When music is your religion,
you are expected in Church on a Sunday. Well, there was no excuse this past
Sunday when Sarah Riches took to the stage in the beautiful setting of St Mary’s
Lichfield. Now an arts and performance
venue, the Hub at St Marys is a cosy setting. You can sit at one of the
individual tables for 4 and chill at the end of the week but built as a church
it really lends itself to a relaxing environment and of course it has great
acoustics.
The show was essentially a
second chance to attend the album launch which was originally held in
Birmingham’s Jamhouse. As last time, Jason
Callear opened for Sarah. Blessed with a
deep voice, he is certainly a breathy singer – his vocals meant he was the
right person for this setting. His final
song “Cowboys” was a chance to really show off his performance, with the song
itself having an Irish folk feel.
As Sarah toured the room pre-show
she revealed that to us that he main performance was almost delayed– the band
were in the pub! We heard during the
show from Toby that there was almost another delay - Sarah and Toby got stuck
in the lift with some of the equipment. We
did wonder if the acoustics of the lift would have been as good as the church
if they’d had to drop in a microphone!
Fortunately there were no
delays or hold ups, and the show Opened with a cover of Tammy Wynette’s Good
Girl Gonna Go Bad – old school country suits Sarah’s look with her hat and tasselled
dress. It was a great opening song to
remind people they are in for a night of country music
Sarah was backed by a 6
piece band – Dave on keys, Toby on pedal steel (and mandolin and acoustic
guitar – a man of many talents), Dan on lead guitar, Sam on drums and Helen on
backing vocals. George on bass was a
last minute addition to the band, having joined with only with 3 days notice! All six are clearly highly skilled, and worked
together well.
The show was essentially a play through of Sarah’s recently released album, with some covers thrown in too. Musically it was a wonderful ride, with uptempo numbers interspersed with slower bluesy/gospel songs. The instrumentation was superb with keys and pedal steel combining and the guitar often finishing off a track. Helen on backing vocals absolutely nailed the harmonies time after time – and gave support to Sarah at front of stage.
The album – I Don’t Give Up
Easily - was released in April of this year having been recorded in Nashville. With the release at the Jamhouse Sarah wanted
to recreate that Nashville feeling, and you do get the sense that Sarah’s voice
and songwriting really lends itself to an intimate club style performance. The songs are a well put together mix of emotional
ballads and catchy, faster songs. The
writing clearly draws on life experiences with track 8 – If My Best Isn’t Good
Enough – inspired by working at a job where you’re just not appreciated! All 10 tracks are very listenable, and the
album should be listened to right through – or live if you get the chance!
Once we had heard the whole
album, Sarah announced it was party time which is where the covers really came
in – Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood and Dolly Parton and even a rendition of Rose
Garden. None of the covers were the
obvious well-worn choices, with some picked almost as a challenge – which was
easily accomplished!
The audience demanded an
encore – which took the band slightly by surprise. Had they not expected this level of
appreciation? Are they better than they
realise? They are certainly, as a whole,
a great outfit with Sarah’s songwriting and singing leading from the front. The
encore was a repeat of Sarah’s favourite song from the album, “Alibi”, which
works well as an album closer, a show encore and a sing a long favourite.
The Hub at St Mary’s was a
wonderful setting for a wonderful musical evening – we’ll be back for more
shows and we hope to see and hear more of Sarah Riches!
with Sarah and Unsigned Country
You can find and follow Sarah on Facebook, Instagram and on Spotify
Silverball Country attended as guests of Sarah Riches
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