Festival Review - Millport Country Music Festival - An Overview

Millport review

Millport Country Music Festival is a bit different from your average festival. It seems to spread across the whole of the town, if not the island. That’s the Isle of Cumbrae just off the west coast of Scotland. American flags were hoisted along the seafront, lots of American apparel was displayed in shop windows and even local businesses dressed up to lend their support. 

In fact, a parade takes place across the island, leaving Kames Bay and heading along the front streets past the site. You’ll witness American cars, vintage trucks, Harley Davidsons and lots of fancy dress.

The festival site consists of 4 stages surrounding the beautiful Garrison House. Nashfield is the main open-air stage, Cactus Jack’s the party marquee, the Maverick acoustic tent and a dedicated line dancing venue. Accommodating all ages there is a fun fair and food vendors in the centre and a couple of stalls around the periphery, including Country 2 Western and Ariat, who ran a competition and gave away a pair of boots!

Over the weekend 50 artists performed, ranging from big US names, artists from across the UK and American, and a selection of emerging talent.

This year, the 25^th anniversary saw Cam and American Young as headliners on the main stage on Saturday and Sunday nights respectively. Over the weekend the stage also hosted Lockeland, Elles Bailey, Stevie O’Connor, Zoee Byrne, Remember Monday, and CC Smugglers.

On of the highlights of the Maverick stage was an acoustic jam session on Sunday night. How many country stars and their guitars can you fit onto the one stage? The answer - just about everyone! The special line up included Gasoline & Matches, Stevie O'Connor, Simon James, Kenny Foster, Lars Pluto, Zoee  plus Jamie from Backwoods Creek on keys.

Cactus Jack’s partied hard throughout the whole weekend, with everyone encouraging the crowd to get up and dance, this included ourselves (Silverball Country) as not only the stage managers but the after-party DJs.

The event also helped to raise money for the local cause: Save the Waverley, a beautiful old paddle steamer, sadly missing from this year’s festivities due to the need for an urgent refit. An auction was held of a guitar and drum cover signed by all the acts in addition to a beautiful picture of the Waverley drawn by Millport Festival team member Scott Watson.

This truly is a festival with a difference and there is something for everyone. Gavin and Christine Chittick and Scott Watson did an outstanding job selecting the line up, I cannot wait to see who they invite next year.   Finally, our thanks to everyone involved, all in orange (or black) who give up their time, and to all of you, country music fans: thank you for your support, braving the weather and undertaking the journey not matter how far. Hopefully you too thought it was worth the effort and have amazing memories.

Hopefully we will see you all next year and maybe even the sun!

Francesca & Rik 

Festival Review - Millport Country Music Festival - Day 3

Day 3 at Millport Festival

Sunday morning dawned, and it was really starting to feel like the third day!  Whilst festivals are fun, we spend a lot of time on our feet!  It being Sunday, the first order of the day (after breakfast with Lockeland) was a lovely service in the Cathedral of the Isles for Francesca while Rik checked on the stage and sound checks, and then a tour of the cathedral from the Bishop.  Just like the Festival and indeed the town of Millport, the cathedral is small but fascinating!

And so to the music.  Often the first act of a Sunday is a quiet affair, but not on Cactus Jacks!

Tommy McGuire

Tommy introduced himself to us in the Green room as a solo artist – which was confusing us a little as he had a bassist and a drummer!  In fact Tommy has recently gone solo after playing in various bands, and this was his first solo performance with a band – if you see what we mean!  Rather than ease us gently into Sunday morning, Tommy hit us with his style of Country Rock and certainly got everyone’s attention

Danny McMahon

Danny is another artist who doesn’t do subtle.  Nominated for three awards this year, and a previous winner, Danny brought his full band to Millport, and from his walk on music to his last note, Danny plays with extreme energy, and quickly gets the crowd singing, clapping and generally having a great time.  The whole band work full time in music – performance, production and tuition, and it shows in their whole performance.  Danny gave the first very sweaty hug of the day!

Cow Cow Boogie

What are you to make of it when you see that name on a line up?  Hailing from Edinburgh Cow Cow Boogie combined a little bit of everything into their music – Country, Rockabilly, Americana – and the mix really works!  Mixing old tracks with their own compositions the audience loved them – it took some effort to be able to get lead singer Nicole down to the merch table, as so many people wanted to stop her and congratulate her on behalf of the band

As with the previous two days, Cactus Jacks was building to a big finish

Stuart Landon and the Angels With Dirty Faces

Some bands are born to play live music – and this is one of those.  Shortly to embark on a European support tour, Stuart and his quite eclectic band absolutely owned the stage, again mixing covers with their own compositions, the new single and then ended with a rocking rendition of Sweet Home Alabama. Ending on a classic and long 70s standard guarantees you stage time, and guarantees the set ends with everyone smiling

Backwoods Creek

We are very familiar with the Creeker boys – which meant they were a little nervous of what stories Francesca might include in their intro! A band that love to party and to bring the party, their walk on was a comedy sketch, aided and encouraged by Francesca  - although they don’t need much encouragement! Backwoods Creek have quite a body of work now, but the room was all waiting for “When I Grow Up”, surely the best UK Country song of last year and always beautifully performed by Jamie and the band, showing that they are more than just a party band.

