Single Review - Cowboy Sitting at the Bar - Cody Pennington

It is clear that shows where you can hear “all the hits” from current and past Nashville performers are very popular in the UK – as we discussed when we recently reviewed One Night In Nashville.  For many, this may be the only chance to hear the songs that you hear on the Radio performed live, albeit not by the original artists.  UK Based Nashville artist Cody Pennington is about to embark on a UK tour where he will be performing such songs with his band, but Cody is absolutely not just a covers artist, he writes and records his own music and this week sees the release of his latest single which he even produced himself!

This ain’t the first bar I came to tonight

Its just the closest to the last

Cowboy Sitting At The Bar is a recognisable story to anyone familiar with the Country music genre – a heartbroken cowboy who turns to drink to try and ease the pain.  Most of us can relate to that!  The approach that Cody has taken is to put the lyrics against a quite upbeat, happy production.  The song writing is first rate, the words and emotion so recognisable and the contrast with the music and tempo give a different dimension, conjuring up the cowboy sat in the corner of the bar while around him people are having a good time. 

I’m searching for healing in a bottle of Jim Beam

The pedal steel helps to set the tone and describes the heartache as only pedal steel can before the guitar takes us on to the forced jollity of the uptempo chorus reflecting the fact that, although drinking away troubles, the story is set in a bar full of other people

This place feels like a second home

A place you can sit at the bar on your own

You’ve got enough cash you’ll never really feel like you’re alone

It is rare to find a song where the words and music almost contradict each other but come together in such a well thought out way.  The performance itself is also spot on – a little tiredness in the vocal, and real country sound overall so that you almost see as well as hear our storyteller and his weariness and heartache.

Cody Pennington may be performing other people’s songs in his stage show, but he writes as well as they do, and if he performs their songs as well as he does his own, then the shows will be a really great night out!

Cowboy Sitting at the Bar, the new single from Cody Pennington is available to download and stream from Friday 21 April

For more details and tickets for his UK tour go to CodyPennington.com

Find and follow Cody on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and sitting in the corner of a bar drunk on whisky and you…

If you've enjoyed this review, please give us a follow on our Facebook page and on our Insta 

Single Review - What Have You Got To Lose - Katy Hurt

Katy Hurt is quietly taking over the world.  With her singles still being played on Canadian and Australian radio stations (Sirius XM and KIX) and her album being available to listen to on Lufthansa flights, 2022 and 2023 have been both exciting and rewarding for her and her career.

 

With her new single What Have You Got To Lose, Katy has taken a more soulful route to tell the story of being able to take risks and push yourself, while having the feeling of safety of a strong and supportive relationship.

 

Is there an echo of risk taking in her writing and releasing a Country Soul song when her previous singles have been more upbeat?  Absolutely not!  With an instrumental that has a similar tempo to Girl Crush, Katy’s voice just soars while displaying an absolute purity, nailing every note.  As ever with Katy’s music, just by listening you can absolutely picture her singing, picture the setting for the song.  With the storyteller being the supportive back up to the risk taker, you feel like you can achieve anything as long as you have someone behind you.

 

It is looking more and more like Katy herself can do anything, and with her debut album coming soon, we believe that too!

What Have You Got To Lose, the new single from Katy Hurt is available to stream and download from Friday 21 April.

You can find and follow Katy on Facebook, Instagram and on Spotify

If you've enjoyed this review, please give us a follow on our Facebook page and on our Insta 

Gig Review - One Night In Nashville - Birmingham

 

Country Music is the fastest growing genre in the UK, with many people loving the sound without admitting to being a country fan.  30 years of DJing at weddings and events has taught us that any crowd will go wild for 9 to 5 or Country Roads.  The UK audience is keen to hear the Nashville classics – Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, John Denver as well as the 90s big hits – Shania Twain, Billy Ray Cyrus, Garth Brooks and the current crop of Luke Combs, Maren Morris, Chris Stapleton.  While its hard to see these artists live outside expensive stadium gigs in the UK – unlike in the US – there is a growing market for tribute shows that aim to transport you to the Broadway bars of Nashville.  These shows can be found in bars as well as theatres with an audience that spans from hardcore country fans to pink hatted hen parties.  The age range is just as wide, with younger guests word perfect on songs from decades before they were born, such is the appeal of Country Music.  These touring shows include A Country Night In Nashville, Nashville Bad Boys Of Country, Honky Tonk Roadshow and possibly the original – One Night In Nashville.  People will never fail to love a good night out with songs they can sing along to, a bit of dancing or sat least foot stomping and clapping – ideally with a beer in hand.

