The Half Moon pub in Putney,
South West London is no stranger to great line ups, over the years it has
played host to some of the absolute greats, and twice a year for the past few
years has been home to Country In The Afternoon, brought to us by those
fine folks at Cumbrae Promotions – Gavin and Christine Chittick. Even if you haven’t heard of Country In The
Afternoon, if you’re a country music lover you may have attended on of their
other events - notably Millport Country Festival, or perhaps you’ve caught one
of their ad hoc intimate evenings both in London and in Scotland. If you’re a Buckle and Boots attendee, you’ll
have seen Gavin running the Paddock Stage along with Silverball Country and
Christine looking after the all-important beer tokens!
You have to wonder if these
two ever stop. We think the answer is
no. There's two more new events in the
calendar this year alone, plus the next Country In The Afternoon. They do take time for holidays – but those
are as much for talent spotting as for relaxing!
Country In The Afternoon is
two days of music in an iconic venue running from 12:30 until 5 – which gives
time for drinks between the 4 acts (as they turnaround the stage) on each day
plus a chance for a meal in the pub garden afterwards, especially when the
weather is as good as it was this past weekend.
We joined the Chitticks on
Sunday, which had an international line up – two American acts, two British
acts – and an Austrian!
First up, from Nashville was John Wesley Satterfield. John has a very traditional country sound to his voice, and a traditional style to his songwriting, with songs about his guitar, whiskey – great subjects! Whilst he would never sell his battered old guitar, he did offer his beagle dog for sale! Accompanied on stage for a couple of songs by Jon Stone (American Young) the storytelling was as good as the songwriting, with some numbers inappropriately dedicated to Grandma! John didn’t use a set list preferring to go with the flow – and the same was true for the second act – Georgia born Ian Flanigan. Having appeared on The Voice - USA as part of Blake’s team, Ian is now known simply as “The Voice” and what a voice he has! Despite being from the US, his stories resonated and were easy to follow. We were treated to another guest appearance from Jon Stone who has written and produced the new material that Ian treated us to. Notable was “The song with the longest title” – the very relatable Words I Never Heard An Old Man Say.
Both John and Ian were
visiting the UK for the first time, whereas the next band to take to the stage
were far more familiar having played the event before and also just finished a
UK Tour. Lewis and Izzy (from Austria!)
better known as Two Ways Home. As
well as their trademark light teasing of each, other Two Ways Home delivered a
loud and rocking set backed by Michael Clancy on guitar and Jake Stanton on
drums. Even Gavin Chittick was moved to
declare that it was possibly the best they have ever sounded – and we have to
agree! The band are very hardworking and
seem to constantly look at ways of improving their show – this time including
some more intimate songs around their bespoke, old style microphone – in fact
there are only three of these microphones around, and notably, Bob Harris has
one of the only other two!
The afternoon was rounded
off with a storming set from First Time Flyers, who are making waves
across a number of stages and festivals.
First Time Flyers gave us our second full band set of the day, and
brought with them an enthusiastic and dedicated following showing that whatever
the size of the event, independent gigs can build and hold an audience!
Time to rest? Nope.
Next up from Cumbrae Promotions is the Signature Brew Americana Showcase, London E17 on 22 June and
Milltown Music Festival in Paisley nr Glasgow on 31 August
Silverball Country attended Country In The Afternoon as guests of Cumbrae Promotions
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