Now in its 17th year, the Kilkenny Roots Festival remains among the friendliest and most inclusive of the annual calendar events W&H attempt to attend on at least a semi-regular basis.
It’s hard to believe that four years have elapsed since we were last here (it was still the Kilkenny Rhythm & Roots Festival in 2010), but it’s clear that this four-day event has gone from strength to strength in the interim. For one thing, an enviable percentage of the gigs remain free while, logistically, Kilkenny (a truly picturesque small city presided over by a magnificent 12th Century castle) is easy to navigate; the shows taking place in over 30 venues, most of which are within strategic staggering distance of each other. Without wanting to fall back on well-worn clichés, it’s one of those bashes where there really is something for just about everyone to enjoy.
This year’s line-up is suitably diverse, with highlights ranging from Hamell On Trial’s hardcore anti-folk through to the burning blue soul of Barrence Whitfield & The Savages and gritty former X mainstay John Doe. Honourable mentions are also due to John Blek & The Rats and Glaswegian sextet Daniel Meade & The Flying Mules, but this year W&H are here primarily to catch two acts from differing ends of the roots spectrum play two shows apiece across Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
Rising Out On A Limb label stars HIDDEN HIGHWAYS provide our first port of call. W&H first encountered one of this unassuming duo, Tim V. Smyth, performing as Vertigo Smyth, armed with only a ukelele whilst supporting ace Limerick outfit Windings. These days, however, he’s teamed up with guitar and vocal foil Carol Anne McGowan and, for live purposes, double bassist George Guilfoyle.
Hidden Highways’ debut ‘Old Hearts Reborn’ has enjoyed a decent modicum of critical acclaim and it’s not hard to hear why during the two sets we witness; a slightly truncated 25 minutes in the beer garden at the back of a refurbished Billy Byrne’s on the Friday night and a far more satisfying (and packed) Saturday afternoon show at The Pumphouse where we previously enjoyed a storming acoustic set from Gina Villalobos back in the mists of 2006.
Speed and slickness are not issues for Hidden Highways, who freely indulge in wry ‘tween-song banter and tempt us with a sparse, Cowboy Junkies-esque brand of Americana-tinged folk which gently but firmly seeps into our souls. McGowan’s sleepy vocal delivery carries traces of Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval as she wraps it delicately around melancholic treats such as ‘The Western Line’ and the ghostly ‘Come Wander With Me’ from their self-titled debut EP, while Smyth leads the way on the beguiling ‘The World Began With A Waltz’ and a courtly, vibrato guitar-coloured cover of Townes Van Zandt’s ‘The Velvet Voices.’
They’re clearly a little shell-shocked to be playing to such an attentive audience, especially while it’s still broad daylight outside. In reality, though, there’s little for them to fret about as they can always fall back on quality tunes such as the haunting anti-cuckoo vignette ‘In Defence Of Magpies’ (also from their ‘Hidden Highways’ EP) and immaculately-chosen covers including Jackson C. Frank’s enduring ‘Blues Run The Game’ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘No Expectations’ when the tracks from the LP are exhausted.
Meanwhile, W&H has been championing UK-born country-roots trailblazer Michael Weston King for over ten years and indeed his formidable back catalogue (both with his former charges The Good Sons and as a solo troubadour) has been diligently amassed over almost two decades. His profile, however, has risen dramatically since he teamed up with Lou Dalgleish: not only his long-term partner but a major talent in her own right.
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Together they are MY DARLING CLEMENTINE and to date they’ve recorded two critically-acclaimed LPs, 2011’s ‘How Do You Plead?’ and last year’s ‘The Reconciliation?’, both of which feature well-respected collaborators including Graham Parker/ Ducks Deluxe guitarist Martin Belmont and members of Richard Hawley’s band.
They play two memorable shows in Kilkenny. The second, on Saturday afternoon at Kyteler’s Inn earns them a well-deserved standing ovation and a lengthy queue at the merchandise stall, but for W&H they really shine at Friday night’s soiree at Ryan’s Bar where they’re met by a capacity crowd shoe-horned into a room decorated with astonishing charcoal-drawn portraits of John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and Robert Johnson.
Visually they’re highly arresting – King in his dark suit, pork pie hat, sporting his Elvis Costello-ish personalised guitar strap and Dalgleish in a funky black floral trouser suit with a Kohl heart drawn under her left eye – and they can draw upon the services of two stalwart henchmen courtesy of bequiffed stand-up bassist Martin Cox and unflappable pedal steel maestro Alan Cook.
The authentic, Nashville-tinged sound of MDC’S two records, too, has startled the critics. Their songs of flirtation, temptation and domestic dysfunction inevitably conjure images of Johnny Cash and June Carter or Tammy Wynette and George Jones (a charged version of Dalgleish’s vivid wife-beating tale No Matter What Tammy Said (I Won’t Stand By Him) is arguably the highlight of the set at Ryan’s) but they’re always shot through with a contemporary energy and versatility which allows them to pull off everything from the Cosmic Southern soul of ‘Our Race Is Run’ through to the mariachi-tinged ‘King Of The Carnival’ with credibility to spare.
Besides, MDC’S songs don’t just succeed because they’re authentically crafted; it’s as much because they’re beautifully-observed songs about the frailties and intrigues of human relationships that they really resonate. Indeed, the casual listener doesn’t need intimate knowledge of roots’ n’ country history to appreciate the emotional weight invested in ‘Ashes Flowers And Dust’ or just as easily allow their heart to be lightened by the irresistible ‘Nothing Left To Say’ or the supremely catty ‘I Bought Some Roses’ wherein King and Dalgleish trade magnificent insults during the song’s final coda.
In layman’s terms, it’s fun, thought-provoking and always falls just the right side of showbiz, so let’s hope these two rapturously-received gigs constitute just the first of many visits they make to these shores.
My Darling Clementine online
Hidden Highways at Bandcamp
Kilkenny Roots Festival online
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