Backwoods Creek were the final headliners of Cactus Jacks, and the final Headliners of the Festival.  Of course, we couldn’t close Cactus Jacks without a Silverball Country Party!  No theme this time – just pure Country Party!  Rik took to the decks, and Francesca roamed the dancefloor flushing out anyone feeling a little too shy to dance!  With a team of line dancers taking us through the Git Up challenge, a vote on whether we accepted the apology in headliner Cam’s hit Diane and a singalong ending, the crowd just weren’t satisfied…

One More Song?

How else to finish our first time DJing in Scotland than with Runrig’s Loch Lomond which brought together everyone who was still on site – staff, performers and of course festival goers.

Cactus Jacks – what a festival, what a party, what a blast!

Festival Review - Millport Country Music Festival - Day 2

DAY 2 at Millport Country Music Festival

The whole site was buzzing for the big headliner over on the main stage, but over at cactus Jacks we started as we meant to go on. The sun was promising to put in an appearance and the island was filling up. It felt like a day of two halves – to steal a football expression. Award winning and award nominated

Laura Oakes

Laura opened the day for us, her set including an interesting and very Country version of the 90s dance hit “Groove Is In The Heart”.  It was unusual to see Laura with a band but she kept the story telling style and catchy melodies she is known for.

Luke Thomas featured on lead guitar for Laura, not the last time we would see him on Cactus Jacks stage!

Anton & the Colts

Anton found time between touring Europe and touring America to come closer to home (Glasgow) to Millport, and his voice, his style is pure Americana. Joined by session musicians, he added guitar, bass guitar and drums to create a bigger sound. A real mix of Rock, blues and Americana.

All music was suspended to allow all visitors to watch the grand parade down the main high street, past the festival site. Fancy dress costumes, American cars, vintage trucks, Harley Davidsons and dancers delighted the onlookers.

Izzie Walsh

A rain shower at five to four filled the marquee, but the quite unique sound of Izzie with her band certainly kept them in.  Accompanied by banjo, stand up bass, drums and Johnny Fingers on Dobro, Izzie combines the traditional sounds of Country with her own vocal style, singing her own material and covers, but making them very much her own.

Have Mercy Las Vegas

The last of the afternoon bands were the interestingly named Have Mercy Las Vegas. They assembled the largest collection of instruments on stage out of the entire festival and as true professionals lined up perfectly. Francesca was worried about her positioning for the intro. They are a band with deep Scottish roots but deliver razor sharp Americana. They are also a close knit group and had been quiet recently, waiting on the arrival on a wee bairn.

Sarah Jory

Having headlined the stage on Friday night, and accompanied Gasoline & Matches on the Maverick Acoustic Stage, Sarah  returned to Cactus Jacks for a set that overlapped with Cam’s headline main stage set. Fighting a cold Sarah took to the stage with her band, and despite having some competition from across the festival still gathered a big crowd for another storming set. There seemed to be no lack of energy and as ever Sarah took the whole tent to a new level, clearly starting the evening’s party early.

Hotel Caledonia

 Saturday evening was without doubt party night in Cactus Jacks, and next on the line up were the Scottish based and wittily named Eagles Tribute Band Hotel Caledonia. As Francesca said in her introduction, if you have never seen the Eagles live, here is your chance!  The tent was full from the back to the very edge of the stage, and everyone in there was singing along to absolute classics of Country/Rock crossover.

The Scoundrels

Our headline band had big shoes to fill, we asked them to make a big entrance- they rose to the challenge with ease! We had met The Scoundrels earlier in the day at sound check, and they impressed us with their friendliness and absolute professionalism. A Glasgow based function band they took the already excitable crowd to a whole new level with their blend of Country, Rock Classics, party favourites and Scottish standards. The crowd rightly called for an encore which the boys delivered.

How on earth was the after party going to please this crowd? Silverball Country delivered a short set, set to Francesca’s theme of Country Drinking Songs that kept the dancefloor and the bar happy.

There may have been big names elsewhere at the festival, but in Cactus Jacks there was big crowds, big songs and big fun all evening!

