Review: Americana Fest, The American Museum and Gardens – ‘There’s been some collaborative musical magic’

No queues, no hassles here just some top notch Americana entertainment of various flavours in the hilltop setting overlooking the natural beauty of the tree filed valley behind Claverton Manor. A work of passion for Matt Owens, who gets thanked from every stage, the first Americana Fest is the most genteel and laid back of festival triumphs.

‘Isn’t this lovely. Just like Glastonbury but, erm, nicer.’ Stage headliner Hannah White is musing out loud as she surveys her surroundings on what has turned out to be a rather pleasant, balmy Bath evening. 

It’s all very un rock’n’roll. The crowd is more a glass of bubbly in a deckchair than mosh pit so perhaps it’s no surprise that the real musical joys here are found away from the main stages but in a tiny glade tucked away at the back of the museum café. A circle of stones that allow for a small audience to gather around a group of musicians in an intimate huddle.

An ideal setting for that long standing tradition of a songwriter’s circle. There’s a real supportive feel for each other as travelling musicians but also that competitive feel of having to up your game when someone sings a good one. There are no setlists here; tunes are plucked out of the repertoire on the spot.

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We stumble across a gathering of Saturday night’s top of the bill Robert Vincent, who’s obviously enjoyed himself so much the previous day he’s hung around for a bit more of this, squeezed in with veteran songsmith Pete Bruntnell and a trio of the Treetop Flyers.

Country ballads are the order of the day here. Bruntnell adds a harder political comment, but it is the guitar led harmonies of the Flyers that really hit the heights. Later in the day they deliver a hook laden set of soulful pop/rock on the mainstage but here they are all fragile loveliness.

Eviscerating self-doubt married with heavy dollops of insecurity are not shyed away from in the next sitting. Kezia Gill’s finely crafted country croons self-explore but it is the self-exposing, Cohenesque vignettes of Louis Brennan that are particularly revelatory when sat next to his deadpan humour on Big Tomorrow.

Alex Lipinksi dominates the day. Credit: Sara Gwynn

Alex Lipinski joins having run from his rocking set on the big stage. In this acoustic setting his songs are greeted by moments silence at the end before the heartfelt applause kicks in when everyone knows they’ve heard something special.

The Maudlin Sisters are a new project for Michelle Stodart from today’s mainstage headliners, The Magic Numbers, teaming up with Daisy Chute and Hannah White. This is all early days but these three very distinctive voices are finding real joy in how they sound when they sing together.

The Maudlin sisters are new but welcome project to the music scene. Credit: Sara Gwynn

They all dip into their own repertoires for songs of contemporary female experience. They close with a sing along on White’s Don’t Make Love too Easy. The crowd response is beyond enthusiastic. They are really onto something here.

Settings don’t get more idyllic than this and there’s been some real collaborative musical magic hear today often in the most intimate corners of the festival. It hasn’t felt especially busy and you do hope that this has worked financially for the hard working promoters and their team of volunteers so we can meet in that little hushed glade for some more song writing masterclasses at the same time next year.

Main photo: Sara Gwynn

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