It’s a fabulously cold night in Camden but we are cloistered and cosy in the warmth of the bijou Green Note. Tonight’s sold-out show is the London leg of Dressner and Paulusma’s tour of England; the former is gearing up for the release of her new album in May, while the latter is promoting her current project ‘Pivot’, about which more later on. For now though, hush please, the show’s about to start…

Native New Yorker Annie Dressner takes the first set with Paulusma as ‘her band’ contributing harmonies and gentle accompaniment on guitar and mandolin. Dressner’s voice shares a pleasant Yankee curl with the likes of Annie Keating and Lucy Kaplansky but there are flecks of the mighty Nanci Griffith in there too. She has been gathering plenty of positive press since relocating to the UK and treats us to folksy songs of heartbreak and homesickness (apparently she came over all unnecessary at her first sight of UK snow earlier in the tour). Particular highlights come in the form of Dressner’s pair of recent singles, ‘Out In The Cold’ and ‘Nyack’. A break is taken and the pair swap positions, with Dressner becoming the ‘band’ for Act Two.

Polly Paulusma may have been largely absent from view in recent years but has remained musically busy. Since the start of 2019 she’s been releasing one track direct to fans each month via Patreon subscriptions and, by the end of this year, the two dozen songs will make up her forthcoming double album Pivot. As well as receiving tracks from the new record ahead of its 2021 release, supporters also get exclusive access to weekly videos and monthly live shows.

Paulusma kicks off the second half with the vintage ‘She Moves In Secret Ways’ (replete with Dressner on metallophone) before moving on to newer tunes like ‘Dirty Circus’, which wryly catalogues the trials of early parenthood. The set continues to ping pong between the old and the new, as she mixes songs from her (still) remarkable 2004 debut with more current material from Pivot. There’s little in between tonight, as 2007’s Fingers & Thumbs is neglected and 2012’s Leaves From The Family Tree is only represented in the form of ‘Last Week Me’. That song - with its time-travelling jauntiness disguising a more sobering centre - sets up one of the two remaining themes for the evening: “it’s all death and sex from here on in” she quips.

But death and sex have scarcely sounded more sophisticated than in the hands of Polly Paulusma, whose lyrics are littered with literary flourishes and poetic precision. Add in her singular voice - shapeshifting between Feistian hush and Joplin abandon - and an artful way with alternate tunings and it’s easy to see why Paulusma’s fans are prepared to invest in her musical future. ‘Dark Side’ and ‘I Was Made To Love You’ are both as affecting as they were nearly twenty years ago, while the eerie ‘Snakeskin’ and the beautiful ‘Brambles and Briars’ show that there’s plenty of emotional breadth and promise in the current canon too. Tonight’s performance, offering new discoveries and happy reunions in equal measure, has been nothing short of a delight. As her career enters its third decade, Polly Paulusma remains in a class of her own and it’s an indescribable joy to have her back.

Review by Rich Barnard

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Sep 28, 2024

Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets - London Palladium 24/09/2024 (Live Review)

Sep 28, 2024

Nick Lowe seemed genuinely surprised that so many folks had come out on a Tuesday night for the first show of his UK tour at the London Palladium. It was standing room only at the 2200+ capacity venue. This says much about the high esteem in which Nick Lowe is held as an artist and songwriter. From his early days in Brinsley Schwartz and late 70s solo chart success, Rockpile with Dave Edmunds and on through the critically acclaimed Brentford Trilogy of albums to his latest work with Los Straightjackets, Lowe has been a mainstay of British music for fifty years. Lowe is also well known for his production work in the 80s with the Stiff record label that included ‘New Rose’ for The Damned and a run of classic albums for Elvis Costello. I’m pleased to report that, even at 75, Lowe shows no signs of slowing down, and he looks to be enjoying keeping things fresh with Los Straitjackets.

Sep 28, 2024

Aug 1, 2024

Kelsey Michael + The Happy Couple - Green Note, London 29/07/2024

Aug 1, 2024

The unpredictable UK weather has taken a turn for the better, and it’s positively steamy in the Green Note basement. For those yet to sample the charms of this most intimate of venues, imagine your living room with a bar at one end, but probably smaller. A sold-out venue makes for a cosy experience, so we grab a beer and a spot by the bar in preparation for this evening's entertainment brought to us by Brian and the good folks at Dimple Discs.

Aug 1, 2024

Dec 1, 2023

Sophie B. Hawkins - The Forge, Camden 26/11/23

Dec 1, 2023

It’s a cold, wet November evening in Camden Town, but I’m happy to ignore the inclement weather as The Forge is hosting the first London show in almost two decades by Sophie B. Hawkins. The singer is in town promoting her ‘Free Myself’ album, released earlier this year after another lengthy gap - in this case, a mere eleven years. Time sure does fly. It’s my first time at The Forge, just a few yards off the main drag, an unassuming entrance opening out into a decent-sized space with a balcony for the VIP experience. I’m running a little late, but I’ve just enough time to grab a beer and a spot by the mixing desk as Sophie’s three-piece band (drums, bass, keys) takes to the stage.

Dec 1, 2023

Nov 22, 2023

Joby Fox - Green Note, Camden 20/11/23

Nov 22, 2023

For me, Green Note in Camden Town remains one of the best venues in London. I have seen some great shows there in recent years, but it was my first time down in the Basement Bar, which makes the intimate confines of the main room upstairs seem positively palatial by comparison. If we were to talk about interesting characters with a story to tell, Joby Fox would certainly qualify, so Green Note was the ideal venue to get to know Joby Fox a little better.