 

Last Friday, dressed in our boots, belts and bling we headed to Birmingham’s Bierkeller for one of these shows.  

One Night In Nashville sets out to “replicate the experience of being in a Honkytonk in Nashville Tennessee” Maria and the band have certainly achieved this with the added bonus of their chosen venue, Bierkeller, which permits the dancing on tables and benches to really get the party going (not seen that in a Honkytonk!)

Whether you are a regular follower or stumble across the night by chance you’ll know you’re in the right place as its one of the biggest collections of hats shirts and boots seen outside of C2C.  Maria herself didn’t let the side down with awesome silver boots tied in with her outfit.

Right from the off we were straight in with the classics, only Maria’s showmanship and powerful voice can do justice to the range covered getting away with jumping between everyone’s favourite Dolly song Jolene right back to the classic Tammy Wynette Stand by Your Man and up to date with Maren Morris, Luke Combs.  Audience participation did not fall as One Night In Nashville is timeless and appeals across the ages.

The show is scripted to ensure that the audience are having a good time, there wasn’t a drop in energy, even when the audience were treated to one of Maria’s own song.  Maria Jordan - check her out on YouTube and other socials.

Maria couldn’t give such a high energy show alone, she’s accompanied by her band including Dave Heyes, an incredible drummer who happens to be Maria’s husband and Sam Heyes on bass.

The 90 minute show comes to end far too quickly with the crowd left screaming for an encore.  In Birmingham we were treated to not one but two songs and a promise that they will be back – before the country disco kicked in to round off the night.

 

If you’d like to experience One Night In Nashville make sure you buy your tickets soon, as shows are already selling out!

Silverball Country attended One Night In Nashville at Bierkeller Birmingham as guests of the band

If you've enjoyed this review, please give us a follow on our Facebook page and on our Insta 

Single Review - House On The Hill - Kezia Gill

 

 

After many years in the business, awards, hit records and her position within UK Country music you might think that Kezia Gill can relax and take things easy, but what she actually does is keep on growing and developing into an even better version of herself.  However success can be measured – appearances at Country 2 Country, a sold out headline tour, a show on Radio 2 – there is still more out there for Kezia, and it is all certainly well deserved.

 

With her latest single release – House On The Hill – Kezia acknowledges many of the things that she has achieved -  travelling the world, seeing amazing sights, but at heart she is still a hometown girl.  This who know her personally know that the hometown is Derby and her anchor is husband Lloyd.  If you don’t know her personally, the song actually spells it out for you.  The House On The Hill in the title is literally the home she shares with Lloyd nestled on a hilltop in Derby.  Throughout lockdown, Kezia (and Lloyd) regularly live-streamed from the living room, often in her fluffy slippers, showing that even when performing, home is where she feels most comfortable.  Even if you’ve never seen it you can start to picture it, not just physically but as a safe haven, a place to come back to as an escape from the hectic world of music and growing success.  Even those of us who aren’t rising through the ranks of Country music can identify with having our own space to go back to, our very own House On The Hill.

 

The song itself shows how much Kezia is constantly growing.  If you take a walk through her back catalogue you will hear her very distinctive style and her UK take on the Country music tradition, with this and some of her more recent music you can hear how she is embracing the Nashville sound that is so popular in the UK but still very definitely making it her own, still keeping it UK and keeping it Kezia Gill

Guitar driven, the track effortlessly combines the energy that you see on stage with the song-writing and vocal that Kezia is known for. 

Written for the sheer joy of it, and incorporating some real honesty, House On The Hill is sure to be a live favourite as we head into the festival season.

 

House On The Hill, the new single from Kezia Gill is available from Friday 31 March.

 You can find and follow Kezia on Instagram and Facebook and stream her music on Spotify

Kezia Gill is represented by ZimagineD

If you've enjoyed this review, please give us a follow on our Facebook page and on our Insta 

 

Single Review - Weight Of My Sins - Scott Ashworth

 

Scottish based singer songwriter Scott Ashworth has been busy recording his debut album, and he has also been busy doing some reflecting. One song didn’t quite fit the album, so Scott has decided to release it as a standalone single, fittingly on the 13^th anniversary of an important change that he made in his own life.

Written from the point of view of a man looking back at his (mostly poor) decisions Weight Of My Sins is about the storyteller choosing a path and facing up to his previous choices.

The song is very much in the traditional Country style and has you hanging on to see what the outcome is.  For both musical style and narrative, think “Ode To Billie Joe” but with a with a strong guitar line provided by Barry Frame all the way through.  Lyrically, the imagery is spot on, the lessons are there albeit subtly rather than preaching and some of the lines are frankly superb.  Squeezing in a comparison between a chapel with its welcoming sign and a dive bar whose sign instead reads

fifty types of whisky and beer

Its not a foot stomping song, but like a good book you will find yourself invested in finding out what happens to our “hero” as he struggles with the devil and the angel whispering in his ear.

