugar around the country. The vocal harmonies once again a highlight and the middle section leaning to a salsa. London Town taken from the She Rises album is an up tempo tune which could easily grace daytime radio, reminiscent of The Wonderstuff in their heyday, a perfect sorbet before the last couple of songs on the setlist. The Bulgine Run, a song steeped in the early days of American rail and another opportunity for some audience participtation in the chorus. You could say always leave the best till last but the closing song Hieland Laddie just summed up an evening that was a joy to watch. The Scottish shanty began slowly and built to a frantic crescendo that left the audience with no choice but to insist the band were not going to leave the stage that easily. An acapella version of South Australia really did show once again the wonderful five part harmonies of messers Collinson, Doran, Hart, Nash and Cantrell and could have easily continued well into the night. The Salts are certainly a band that are, at least to this reviewers ears on par with some of the big festival headliners and they certainly delivered a well thought out, entertaining set to The Woodman. On balance, one of the best bands I’ve seen at the club. They are a live band and they won’t disappoint. Cropredy are in for a treat. Rob Hill opened up the evening with a short set of five songs and stories. Tempting the audience with a short introduction of Streets Of London before going into the Ralph McTell classic From Clare To Here which of course is a firm favourite with The Woodman. A couple of Eric Bogle titles, Aussie BBQ, quite apt for the time of year and the Dalai Lama's Candle, a philosophical look a life can do no wrong but Neil Young’s After The Goldrush was for me at least the highlight of Rob’s set, played beautifully and a song I hadn’t heard for a long time. Rounding off with a self penned Green Side of the Grass, a set all too short. |
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