Monday, June 25, 2007

live stuff: lost ladies of folk at queen elizabeth hall, 23/6/07

One of the last gigs of Jarvis Cocker's "Meltdown" festival was this performance of some little-known women singers given recent exposure on Finders Keepers' "Bearded Ladies" compilation of folk/acoustic music. The first half of the evening featured three U.K.-based artists, Emma Tricca, Cate Le Bon and Jane Weaver, singing to their own acoustic guitar accompaniment. Later, three U.S./Canadian singers sang selections backed by the High Llamas + string quartet, with arrangements by Sean O'Hagan. Most of these songs had not been aired publicly since being recorded on late sixties albums which were either never released or quickly disappeared from view. Consequently all three of the singers--Susan Christie, Wendy Flower (one half of the duo Wendy and Bonnie) and Bonnie Dobson (no relation)--understandably seemed really chuffed to get the opportunity to dust these old songs off and bring them to a new audience nearly forty years after the event. Great credit to Andy Votel and Finders Keepers for uncovering these lost gems.
(Read a blow-by-blow account here: scroll down...)

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