If you want to know what happens, whether he chooses to

be the man I could be or the man I’ve been for years

you’ll have to download or stream the song!

Well written, with a story and a message wrapped up in a guitar led song, Weight Of My Sins is everything a country song should be!  We can’t wait to hear what the album – Ghosts and Broken Men – will deliver.

 

Weight of My Sins, the new single from Scott Ashworth is released on 27 March. 

Find and follow Scott on Facebook, Instagram and on Spotify

If you've enjoyed this review, please give us a follow on our Facebook page and on our Insta 

Single Review - Saving Grace - Georgia Nevada and Emma Moore

 

We’ve hosted both Georgia and Emma onstage at Buckle and Boots and at Millport CMF, and it is fair to say that both give a power performance, both of them can certainly perform on the rock side of country!

With their new single the two have come together to duet a song which is – well, about coming together! Celebrating friends that are always there, even in the middle of the night Saving Grace is a wonderful blend of both singers and rather than being purely “country rock” it actually blends the two styles together – a powerful country song but written and performed with the rock edge that we have seen from both of them. 

You will be drawn in by the acapella opening, you might think you’re going to hear a ballad until that guitar kicks in.  The opening lines describe the friendship

I’m your front row, first in line, call me up in the middle of the night.

And then the rock hits you, showing you the energy of that friendship.  This isn’t just about sharing secrets and confidences but the fierceness of having your friend’s back through everything

From the cradle to the grave

My sounding board and saving grace

Opened by that pure vocal, the rest of the track is absolutely driven by the guitar, with Emma and Georgia’s voices combining and taking control.

This an anthem to friendship, to supporting each other through troubles – and maybe sometimes causing some mischief, together

This is not a song that can fade out – the last few seconds we revert to just those two voices…together.

Saving Grace, the new single from Georgia Nevada and Emma Moore is available to download and stream from Friday 24 February

Find and follow Georgia  on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify

Emma is also on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify

 

If you've enjoyed this review, please give us a follow on our Facebook page and on our Insta 

Single Review - Whiskey Over Ice - Kezia Gill

 

When you think about Country Music, you often think about Whiskey, when you think about Kezia Gill you will think about Whiskey and let’s be honest, in the when you mention UK Country Music you think about Kezia Gill.

 

This is not us casting any shade of Kezia and her drinking habits!  Having previously released a single “Whiskey Drinking Woman” and naming her very popular livestream sessions “Pour Me A Strong One”, even the most casual of fan is aware that Kezia is partial to a whiskey (with lemonade!) and so it is no great surprise that this latest single is Whiskey Over Ice. 

 

The song was debuted on the recent headline tour, and when introducing it, Kezia said

Write about what you know, and if it ain’t broke…

 

Some people will have heard Kezia playing at one of the UK’s country festivals, others when she supported The Shires on tour, still others from the club scene in Derby while Bob Harris’ country show on Radio 2 may have been the first time.  Perhaps this single will be the first introduction to the music of this award-winning singer songwriter.  However you have found Kezia you will have heard her touching lyric writing, powerful performance style and her distinctive voice, all of which are evident in this new single

 

Drums, guitar, slow beat and we are under way with Kezia’s vocal.  Heavily US influenced but with a definite UK sound the song sits firmly in the Country genre, with a rock edge to both the instrumentation and the performance. That edge and the power demonstrate why Kezia is such a favourite when she takes to the stage for a live show. 

Cleverly using drinks analogies to describe the excitement of a new relationship, the writing is pure Country, and the guitar from Luke Thomas really cements the feel – it is rare for a UK song to sound so much like it has come direct from a Nashville writing room, or perhaps a Nashville bar! The production was tweaked in Music City, but the song undoubtedly already sounded Nashville before being sent there for a final polish.

 

We will certainly join this “Whiskey Drinking Woman” for some Whiskey Over Ice – both through this song plus her upcoming live performances with the Girls Night In – The Round Tour, an appearance with the Honky Tonk Roadshow plus appearing in both Glasgow and London for Country 2 Country!

 

Whisky Over Ice, the new single from Kezia Gill is available to download or stream from Friday 3 February.

 

You can find and follow Kezia on Instagram and Facebook and stream her music on Spotify

Kezia Gill is represented by ZimagineD

If you've enjoyed this review, please give us a follow on our Facebook page and on our Insta