Folk and blues joined forces on Sunday, as the MWR&BC teamed up with our friends from Brecon Folk & More Club for an excellent evening’s music, as usual in the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the Muse.
Expertly compered by Mark Duggan, we started the evening with a wonderfully folk-based set by Swansea’s Hermione Wild, who turned out to be a revelation.

Although Hermione has only been performing her own songs for a year, you would never know it – her songwriting is authentic and intelligent, infused with influences from the British and American folk traditions. She writes about the joys and perils of modern life, from the frustrations of dating through to the romanticism of single life in a her metaphorical Gypsy Caravan (or perhaps she really has one… who knows?!). Mark Duggan’s tasteful bodhran accompaniment on a couple of her songs added just the right element of rhythmic drive.

Hermione has a wonderful singing voice, with remarkable versatility across a range of styles. On her more traditional songs, her delicate DADGAD finger-style guitar accompaniment summoned up memories of Anne Briggs. A couple of forays into the American folk tradition evoked the spirit of Joan Baez. However, on her own material there is a softness, lyricism and expressive sweetness to her voice that is perhaps most reminiscent of an early Natalie Merchant.

Having been present in the Muse a year ago when she appeared seemingly from nowhere and performed a show-stopping a capella version of ‘The Parting Glass’, it was a spine-tingling joy to hear her sing this again… and indeed her lovely rendition of ‘The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood’ – both were performed with great sensitivity, emotion and authentic Celtic lilt. The enthusiastic audience appreciated her greatly, and would welcome her back anytime.
Steve Ferbrache is well known and loved in Brecon as the lead singer of The Achievers, who have given us three unforgettable nights of top-class musical entertainment in recent years (see the reviews elsewhere on this site).
Performing now as a solo artist, Steve is a man with a mission… to give expression to his impressive back-catalogue of self-penned songs – and perhaps exorcise a few of the demons that inspired them along the way… all of this delivered in his usual good-humoured and charmingly amusing manner.

In a solo context, you can appreciate more clearly the quality of his songwriting. Right from the outset, the remarkable intelligence and sensitivity of his lyrics is breathtaking: ‘Don’t be Fooled’ is intriguing, raw and stunning in its lyricism, but never for a moment clichéed or obvious.
Steve’s soulful voice and delicate guitar accompaniment provide a perfect vehicle for his songs. We stopped off along the way for a fine version of ‘Like a Hurricane’, capturing the plaintive nature of Neil Young’s verses from the obligatory ‘crowded hazy bar’.

And then, in the second half of his set – an utterly devastating performance of “the saddest song in the world” – ‘Kilkelly, Ireland’ by Peter Jones… delivered so perfectly that I can attest that at least two members of the audience were brought to tears, fumbling furtively for their handkerchieves.
By way of emotional recovery after that, Steve produced an extraordinary display of fingerstyle guitar virtuosity in the Jim Reynolds composition ‘Sweet Dreams’, followed by a fine version of one of our old favourites from the Achievers: ‘No One Remembers’, the solo context really highlighting what a great song that is.

Whether or not he intended it, the order of his set list seemed to take the audience on a kind of deeply personal journey through trauma, alcohol, anger, revelation, resolution and ultimately a kind of redemption with ‘Star of the Sea’. For light relief at the end of that, a fine encore of ‘The Cuckoo’ allowed everyone to sing along, and the audience left feeling uplifted and thoroughly impressed.
Steve did speak a bit about the difficulties of keeping the Achievers on the road – and it must be said that it’s crazy if even a band of their calibre can’t really make a living in today’s environment… it really makes the point that it’s more important now than ever to get out and support these fine live musicians whenever you can.

Thanks as ever to everyone who contributed to making this gig such a success, to the Muse for hosting us, and to everyone who came along.
https://hermionewild.co.uk/pages/music
Photos by Barry Hill
Review by Jim Kerslake