Bristol Best of 2016: Americana Blues Country

What a year for live music eh? Regardless of your tastes Bristol continued to offer music for all palates ranging from small free gigs by local bands to sold-out international acts at the largest venues in town. It’s always fun to look back at the past year’s gigs and initially it seems like fun to try and rank the shows, and even make a list of your top ten but in practice it’s a bugger because each gig offers something different – the return of artists from “retirement”; a new favourite band discovered when attending a gig on spec (or when supporting); the long awaited arrival of a great new talent from overseas; a fabulous night of dancing and singing yourself hoarse – whatever the criteria the task is fit only for OCD fanboy masochists. Ahem. Here’s the B24/7 ABC top ten then, several hours of anguish requiring a spreadsheet and a complex ranking system that was ultimately overturned by relying on gut reaction. It’s not a rundown – the acts are not ranked but presented in alphabetical order and no doubt one of your gigs of the year is missing, but that’s what social media is for: correcting end of year lists (ideally with a meme featuring an angry kitten and the c-bomb). See you down the front in 2017.

There’s been a bit of a resurgence of southern rock over the past few years, traditional bands like Whiskey Myers and Blackberry Smoke (the latter at The Academy in April) and acts like The Cadillac Three who are stretching the genre in to some new twisted directions. Canadians Bros Landreth have at least one boot south of the Mason Dixon line, but their touchstone band are Little Feat. They were blown away by the reaction of the packed crowd at the Tunnels in response to their supremely greasy yet sweet country soul gumbo and whilst they haven’t fulfilled their promise to return “soon”, singer Joey Landreth is at The Tunnels in February during his debut UK solo tour.

Full review here.

Yola Carter has had a hell of a year, kicked off by a beautiful show at The Thunderbolt before jetting off to take Nashville by storm (full details in our interview here), coupled with some superb support slots and culminating in a sold out show at The Wardrobe to launch her debut solo EP. If Carter gets the breaks her talents deserve then 2017 will be a major breakthrough year for her and you’ll be lucky to catch her playing small venues in the future. Grab an EP and check our listings as the LP launches next year and rumour has it there will be a special home town event to suit. Oh, and support for this set was Lady Nade, who played a superb set during which Nutella played a key role. No, really.

Full review here.

It’s been a good year for guitars, Simo & Arron Keylock each played a great set at The Tunnels, whilst Joe Bonamassa sold out The Colston for his exemplary salute to the British Blues show but John Fairhurst stole the honours for cosmic guitar innovation ably supported by his stellar rhythm section. John E Vistic joined the fun with The Nurses – a primal explosion of raucous rock n roll fronted by Joe Coles dwelling in the thin space between bonkers and genius.

Full review here.

January started the year wonderfully with the ever improving Jason Isbell – his show was moved up from the Trinity to the O2 Academy due to demand (and he then sold it out), staking his claim as the best song writer of his generation (although judging by the latest recording from the Drive by Truckers, his ex-colleagues Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley are matching him pound-for-pound, check them at The Anson Rooms in March). He missed out on a top ten placing though because Patty Griffin played an absolute blinder of a gig at the Trinity in the same month: soul, passion, craftsmanship and an enviable set of her striking emotion packed songs. Simply sublime. Oh, and that comment above about support bands? Frankie Lee was a real find – check him out, uplifting folky country, the guy has an LP full of earworms that you deserve as compensation for all the shit 2016 has thrown at us (seek out American Dreamer).

Full review here.

The Colston hosted some big hitters during the year, Bonnie Raitt played a sultry set of blues that managed to be faithful to the roots and yet totally contemporary, and the long awaited Lucinda Williams show was a highlight of the Colston Americana festival (although The White Buffalo was also a knock out gig at the same fest) but Beth Hart clinched a place on the list with her show in support of Fire on the Floor. The set was a genuinely emotional night for Hart and the crowd alike, with a beautifully judged set – changes being made throughout as she reacted to the vibe – ably supported by her tight but loose band and a genre stretching two hours of sublime blues / jazz / country / soul / pop / funky rock.

Full review here.

JJ Grey & Mofro know how to rock but they also know the best rock needs to roll, so they delivered a set at The Tunnels that rolled with a horn-led funky vibe laced with stinging guitars and tunes with some real bite. Grey is a storyteller who tells his stories via what can only be described as banging tunes, and there was a genre busting feel to the set that managed to encompass the best of soul, blues & country with the occasional foray in to classic southern funk.

Full review here.

The Tunnels, often in conjunction with CRH Promotions, provided some absolutely first rate ABC acts during the year exemplified by a fabulous run of shows during the spring, and leaving out Sam Outlaw, Richmond Fontaine, Hayes Carll and Mandolin Orange illustrates the quality on offer (let alone a rake of other gigs over the rest of the year). But Diana Jones had the Tunnels in the palm of her hand with a spell blinding display of craftsmanship, technique and passion; her beautifully literate songs weaving tales of the South in an exquisitely minimal acoustical setting. She was an engaging presence on stage too, her stories about the genesis of the songs worth the price of admission alone.

Full review here.

The mid-eighties were a fabulous time for roots based American music as a generation of musicians who grew up on classic rock were inspired by punk to forge something new drawing from both sources. The Paisley Underground arguably paved the way for what we now term Americana & alt.country and undoubtedly influenced hardcore, and one of the most exciting live acts from back then were the Long Ryders. They returned to these shores in support of a superb career retrospective (Final Wild Sons) to burn down the Fleece with an incendiary set for a rammed venue, playing with as much passion & commitment as when they first broke out.

Full review here.

Nathaniel Rateliff deservedly moved from selling out The Fleece to selling out The Colston via the O2 Academy (guess how many tix he sold there); but hot on his heels are the marvellous St Paul & the Broken Bones, who made a brief but enthralling appearance at The Trinity during Dot-to-Dot 2014 and then returned for a sweltering sold out show at the same venue in June and have recently had their 2017 Trinity show bumped up to The Colston due to massive demand for tix. If it hasn’t sold out then get a ticket for what will be a raucous night of gut bucket soul, Stax style.

Full review here.

Green on Red were a bit of a headfuck amongst the Paisley Underground bands (hands up if you remember them playing the Granary after a manic drive up from Pilton back in, ohhh, ’84). Dan Stuart and Chuck Prophet (at The Tunnels in March) fronted the band and it was a real pleasure to see the former at the Exchange. It was a broadly acoustic evening with Mike Crawford debuting a promising collection of new songs along with some cracking tunes from Fernando Viciconte and Tom Heyman, who both joined Stuart at various times as he ploughed through a mesmerising set of tunes laced with hilariously sardonic asides and tales during a masterclass of offbeat yet captivating and catchy song writing.

Full review here.

All pix John Morgan