Serendipity is a wonderful thing. A few weeks ago I volunteered to review East Coast Fret, an album by local blues guitarist Michael Woods, consisting of instrumentals inspired by well known North East landmarks and events.
As you’ll know if you’ve read my earlier review of the album, I rather liked it. But here’s the serendipitous part. Not only did I get to review the album, but I also got to go to the album launch event at St. Mary’s Heritage Centre in Gateshead.
Now I’d never set foot in St. Mary’s Heritage Centre before and I can tell you if you’ve never been that it’s a fantastic place to listen to live music. There was a modest stage area, a few rows of seats and a little bar, all arranged to simple perfection inside a beautiful Grade-1 listed church.
Split across two sets, Michael played (with no slight accomplishment) tracks from his new album, peppered liberally with a number of extremely well chosen vocal tracks by the likes of no less than Jerry Garcia (‘Jack-a-Row’), Blind Boy Fuller (‘Weeping Willow’), JJ Cale (‘I Got the Same Old Blues’) and Michael himself, whose tribute to a recently disappeared local landmark ‘Goodbye Davy Roll’, proved to be one of the night’s many musical highlights.
Michael also explained the stories behind the tunes on East Coast Fret. ‘Split Crow Road’, for example, was where Michael purchased his very first guitar for the princely sum of £25, or, as he explained, the money earned from delivering newspapers for six months. ‘Celebration March’ was written in the wake of one of the rarest of footballing events, England’s 5-1 demolition of Germany. We also learned that for one day, while playing live in the late lamented Borders, Michael managed to outsell Take That. No mean feat.
All in all, 21 tracks of wonderfully serendipitous acoustic guitar blues, with a clarity of sound attributable no doubt in equal parts to Michael, his engineer and the unique venue.
Words: Neil Pace
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