Festival Review - Millport Country Music Festival - Day 1

Every year the tiny island of Cumbrae, just off the west coast of Scotland is home to the Millport Country Music Festival. This year was the 25^th anniversary and we (Silverball Country) were invited along. In fact we had the pleasure of looking after a stage – Cactus Jack’s. It may be one of the smaller stages on the compact site but it had a party atmosphere right from the start.

Friday

Amid torrential rain Cactus Jacks was the de facto main stage, since Nash Field as an open air venue wasn’t open. The line up was certainly enough to temporarily claim the title of main stage – as the three acts were all headliners in their own right!

Mr Millport himself, Gavin welcomed everyone to the festival in very damp attitude, in fact dripping from his cap onto the stage, showing that the weather wouldn’t spoil the fun.

Simon James

We were thrilled to welcome our first act onto stage, Simon James and his band, the Deep River Pilots, which included a guest pilot in the form of the birthday girl Sam Coe on Keys and backing vocals.  We have a close relationship with Simon, having recently reviewed his new album and album launch gig, so it was with great pride that Francesca took to the stage for her own first festival intro.  Simon did not disappoint, delivering a fabulous festival opening, playing tracks from that new album.

Morganway

Second act on the Cactus Jacks stage was Morganway – unfazed after the minor drama of changing an entire sound desk minutes before their show time!  The whole band were happy to wait before storming the stage with their own brand of #RowdyFolk. We first met Morganway at Country In The Afternoon and were impressed by their energy at that show – and this demonstrate that they have that level of energy at every show!  SJ’s vocals soared across the tent, Nicole played her fiddle so hard that she broke a string, and all the boys seemed to be competing to see who could go craziest without missing a single note – spinning, stomping, dancing and even, at one point, stepping on a spare guitar with fortunately no damage!

Sarah Jory

Sarah is an incredibly talented musician, playing pedal steel and slide guitar with gusto and energy that  belie her 40 years in the industry.  She is also one of the absolutely nicest performers on the scene with a calm outlook and friendly, unflappable approach.  After line checks she simply says “lets do it” and the show is on.  Rik, doing her stage intro, could not find words to do justice and simply said “Ladies and Gents – Sarah Jory” allowing her music and her band to do all the talking.  One of the many highlights of her set must have been a cover of Brad Paisley’s “Nervous Breakdown” – a high tempo piece giving her pedal steel a work out, and making Luke Thomas on lead guitar break a sweat! There was banter between the two about who you should vote for, as both are nominated for the BCMA musician of the year. Sarah finished her set with a rendition of Amazing Grace that sent chills through every member of the audience.

We couldn’t let the night end there, we knew those on the island liked to party so we had planned to keep the music going to curfew, midnight, with a Silverball Country afterparty.

Having to follow Sarah Jory was no mean feat, so Francesca crafted a playlist to follow of “Powerful Women In Country” in Sarah’s honour – an all female disco that was well received by the late night party people in the tent!

Millport Day 1 - done!

Gig Review - Nashville Sounds In The Round - August 2019

Gasoline & Matches hosted another excellent Songwriters Round – Nashville Sounds In The Round – on Wednesday night.

With a line up gathered from Norwich, Israel, Colorado and Nashville, as well as Birmingham of course – there was not a single tassle or drop of glitter on stage, which could make you question what type of Country performance this would be.  The answer was – a cracking night of music, storytelling and laughter.  The main “culprit” for much of this was Kenny Foster – who we now all know as “Kenton”, his real name being outed by Sally Rea – who started his own performance with a story about  sausages, a gag which was kept going by all on stage. This set the tone for the evening of repeated jokes and light-hearted banter between performers

This banter and quick wit truly reflects the ability of those on stage to express themselves through words, be it in song or story. It isn’t just humour that comes across, it is often raw emotion, and we were privileged to hear a deeply personal song from Steven Marks about his Father which he rarely performs in public.

A songwriters round allows the performers to share the stories behind the songs, and we discover that they can take inspiration from almost anywhere – the quirky tribute to 60s music from duo OandO being a great example.

The round also allows a glimpse of the performers stripped right back to simply guitar and vocals. Sam Coe, perched in the middle of the line up showed us the sheer power and control of her voice when singing her first solo release Hard Times which is available for pre order now, and all the artists sell their CDs and merchandise which gives the audience a chance to meet, chat and get selfies.

Although the round is made up of 4 distinct acts, it almost becomes a jam session, with backing vocals and strumming guitars, plus Steven’s guitar wizardry. A mass sing along for the final round which included those parts of the audience who remember the great Billy Ray Cyrus and the classic Achy Breaky Heart.

