Harleymoon Kemp has had quite the few weeks. She’s duetted with Ronan Keating on BBC Radio 2, she’s been out in Nashville writing with one of Taylor Swift’s writers, and now here she is opening up for Cody Pennington.
“Refund” is one of her – as she calls it – “men bashing” songs, while “No Money” is a real pop strutter. She’s got definite crossover potential.
Kemp’s got a superb voice too. She absolutely owns “Proud Mary” – much to the delight of her guitar player in an Ozzy Osbourne t-shirt.
There’s a proper feminist anthem in “My Girls Love Me Better” and a real singalong moment with “Lucky”.
She wraps things up with “Lone Ranger” – a tune about a bloke she met in Vegas – and you can’t help but think Harleymoon Kemp’s star is only going one way. Talent, charisma, catchy songs, and a name you won’t forget. Definitely one to watch.
About two-thirds of the way through his set, Cody Pennington drops into Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel”. MV looks around and sees a group of women dancing with each other in excitement.
Straight after, he plays “Waiting” – the first song he wrote when he came back to music. A song about chasing your dreams.
In those two moments, you get Cody Pennington in a nutshell. And you see why he’s shifted 21,000 tickets for this UK tour alone.
The Cody Pennington Country Show isn’t like any other. It’s nearly all his own songs with a truckload of his favourite country covers thrown in. It’s all delivered by a bloke who just loves the music, with a band who can play pretty much anything.
“Cowboy Sitting At The Bar” and the blue-collar rocker “Fire” show his own songs can stand tall, but the covers are just as much a part of it.
Luke Combs’ “She’s Got The Best Of Me” and a medley of “The Gambler” and “10,000 Miles” are a blast, but this is a proper two-hour ride.
He tears into “Hell Of A Night” – which he reckons he wrote for gigs exactly like this – and throws in covers as wide-ranging as Chris Stapleton’s “You Should Probably Leave” and Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)”.
And even though he always seems to be on tour, Pennington’s still writing. “Thanks To You” makes an appearance, alongside Zach Bryan’s “Chicken Shack” and “Walking In Memphis”. That’s kind of how it works – for every “Man, I Feel Like A Woman” there’s a “Nothing On Us”, or a Luke Combs tune like “When It Rains It Pours”.
He finishes with Garth Brooks’ classic “Friends In Low Places”, but of course he’s back. First, he jumps into the crowd with his mic and guitar and busks his way through “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. Then it’s back on stage for his big hit, “Downtown” (“I have to play it, I’d never sell another ticket if I didn’t,” he jokes), and it blows the roof off.
Somewhere in Nashville tonight, there’s a guitar player playing a set for the love of it – mixing his own tunes with the classics.
Tonight in Birmingham, Cody Pennington brought that very same vibe. A law firm’s loss is definitely music’s gain.