Nov 22, 2023

Jun 28, 2023

Tara MacLean + Edwina Hayes – Camden Club, London 30/05/2023

Jun 28, 2023

There’s something about the Camden area of London that has defiantly resisted gentrification and the seemingly inevitable advance of big corporate names. You’ll see the odd famous name coffee shop, but generally, the corporate giants feel like temporary intruders just passing through. The short walk from Camden station, over the canal and up to Chalk Farm for this evening’s entertainment feels bohemian and otherworldly. The area is home to the outsider and those rooted in the arts, with a hint of danger, amongst other things, hanging in the early evening air as you walk past the various chancers, reprobates and not one, but two charity organisations trying to make a difference by offering hot meals from temporary street stalls. For an artist such as Tara MacLean, who had an unconventional (to put it mildly) upbringing in the wilds of Canada fraught with danger and uncertainty - that would most certainly be considered outside the norm - it seems strangely fitting that she should find herself telling stories and singing songs in the Camden Club, an intimate venue with a blink you will miss it, black entrance staircase leading to a large door, complete with a ridiculously oversized door handle, that looks like it should have its own portcullis and a moat.

Jun 28, 2023

May 27, 2023

The Milk Carton Kids + Jesca Hoop - Union Chapel 20/05/23

May 27, 2023

As the audience settle themselves among the pews in the Union Chapel, the vacant stage is as uncluttered as it gets: a solitary central mic and two empty guitar stands. That’s it. I would wager that the sleep of the tour manager is long and undisturbed on this one. Also onstage, dwarfing all else, is a massive stone pulpit, lest we forget we are in a place of worship. Those guitar stands, of course, belong to Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, the titular Milk Carton Kids who have sold out tonight’s show, timed to coincide with the release of their new album, I Only See The Moon.

May 27, 2023

Mar 10, 2023

Suzanne Vega – Royal Festival Hall 02/03/23

Mar 10, 2023

I could call Suzanne Vega the godmother of modern folk; I could call her a craftswoman of songs both wise and timeless; a simultaneous master of simplicity and depth. A legend? Maybe. An icon? Definitely. I could say that her fiercely poetic and melodic vignettes are woven into the fabric of a generation; inspiring millions to pick up guitars and pick out their own truths, stories and emotion. I could say I’m a fan. But you probably already worked that one out.

Mar 10, 2023

Feb 23, 2023

Jesse Malin + Trapper Schoepp - The Garage, London 17/02/2023

Feb 23, 2023

The Garage in London’s Highbury area is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, and there are few better places to see a live band in the capital. Originally a Temperance Billiard Hall, the venue supposedly served great pies but was typical of such establishments back in the day attracted an interestingly varied clientele (In my head, I’m picturing a scene from Get Carter or The Krays). It became a venue in 1993, hence the anniversary, with Pulp as one of the first big-name acts to appear. On my arrival, a decent-sized, yet orderly, queue is snaking its way down the street, but I’m still able to get in for an unfathomable, to me, early start to find Trapper Schoepp is already in full swing. I’d forgotten how good The Garage was until this evening, as it’s been a few years since we’ve crossed paths, but with friendly door staff and clear as a bell sound, things are definitely looking good.

Feb 23, 2023

Feb 7, 2023

Canada House - Moth Club, Jan 25th 2023

Feb 7, 2023

On a facecrunchingly cold January evening, I throw myself selflessly upon the mercy of the bus gods, in a futile effort to travel in an approximately straight line from my house to the MOTH club in Hackney. For why? Well, it’s the second of two Canada House shows promoting independent Canadian artists and I owe them, frankly. Having taken a sabbatical from my regular RGM Maple Leaf duties, I feel it’s time to make amends with that wonderful country to which we are so culturally – and, of course, monarchically – connected. The shows are taking place as part of UK Americana Music Week and the MOTH is pleasingly bedecked with Canadian flags, to make double-sure we all remember which countries are which.

Feb 7, 2023

Feb 2, 2023

Canada House - Moth Club, London Jan 24th 2023

Feb 2, 2023

On a bitterly cold January night, the RGM team are in London’s Hackney, where I’m pleased to report, despite the multiple issues of recent years, live music is thriving with a wide variety of venues still hanging in there. Moth Club is one such venue, tucked away just off the main street but still, very much, part of the bustling Hackney ambience. The reason for our visit this evening is the first of two nights showcasing some of the very best Americana and Roots music Canada has to offer as part of Americana UK Music Week (that’s Americana Fest to you and me) hosted by CIMA (Canadian Independent Music Association) in partnership with Music PEI. Twelve acts over two days with a good mix of old favourites and new blood, so let’s dig in to Canada House.

Feb 2, 2023

Sep 23, 2022

Justin Hayward + Mike Dawes - Union Chapel, London 20/09/22

Sep 23, 2022

The Union Chapel is a Grade I listed Victorian gothic-styled structure constructed between 1874 and 1877, with further additions from 1877 to 1890. In 2022, the chapel is now a registered charity that hosts live entertainment, runs a homelessness drop-in centre and is still in use as a church. The octagonal building seats 900 in the original pews and includes a balcony level where I found a spot to take in the show. Seating is first come, first served, so you’ll need to get in the queue early if you want to warm a bench down the front.

Sep 23, 2022

Sep 16, 2022

Foy Vance + Gareth Dunlop + The Late Heavy - Eventim Apollo, London 03/09/22

Sep 16, 2022

The Eventim Apollo in London will always have a special place in my heart. As a (very) naïve teen it was the location of my first, big London gig. In those, pre-sponsorship days, it was simply the Hammersmith Odeon and for many of us of a certain age, it always will be. The art deco Grade II listed building with its 3600 capacity seemed impossibly huge to me at the time as Status Quo rocked out on their Never Too Late tour. I’d been bitten by the live music bug and, I’m pleased to report, never recovered.

Sep 16, 2022