Single Review - Daddy's Girl (Live) - Emilia Quinn

A few short years ago, the Paddock stage at Buckle and Boots played host to a girl and her guitar – she was just about to release an ep, and we even recorded a promo clip with her.  The next time she was at Buckle and Boots she was back on that stage, playing an absolute storming set with her full band.  From there she went to the main stage, and this year she will be headlining the main stage!

We are talking, of course, of Emilia Quinn, whose journey from mid-afternoon slot to headliner we have felt part of, and seeing her on her headline tour was of course very exciting!

Emilia not only understands how to entertain a crowd, she also understands value – that headline tour having now produced a second live single, both recorded at her Birmingham date (we were at that one! Review )

Her new single – Daddy’s Girl – originally appeared on her Wanderlust and Breaking Rules Album and in fact supplies the name in its first words!  Recorded through the sound desk at the venue it is a “clean” recording (no crowd noise etc until the end of the track) but it captures Emilia’s performance vocal and energy that comes from being on stage in front of a live audience.  The song will be familiar to many – opening with a strong guitar line (with a wonderful mix of electric and Emilia’s acoustic) the instrumental has a very “western” feel to it, and the vocal is very much that of a story teller.

Emilia describes it in a way that is almost a description of herself…

A feisty, sassy, and take-no-prisoners kind of song, layered in metaphors which is one of my favourite ways to write. It is a story of standing up to the patriarchy that seems never too far away in life and particularly in the music industry. Read between the lines for a whole new perspective to this song...

These live recordings (along with the previously released Head Rush) are a great way to hear Emilia, although the best way to to see her live!  With a list of festival appearance this summer, you have plenty of opportunity!  Check Emilia’s socials and website for more details of where you can see her play.

Emilia is also on her own "Barefaced" tour again later this year

Emilia has come a long way since that first Buckle and Boots Paddock stage appearance – we can’t wait to see where this feisty, sassy take-no-prisoners artist goes next!

Daddy's Girl (Live) - the new single from Emilia Quinn - is available to download and stream from Friday 3 March

Find Emilia on Facebook, Instagram and her website and follow her on Spotify

 

Emilia Quinn is represented by ZimagineD Artist Management

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Single Review - River - Emilia Quinn

 

If you are as old as me, you’ll remember Guy Fawkes night with a box of Standard fireworks, lighting the blue touch paper and standing back.  Sometimes that fuse seemed to burn very slowly…not yet…not yet…not yet…and then the powder ignites and WHOOSH, it’s the best one of the night.

Sometimes a musical career can seem that way.  Emilia Quinn has lit the blue touch paper, and we can see the flame edging ever closer, ever closer.  If you’ve seen Emilia live then you know that WOOSH is coming, and it may well be coming soon.  Being part of the ZimaginedD and W21Records stables means that the flame is well and truly lit.

Running stages for festivals means that we get to see the upcoming artists live and almost raw – and we’ve had that privilege twice with Emilia on the paddock stage at Buckle and Boots.  We’ve seen her go from nervous to outstanding, as she blew the roof off the tent last year!  Emilia has incredible energy in her live shows and in her recordings, with a real outlaw edge to her music, but that’s not all that she’s got!

Having studied music to masters degree level, it is clear that even away from the “academic” side Emilia really understands what makes a great song and a great show, and with her new single River she clearly demonstrates this. 

Opening with just her pure voice singing a Southern Spiritual introduction the backing instrumentation sits perfectly under the vocal, supporting and highlighting the quality of the performance and the emotion in the lyrics.  Backed by just electric guitar/bass/drums and the perfect backing vocals of John W Doyle, River is perhaps more bluesy than we are used to, but it is so silky smooth with a slight whiskey hewn edge that it will reach deep inside and grab you.

Of the song itself Emilia says

I want to remind you not to lose your authentic self in other people’s expectations, let go of life’s pressures and embrace who you are.

 In the song, she says

Cry my sweet heart out

Over things I can’t control

Build me a kingdom

So I can live forever inside my soul

 

With her obvious song writing ability and memorable performance style, it is surely almost the moment that Emilia Quinn’s music career goes WHOOSH!

River, the new single from Emilia Quinn is released this Friday on W21 Records

Find and follow Emilia on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify

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Single Review - It Took A Woman - Tommy Atkins

Silverball Country Awards nominee (song of the Year) Tommy Atkins is back for the beginning of Pride month with a single from his forthcoming debut.  Album.  It Took A Woman is a love song – but as you might expect from Tommy, there is a twist. The object of the song is not his partner (In Tommy’s case, his husband) but the Grandmother who raised him.  The song tells us how great the husband is, how proud Tommy is to be married to him, but there is the acknowledgement that he wouldn’t be the man he is without the woman who raised him.

