Some people would take it as an omen if the first thing that they heard on the radio that day was a severe weather warning. However, gale force winds, driving rain and flooding do not concern a Bluesbunny in search of some live music. Come to think of it isn't that kind of weather warning just another name for the normal weather forecast for Glasgow at this time of year? It matters not as it is just another reason for staying in the pub. Distracting the Bluesbunny from beer at tonight's Free Candy Sessions are Dinny, Michael Jack, Any Color Black and Roger the Bluesfather.
First to attempt to tickle the Bluesbunny's ears is Dinny. She has gone all acoustic tonight rather than her usual ethnically flavoured ambient electro (see, we do actually listen to the albums we review!). It is all intelligent stuff too with the lyrics of one song - "Ghost" - based on actual poetry by some dead guy called Coleridge. Dead poets don't have lawyers so no copyright issues there. Her voice is confident and assured and puts us in mind of Janis Ian especially on her own compositions. Tasteful and rather classy.
The next contender is Michael Jack. He's got a pretty relaxed style and shows a deft touch on the guitar. Lyrically his songs seem straight out of the sensitive singer songwriter songbook but "Magic Three" did stand out. Certainly you can see that he could well achieve commercial success as his songs are likeable and inoffensive as indeed he is too. He gets a good response from the audience too and that is always a good sign.
Then Bluesbunny gets smacked in the face. Wake up boy because you are in the presence of some real talent and you should be paying proper attention. Any Color Black take to the stage. There are two of them - Andy on guitar and Louise on guitars and vocals. Looking relaxed, they have a playful demeanour that makes it all look so easy. In fact by the time they started their second song, "Kisses", Bluesbunny had forgotten all about his pint. Of particular note were Louise's vocals that were always compelling, even entrancing. The songs were a bit generic (although clearly scalable to stadium size) but how they were delivered was something special indeed. Even though Any Color Black were playing to a very friendly crowd, that indefinable magic called stage presence was 100% there (though we are going to deduct 1% for spelling "color" the American way) and the noisy reception that they got was well deserved. So two big thumbs up or however that saying goes.
Rounding things off was Roger (the Bluesfather). Unfortunately for him, the audience all but disappeared when Any Color Black left the stage. A bit of a shame really as he is a polished act. His left handed guitar playing is right on the money and his songs show the sentiment and humour that comes with maturity (nearly said age there…). It seems that he also performs in a variety of bands in Edinburgh and the North East of England too so it was a pity that more people did not stick around to listen to him. "Photographs" was a damn fine song but the audience was not there to appreciate it. Shame.
You won't need psychic powers to work out that Any Color Black won the award for distracting Bluesbunny from his beer tonight. Time for some chicken pakora to celebrate. That's all for tonight!