Review: Willie Watson, The Louisiana

The stuffy room of the Lousiana promises to get a lot stuffier. Willie Watson, formerly part of the popular band Old Crow Medicine Show, is stopping in Bristol as part of a two-week UK tour and the show is sold-out.

He is joined by the Harmaleighs as support, a charming and funny female duo from Nashville. They quickly steal the hearts of the audience with their natural chemistry and delicate harmonies. Their unique indie folk sound is created by clever instrumentation (the bass guitar turns into a lead instrument) and introspective lyrics. The highlight of the performance is Sorry, I’m Busy, a powerful song about social anxiety. They are an honest, passionate duo that sets itself apart from the rest and is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Since leaving the band in 2014 to embark on a solo journey, Willie Watson has released two albums called Folksinger Vol.1 and Vol.2. In these records, Watson revisits timeless numbers of traditional American folk songs, giving them a new life with his very personal style full of effortless finger picking and natural vibrato.

Watson confides in the audience that every time he gets interviewed, he always hear the same old question: are your songs still relevant today? And he replies with plain-spokenness that he really doesn’t care. When observing the crowd present tonight in the room, which includes mostly young souls, it seems like a pretty rhetorical question to ask. Therefore, it is clear that the songs appeal to a young audience, maybe looking for an old, wise truth.

Present tonight is not the usual tamed Bristol crowd either. People are here to have a good time and the singalong doesn’t really stop from the beginning to the end of the show, punctuated by animalistic cries of approbation.

Watson navigates between stunning finger picking on the acoustic guitar and cheerful contributions on the banjo and the whole set is a clever selection of songs from his two albums. Gallows Pole and Keep It Clean, although contrasting in lyrical nature, seems to have the same effect on the enthusiastic crowd who sings pretty much every word (some of them out of tune). Always Lift Him Up And Never Knock Him Down silences the audience for a little while with its fine melody and its altruistic lyrics oh-so-needed today.

The encore is comprised of When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs, a song that Watson wrote for the Coen Brothers’ film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, in which he acts as well.

This incredible show is ended with a personalised version of Midnight Special, which gives the crowd one last chance to strain their vocal chords while finishing the last drops of their pints. While the audience cheers Watson as he makes his way out through the crowd, there is a sense of privilege in being able to witness such a performance in a rather intimate space.