It took a woman to raise the man of my dreams

The lyrics reflect  a wedding day speech (how were the speeches at your wedding Tommy?) and musically the pace and tone of reflects that and match the love that you can hear – for the husband and the woman who raised him.  As a song this will make a fabulous Father/Daughter or Mother/Song dance at weddings.  Tommy has a soft and gentle style when the song calls for it, and the instrumentation of guitar and strings complement that almost perfectly.  To add depth there are beautiful backing vocals provided by Rissi Palmer – an artiste that Tommy has long looked up to.

I hope that I measure up

You do Tommy, and so does the song.  We can’t wait for the album.

It Took A Woman, the new single from Tommy Atkins is available now to download and stream.

You can find and follow Tommy on Facebook, Instagram, his website and on Spotify 

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Single Review - Stuck Behind a Tractor - Tommy Atkins

We love a decent Country reference and a bit of imagery – and the new track Stuck Behind A Tractor from Tommy Atkins gives us both in the title alone! 

We nominated Tommy in the Best Song category in last year’s Silverball Country Awards for “Cinderella’s Had A Drink”, and whilst it wasn’t the winner, it showed how far Tommy has come whilst still possibly being under the radar of a lot of UK Country fans and festivals.

Tommy’s voice and style seem to have matured a little since his previous, more up tempo/poppy releases, which is appropriate with the song being a coming-of-age type, reflective release. 

As Tommy himself puts it

Out where we live, we get stuck behind tractors all the time, and I thought that was the perfect metaphor for where I’m at right now. Between the Covid lockdowns, turning 30 and moving out to the country, I’ve learned to slow down and not lose my shit when things aren’t happening as quickly as I’d like.

Undeniably Country, with a twangy guitar in the intro and the instrumentation you would expect from a Country song, Tommy again shows his skill at writing a Country song with a very UK slant to it – although getting Stuck Behind a Tractor is probably a worldwide hazard!

The song and imagery is about turning thirty, and life under Covid, two things that have possibly encouraged a lot of people to stop and take stock of themselves and their life.  Tommy includes some wise words in the song

Take a breath, destress learn to take it slow

Which is good advice for us all!

Our advice – if you haven’t heard Tommy’s music yet, take a breath and check out both his new single and his back catalogue of work.

Stuck Behind a Tractor, the new single from Tommy Atkins is available to download and stream from 6 May

You can find and follow Tommy on Facebook, Instagram, his website and on Spotify

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EP Review - Kiss Me Cowboy - Tommy Atkins

 

Tommy Atkins is back with his first EP following up the success of his two single releases Cinderella’s Had A Drink and his country Cover of Freedom.  Both of these are included on the EP along with new tracks Wild in the Wind and the title track Kiss Me Cowboy

Kiss Me Cowboy is not just another cowboy love song –this time it’s about LGBT acceptance, but also just about acceptance generally.  Opening with acoustic guitar and violin, with drums giving us the rhythm, the strings really add to the mood of the song, providing almost a second vocal.

The song contains strong emotion without being overly emotional, contains a message without preaching.

As before, despite being from the North East UK, Tommy has written about classic Country themes – the setting of a country fair, reference to a truck - the imagery is all there and it is easy to picture the scenes as they play out through the song almost as though watching it on a screen.  It’s a story of a relationship that meets with disapproval, two people fighting against parents and – in this case – against prejudice.  Finding those moments, away from everyone where you feel safe to ask “Kiss me, cowboy”. Tommy voice is quieter than normal, a hush effect that helps explain the situation.

Although the ending isn’t quite fairy tale, the story isn’t quite finished and there is certainly hope in there – hope that their love will survive distance and hope for acceptance.

Tommy has won awards and nominations not just for his music but for being a positive role model in the LGBT community, and surely, he will continue to be recognised in both fields.  Tommy’s first single – Cinderella’s Had a Drink – was nominated for our own Silverball Country Awards and lost out only due to very tough competition

 

The second new track - Wild In The Wind – is a very listenable relaxing track, showcasing Tommy’s voice against a varied instrumental, with drums, guitar, strings, pedal steel, and dobro.  In a way it’s another love song, but a tribute to a lost friend, quite wistful with the emotion again supported by the violin and very subtle backing vocals from Anna Pearson. 

It’s a song about wanting to go back and experience all those firsts again with your friend, looking on the brighter side of life. The friend in every memory, forever 17 in the shot gun seat and wild in the wind. The friend you miss and would give anything to see again. 

It’s a perfect ending to this 4 track EP

  

Kiss Me Cowboy, the new EP from Tommy Atkins is available to download and stream now on all major platforms

Find and follow Tommy on Facebook, his website and on Spotify