The Rise of Morganway - EP Launch at Norwich Arts Centre

It doesn't seem possible that over 18 months have passed since I first saw Morganway play at Norwich Arts Centre. Even back then the Rumours (ha, ha, please excuse the pun) were that these guys would be Norfolk's answer to Fleetwood Mac. I didn't like the comparison then, and I don't like it now, but I can kind of see where folks were coming from. What I did realise back then was that vocalist Yve Mary B had a cracking voice, and that the songs were all strong and came with great arrangements.

Fast forward to 2016 and Morganway are back at Norwich Arts Centre, headlining a Tilting Sky event that also sees possibly one of the last live appearances by other local favourites Addison's Uncle, Cambridge country star SJ Mortimer, and Norwich singer Liberty Popey.

Liberty Popey

The event kicks off promptly after the doors open at 7.30, even though rumour has it that thousands are still attending a pro-EU rally outside Norwich's City Hall. You will remember that 56 % of Norwich voted to Remain, and whilst the meeting is unlikely to change the result, the gesture of solidarity has done the city and its people proud. Liberty Popey is therefore possibly not playing to as many people as a slightly later slot would have allowed. She plays acoustic guitar and performs mostly covers of contemporary songs by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Rihanna, and it is the latter whose voice is most suited to, not just through gender, but also because of the throaty soulful quality of her singing, and the interesting acoustic treatment. In fact, if she sang nothing but Rihanna and Beyoncé covers all evening I would have been quite happy. Perhaps it was nerves, but it was a shame that she chose not to engage with the audience at all, or introduce her choice of songs. Check out her videos on YouTube.

SJ Mortimer and 'The Band'

SJ Mortimer is a young country singer from Cambridge, a graduate of Southampton University, and already has a Nashville-recorded album under her belt. "Nashville Sessions" was recorded in 2014 through a combination of hard work, self-funding, and of course, some great songs. She plays Cambridge Folk Festival later this month, but tonight is the first time I have had the chance to hear her sing in Norwich.

SJ

She appears tonight with a really tight five-piece band that lines up on electric guitar, bass, fiddle, banjo and drums and is really well rehearsed - not at all like a  'backing band', yet that is how they are introduced. SJ (I know it sounds more American, but it would be nicer to be able to refer to her by her full name) certainly has one of the best country voices that I have heard in a long time, and belts out the words to songs about whiskey ('Fireball'), Tennessee ('Smoky Mountains'), and even bad Tinder experiences ('Play The Game') with the heart and soul of Dolly Parton and Joss Stone rolled into one smiling package. 'American Dream' sums up well the aspirations of this rising star.

Addison's Uncle

I've lost count of the number of times that I have seen Addison's Uncle play over the last few years, but I never tire of hearing Philip Pearson's songs of Norfolk tales and traditions, and of course the legendary route from Great Yarmouth to Cromer. I obviously blame the start of work on Norwich's own road to nowhere, our hugely expensive Northern Distributor Route, for Pearson and the band's recent announcement to part company at the end of the summer.

I know that many of the members of Addison's Uncle are already active with other projects - James Maas' new band Mammal Not Fish is getting rave reviews, and Georgia Shackleton is heading up her own trio together with Aaren Bennett and Nic Zuppardi. I would like to thank all seven of them for some wonderful memories, and some great songs. Somehow 'I drove my old Sierra, round the Norwich NDR' will just never sound the same, or give as much pleasure. Thank you.

So, as one local band prepares to bow out another is definitely waiting in the wings to seize the crown. Morganway have almost filled the Arts Centre tonight with an enthusiastic crowd who are baying with anticipation by the time the band come on stage just before 10 o'clock. With their name emblazoned upon their drumskin, a member of SJ's band sporting the T-shirt, and their name projected in five foot high lettering onto the stage backdrop, this is one hell of an EP launch. This band really mean business. Yve Mary B (yet another singer shrouded in abbreviations) is dressed for the occasion in summery dress and flowing purple scarf, and is flanked by the brothers Morgan, whilst bass player, keyboards and drums take up positions further back.

The set is filled with songs from the new EP as well as other favourites, and whilst the sound is strongly influenced by the music of West Coast America, this is a band that is clearly proud of their North Norfolk roots, and rightly so. Even the CD cover artwork, which sports a silhouetted photograph of the band on the back of what looks like a Californian surfer van is, as anyone who has seen the video knows, in reality an agricultural dropside farm truck. The video for 'It Ain't Just' is filled with Norfolk green and yellow, and I'm talking rapeseed fields, not football.

The set is an absolute triumph, and the band are clearly taken aback by the reaction and the size of the crowd here tonight. It is hard to pick out one favourite track, but for me it has to be the rousing 'Hurricane', a maelstrom of a song that whirls and climbs into a frenzied climax. They are off to play the Secret Garden Party and the Reepham Festival before returning to The Plasterers in Norwich on August 14th, and I understand that Yve is playing a solo set at my local, The Royal Oak in Poringland, on September 11th.

Liberty Popey Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/libertypxpey
Liberty Popey YouTube videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGu7mYh-yqNnPO_AzKzTnlQ

SJ Mortimer Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sjmortimermusic
SJ Mortimer website http://www.sjmortimer.net/

Addison' Uncle website http://www.addisonsuncle.co.uk/

Morganway Facebook https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=morganway
Morganway website http://www.morganway.co.uk/

Video for 'Ain't It Just' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26MMAprCp4g&feature=share

Nelson Expects 'Addison's Uncle' to Do Their Duty

It is always a pleasure to wander around Norwich Cathedral, and as the Spring brings the bulbs into bloom and the trees into blossom, the grounds positively bask in the April sunshine. Nelson looks down (with his good eye) and is surely very proud of this, his county, and Norwich, our Fine City.

