This Saturday saw another wonderful, warm and friendly evening at the Brecon Muse, with a full house expertly compered by Mr Phil Sheridan.
The evening started out with Cara Elin, a very talented young singer-songwriter.
Cara impressed the audience immediately, with her melodic and accomplished jazzy singing style, backed up by her delicate and rhythmic finger-work on resonator guitar. Her tasteful choice of cover versions blended well with her own compositions, in which intelligent lyrics combine impressively with musical influences from folk to jazz.
Her guitar style worked particularly effectively on a delicate version of Radiohead’s ‘No Surprises’, which channeled the quiet melancholy of the original perfectly. She handled the audience with great self-assurance, and we’ll definitely look forward to seeing more of her in the future.
Wild Willy Barrett’s Roaring Touring were making a very welcome return visit to the Club, and immediately charmed everybody with their deadpan humour before launching into a blistering-fast set of old-time hillbilly fiddle tunes, presented in a kind of jazzy skiffle style.
As the evening progressed they worked their way through an eclectic range of musical styles and instruments too diverse to list them all. However it soon became clear what excellent musicians they all are, in any style. Mary Holland’s accomplished and sensitive cello playing provides a warm and melodic underpinning to the sound, whilst Jane Williams’ singing, in both Welsh and English, is captivating.
Wild Willy Barrett himself is of course a famously excellent guitar player, sometimes throwing in a Django-style jazz lick, sometimes a flamenco flourish of deft fingerwork, then at other times a gentler more melodic folky style.
The three blended particularly effectively on some of their slower numbers, most memorably Jane’s poignant ‘Turn off the light’, and a lovely Welsh rendition of ‘Sylvia’ (special thanks to the band for doing a Meic Stevens song!).
The evening flew by, and before we knew it they had the audience on their feet for a dance to the final encore of the evening – an irresistibly funky rendition of ‘All about that bass’.
They’re a wonderfully entertaining and multi-skilled band, and the audience had a great time. We’ll look forward to seeing them all again before too long.
As ever, many thanks to all at the Muse, and to everyone who played a part in making this gig possible.
https://www.wildwillybarrett.com/roaring-touring
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100062294331257
Photos by Barry Hill
Review by Jim Kerslake
