Deborah Rose & Mari Randle Live at The Ginger Pig 5/2/16 by Graham Munn, Rhythm & Blues

Deborah Rose & Mari Randle Live @ The Ginger Pig 5/2/16

An unmissable evening of harmonic acoustic folk music awaited all at the tasty Ginger Pig in Copenhagen Street, Worcester. Needless to say, I was left standing, with all tables taken for what promised to be an excellent evening. It was interesting to see Mari as part of the duo with Deborah, having only seen, and very much heard, in the form of her alto ego with Vault Of Eagles.

The fine lilted vocals of Deborah Rose breathed into the cosy atmosphere as the traditional ‘Skye Boat Song’, told tale of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s escapade. A little more history was applied, with musical images conjured up by ‘The Foggy Dew’, of the early days of the Irish Uprising. It is worth mentioning, there is an excellent studio video version of this, from a session with Mari’s clan, on Deborah’s website. The duo turned the page to their own script, with a song inspired by a Tennyson poem, whilst staying at his cottage on the Isle Of White. Mari Randle was given the opportunity to demonstrate her acoustic guitar skills, strumming out the chords with a hint to the fire of her electric offerings.

An interesting project with the ethereal artwork of Edward Robert Hughes, is being exhibitioned at Birmingham Museums, accompanied by a loop of song written for ‘Night With Her Train Of Stars’, playing in the gallery, and performed this evening with Deborah and Mari.

A break was brought with the uplifting and involving Irish Jig from Mari, ‘The Rocky Road To Dublin’, an excellent high note to adjourn for a coffee.

‘Scarborough Fair’, is one of those traditional English folk songs we have all grown up with, and its impossible not to enjoy it, we did just that, before, ‘The Joy Of Love’, drifted through the air, beautifully floated out by Deborah. A duet followed, taken from their new CD ‘Birdrock’, with hints of Celtic seasoning, and the sea locked rock sanctuary that drove this song.

Mari worked her strings with a passion for the superb ‘One More Cup Of Coffee’, not a bad idea, its the Ginger Pigs own blend, highly recommended!

An enthusiastic single gasp from the spellbound audience, accompanied the proposed Christine Mcvie’s, ‘Songbird’, though the nod of approval probably brought images of Eve Cassidy to mind.

The evening pressing on, and lo, Simon Othen has entered the room, strangely with mandolin under his arm. ‘Truth Of The Matter’, that Mandolin added a lovely bit of sparkle to the closing, not least with Mari’s  brilliant acoustic and vocal lead for, ‘House Of The Rising Sun’, a song with traditional roots, given a makeover by ‘Lead Belly’, and made famous here by The Animals. ‘Little Beggar Man’, closed what had been an exceptional evening at The crackling Ginger Pig. I will be the first to admit, I am not the greatest fan of folk music, but in this environment, and brought with such beauty and style, its hard to ignore. A lovely way of spending a Friday evening in a wonderful little café, even if I didn’t get a seat!

Words & Photos Graham Munn
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SLAP Magazine, Page 39 – View original