And there is such a lot of which to be proud, not least our thriving and vibrant music scene. One of the most popular of our local acts is fronted by a songwriter that made Norfolk his home after spending childhood holidays here with his family. Philip Pearson now fronts 'Addison's Uncle', a stampy English folk band that has gradually grown in line-up, and acquired a loyal following along the way. Their debut album, 'I'd Like to Tell a Story' was released earlier this year.

On Thursday the Cathedral Refectory, a part of the 21st century redevelopment of the site of the original Benedictine Hostry, played host to 'Addison's Uncle', whilst Lord Nelson remained outside, surveying the scene from the adjacent lawns.

Whilst the band are more usually to be found playing in venues such as the Norwich Arts Centre, or appearing in pubs and festivals where their energetic brand of folk music can be appreciated and enjoyed with full abandon, the Cathedral provided a more refined setting for an extended showcase of songs. This included favourites from the album, plus a selection of covers (songs by The Waterboys and Charlie Daniels and Jack Johnson were slipped into the setlist). There were also new songs, including California Nightmare, which is not a gothic parody of  the Mamas and Papas' 'California Dreaming', but instead a lament to the loss of homes through tidal erosion of Norfolk's coastline.

The sold-out evening was enthusiastically received by the well-behaved audience at the Refectory tables. Perhaps as a setting for a folk gig this would be viewed by some as slightly left-field, although credit is due to the organisers for seeking ways to broaden the appeal of the their evening Refectory concerts. The acoustics of the room are superb, and certainly not marred by the business of the catering staff, who admirably keep working noise levels to an absolute minimum - something some other venues could certainly learn from.

So whilst decorum was maintained, and the majority remained in their seats, even during 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia', and the inevitably rumbustious rendition of 'B1159', a few familiar faces threw caution to the wind and danced a jig between the tables. As Nelson himself would have put it, Addison's Uncle would have expected them to do their duty.

'I'd Like to Tell a Story' about Addison's Uncle Album Launch at Norwich Arts Centre

Philip Pearson is Addison's Uncle

Acoustic, folk, indie? The boundaries that once separated fans of different types of music have blurred considerably since I was a teenager. The success of acoustic bands like Mumford and Sons, and solo artists like Ben Howard and Lucy Rose, seem to have spread the appeal of acoustic right across the musical spectrum.Which is great. A distant cry from the time when folk bands of the day, like Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention, played only to real-ale drinking purists, the country and westerners stayed locked firmly within their hoedowns, and the rockers wore platform boots and sported makeup, and glitter in their hair.

Funnily enough it was punk rock that smashed the cosiness of musical tribalism, and not long after that rules were laid down which basically allowed anybody to have a go at anything, with or without musical experience. This redefining of the process of achieving fame, or notoriety, may have been a universal leveller, but it does not take long for the wheat to separate from the chaff, and for the quality to float to the surface. Since then, good music has been available and appreciated in a much more egalitarian manner, and it can now be cool to follow jazz, country, metal and rap all at the same time, without having to tie one's colours to just one mast.

One of the best things to come out of this new dawning of musical appreciation is that it is now definitely cool to enjoy acoustic music, regardless of whatever else you might have in your CD collection or on your iPod. And, as an added bonus, acoustic music sounds great in a pub, fantastic in a converted church like Norwich Arts Centre, and amazing on the main stage at a festival. In fact, anywhere.

One of the best of Norfolk's 'new wave' of acoustic bands is Addison's Uncle, whose debut album 'I'd Like to Tell a Story' was launched at Norwich Arts Centre last night.

Fronted by Nottingham-born Philip Pearson, who literally became Addison's uncle when his brother became a father, the band has grown out of a mutual love of folk music, and acts as a palette for a variety of accompanying instruments and voices to complement Pearson's songwriting, guitar playing and vocals. The result is a richness and depth that can instantly switch from the 'stampy' crowd-pleasing of 'B1159', describing the 'alternative' route out of Norfolk from Great Yarmouth, to the poignant reflection of 'Uncommon Ground', born out two brothers separated by vast distance, or 'Lost At Sea' which remembers the Horsey fisherman lost in the 1953 floods rescuing fellow villagers from the tidal surge.

Shaped and formed with the assistance and the musical input of violinist Georgia Shackleton and the arrangements of banjo player and fellow guitarist Aaren Bennett, all eleven songs on the album are crafted pearls that are unmistakably Norfolk, yet with universal appeal.

Understandably, the album launch night was completely sold out, but those who did get in were treated to a jubilant set that included all the favourites, followed by a rip-roaring collaboration as the excellent support band from Lincolnshire 'The BeauBowBelles' returned to the stage to join in a frenetic rendition of one of my favourite tunes of all time 'The Devil Goes Down to Georgia'. The unapologetic pop classic, the Mumfords 'Little Lion Man'  is chosen as an encore, 'just as an excuse to be able to swear on stage' and gave the crowded floor one last chance to get 'stampy', before Addison's Uncle left the stage to celebrate, and begin their own after-show party, courtesy of local favourites 'Feral Mouth' who kept the Arts Centre reeling until almost midnight.

Video for 'B1159'

The album is available on i-TTunes, although if you are lucky (and quick!) you may be able to get one of these limited edition CD/DVD versions with the 'Live at Festival Too' performance from Kings Lynn as a bonus disc.

Addison's Uncle website