Francesca was attending her first Nashville Sounds in The Round which was also watched over by Dolly, Johnny and Willy. All four gave their approval of a great night of music and stories

Single Review - Speed Of Anything - Two Ways Home

Rik has met Isabella and Lewis of Two Ways Home on a few occasions, and seeing them is like bumping in to old friends.  Appropriately then, their new song is about old friends and developing a relationship.  Listening to the song is quite like listening to an interview with the pair, as they both contribute in turn, adding detail, joining their experiences, much as they do when singing Speed Of Anything

I last saw Two Ways Home on stage at Country In The Afternoon where they performed with a full band, prior to that as a duo at Nashville Meets London, and prior to that as an acoustic pair at a songwriters round. Having seen them in different formats, I asked whether they had a preference. Isi replied

It’s cool to have the opportunity to do different things

Lewis added

When you play with the full band you try to roll from one song to the next, smoothly, but in a songwriters round it needs to be personable and you get to talk between songs…its great to be able to do both of them

Lewis and Isi support the #ImHere campaign

Although Isabella is from Austria and Lewis from the West Midlands, they met in London when Isabella needed a guitarist for her covers band. From there they developed their sound, leaning towards Country, visited America and soaked up the influences.  For Isi, music was always a part of her family life, with a Grandmother who was a singer her family would always be singing. Lewis’s father was a singer and guitarist, and “subtly” left a guitar laying around for a 5 year old Lewis to pick up, and by the time he hit his teens, Lewis wanted to learn to play it properly and take music seriously. When you hear Lewis let rip on guitar you can understand that this was clearly a good process!

Isi believes that they work well as songwriters because

It makes better songs when you are writing with someone you trust

Lewis agreed, saying that as a pair they can be brutally honest with each other – and apparently for Isi, not just when writing!

The new song Speed Of Anything seems to reflect them very well. Telling the story of a couple of

kids living down the street...just waiting to meet

the song starts as it means to go on.  Isi and Lewis combine to tell the story from both sides, swapping vocals just like an old married couple, and combines a pop opening with heavier instrumentation taking us through the tale.

Where were going, where we’ve been – once again, the song seems to reflect a chat with two Ways Home, and it will be great to see where they go…

The new single from Two Ways Home Speed Of Anything is available from 30 August

See the duo live on their Caffe Nero coffee shop tour in August and September plus extra live dates through October and November – or just bump into them, like old friends….

Facebook  Instagram

Single Review - Hard Time - Sam Coe

Sam Coe has gone solo

And sassy,

And a little dark

And none of those are a bad thing!

Although she has been with her band The Long Shadows for 4 years, and they have been signed to Ginger Dog Records for 2 years, Sam has always been writing “other” music, mostly on the piano in between teaching classes, and the material she has written is not for a band sound, so she has decided to make an album of just her – quite a leap!

I met up with Sam just as she came off stage for only her second ever solo performance, and the very first thing that she asked me was “was that ok?”

It feels like I’m a fraud – when you’ve been in a band so long you get used to having people with you to cover up the mistakes or make me sound better than I am. When you play by yourself you are so exposed there’s nowhere to hide vocally or musically

Its an understandable feeling – although I was quick to assure Sam that solo (accompanied only by Kevin from her record label) she sounded great, and in fact she performed a Chris Isaak cover that she absolutely knocked out of the park. Sam has been playing with bands since she was 15 years old, initially with a Country and Western Show band, then with a girl group supporting Take That on Tour and latterly, having come back to Country Music with the Long Shadows.

Talking to Sam, you quickly realise that music is very much her life, and she really believes in the authenticity of Country Music, mainly from a British rather than faux US perspective. As well as performing, Sam teaches music and runs two choirs. Through the choirs Sam says

You can see how singing together as one voice can change lives

And she describes music as a form of therapy for herself feeling strongly about the authenticity of Country Music and song writing

Comes back to that word “authenticity” – it  feels the most truthful form of myself while writing expressing my own thoughts and feelings through a medium I am most comfortable with

What about that sassy, dark new song? Featuring heavy beats, with Sam’s voice standing proud over the instruments and written in only ten minutes, Hard Time is a story of a couple separated by a Prison wall, but both still strong, strong together and strong apart

It feels like a metaphor for Sam’s own musical career!

The new album is due out this year, with the intention that every song will stand alone as deserving a place on the track listing. If this first release is anything to go by, the album will be one of the best this year

Hard Time, the first solo release from Sam Coe is available on 6 September.

Sam will be singing at Nashville Sounds in The Round next Wednesday, drinking at Millport Country Music Festival next weekend and on Facebook in her new solo, sassy guise