Savage brilliance at Enzo.

October 14th, 2018

Grace Savage performing at Enzo, which was packed out for the whole event.

Festivals come and go throughout the Spring and Summer and nearly all of them are vibrant and special, not to mention really exciting and fun to play.

But the Words and Music Festival is really particularly close to my heart, and being my 'home' festival, gives me a chance to play a full-on part in promoting it and helping out as well as performing. 

Running a whole event such as this 'Enzo Acoustic Zone' which has over the last few years become a regular fixture at the festival can have it's own stresses, especially for someone with a natural shyness (or more specifically social anxiety) such as myself, and many artists in fact. Whereas in a recent gig, I allowed myself to shake off some of the pre-gig nerves in a run around a rainy car park, at this event I have to look after the other artists, help them to keep calm while getting anything they need done for them, liaise closely with the sound engineer (my good friend and regular music collaborator Dayve Dean in this case) and politely fielding any queries from members of the public, requiring me to suppress my own nervous energy and my natural desire really to get away from everyone, find a quiet space and maybe warm up on the guitar or dispel some nervous energy in some other way, in ways that I might normally do.

Anyway, any level of draining, nervous energy more than paid off by the bucket load both due to the incredible talent of my special guests, and the the wonderfully music-savvy, listening, attentive, music-mad audience that is a feature of this wonderful festival as a whole.

The soulful, earthy, gorgeous vocal tones of and wonderful new songs from Tiki Black, poignant, incisive, witty poetry of Oliver Lomax, the perfectly crafted songs of top producer Nigel Stonier and, well... what can I say about Grace Savage, a truly incredible talent, and a privilege to introduce her on stage at a point in her career when she has just been Radio One artist of the week, and with 4 titles of UK beatbox champion... just amazing.
Please do check these artists out.

So very privileged to have such huge talent at our #EnzoAcousticZone this afternoon @EnzoNantwich - every set was so different and so brilliant. pic.twitter.com/W1bCmKVL0D

— Words&Music Festival (@wordsnmusicfest) October 14, 2018

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I don't think anything quite this incredible has hit a cafe in Nantwich before. Live at @enzonantwich for the @wordsandmusicfestival earlier today - @_gracesavage - WHAT A TALENT! To my fellow rock-nerds, open your minds and check her stuff out!!! #Nantwich #beatbox #beatboxing #festival #musicfestival #cafe #pizza #espresso #artist #Radio1

A post shared by Jonathan Tarplee (@jonniegitahhr) on Oct 14, 2018 at 11:27am PDT

Words, Music, Emotions.

I'm delighted this year to have some serious involvement with The Words and Music Festival. The biggest small festival I know of & one which is held in my adopted homelands in the market town of Nantwich. A small festival by some some standards, but one which punches massively above it's weight. The hard work of the main organisers attracts some of the most iconic and interesting names from music, poetry and comedy in the country, nee the world, as well as giving an airing to a good array of under-the-radar talent. To give you an idea at just how heavily this small-town festival punches, this years line up included Ian McCulloch and Badly Drawn Boy, the latter of whom played a beautiful, intimate performance from which my heart and soul are still singing, from having experienced it, as I write, last night. Check out the full lowdown on this year HERE.

Photo; Chris Driver

I played a few tunes at The Vine's Acoustic Cabaret night following an astonishing set from the hilarious, cutting-edge performance-poet Luke Wright. Then the main gig of my own was at the lovely Enzo coffee shop, providers of officially (and actually) the best coffee in town (as well as pizzas, cakes, beer and pretty much anything else you might want). I hosted the event which also included very special guests & brilliant song-writers Chris Capel and Tiki Black who held the audience completely under their spell. A lovely event, a delight!

Please check out my brilliant special guests; CHRIS CAPEL & TIKI BLACK !

Thanks to all who came down, I saw many friendly & familar faces, to Tim and Dan for their help and to Chris Driver for the photos.

Nantich News also reported on the event HERE.

Galleries, filmed by sound-man on the night, & ace songsmith, Tim Lee and joined on percussion once again by Dan Logan.

Introducing Tiki, Photo; Chris Driver.

July 18th - Tiki Black's album launch (support at The Blue Cat Cafe, Stockport).

Regular readers may know that I shared a stage with Tiki recently. I was delighted that following this gig Tiki, as I've said before a true talent if ever there was one, asked me to support her at her album launch event for her incredible debut album "Out of the Black".

This was at the Blue Cat Cafe which I was delighted to say have a "no covers" policy, such is their commitment to the fostering of new music. Opening the show was the fantastic Darien Crossley all the way from Asheville, North Carolina. Sweet (and just occasionally bitter!) songs, beautifully sung and played. I must say during Darien's mine and Tiki's performances, that again the audience were really wonderful, hanging on to every note played or sung, you could hear a pin drop in the quiet moments and with great applause at the end of each song.

Tiki was of course, absolutely sensational again. I urge you to buy her album, you won't be dissapointed! I'm just sorry I had to go before the end to leave for the train.

Links to both these superb artists; 

Darien Cossley - http://www.reverbnation.com/dariencrossley

Tiki Black - http://www.tikiblack.com/

Another day, another gig, another train.

Stockport near Heaton Chapel.

The rather bloody marvellous Blue Cat Cafe.

The sensational Tiki black (sorry for the poor photo quality Tiki).

Thanks to Paul Fogarty for uploading this live video of "Beachcombing".

June 30th - A Slice Of Nice... yum.

Sunday afternoon.
I wasn't sure what to expect in the dark, but very cosey vaults of The Blackdog Ballroom in central Manchester. I say cosey, there were candles galore and squishy seating and just a couple of friendly organisers when I arrived out of the humid conditions above. The whole thing is in aid of the fantastic work of Forever Manchester who help local communities of this great city. Soon, others started to arrive and the room started to  fill up with music lovers and musicians... and what talent! I hope to catch up and hear the other artists who I missed this time round, but those I heard where inspiring.
I met Tiki Black who I have heard a lot over the internet and was delighted when i found, a few weeks earlier, that she would be doing a set so I would finally get to hear her live. Her debut album will be out soon and a "must buy" if ever there was one. 
First on was 19 year old Darien Crossley from North Carolina with a sweet, sweet voice and a nice way with mellow, dreamy lyrics and guitar with the odd nod to "bitter and twisted" from one so young. Very contemporary stuff. Then I caught Alex Carrington who was also great, but a complete contrast in style with jazzy chordings, and very percussive which got all the heads nodding and feet tapping.

Tiki Black, Majestic voice and piano.

Then came Tiki, the recordings I've heard were not to set me up for a disappointment, far from it. Tiki's performance was nothing less than mesmerising, majestic and deeply soulful. Her music and songs contain the wisdom of the mountains, or should I say volcanoes. As I said, her debut album is a must - but go see her live if you can too.
My own set, as with everyone else's was blessed with a warm, attentive audience who clearly love music, hanging on to every note during the performances and applauding enthusiastically after every song. What it's all about! Thank you to all involved and all who came along!

 Oh... there were cakes too!