It’s been around a decade since I last saw local singer songwriter Katherine Priddy. She was still at University on the South coast when she was special guest to Folk pop singer Vashti Bunyan at the Midlands Arts Centre. A few months later she opened for Sean Ono Lennon’s band Ghost Of A Sabre Tooth Tiger at The Hare and Hounds. I may have caught her at a festival but can’t quite confirm it so it was high time to catch up as Katherine has recently released her second album `Pendulum Swing`. This hometown show was a sell out and the fifth stop on a fourteen day trek of the UK and Ireland in support of said album.
Tonight’s show was a mixture of old and new as Katherine accompanied by George Boomsma on guitar and Harry Fausing Smith on violin and mandolin eased us in with the hypnotic `First House On The Left` and reflective `Does She Hold You Like I Did` which had a further poignancy with the addition of violin strings. Katherine shares `A Boat On the River` which she feels is her most `Brummie` song as we have allegedly more canals in this city than Venice.
The new album has themes of home and family and with this in mind the singer plays `Walnut Shell` a song written for her twin brother and the heartbreaking `Father Of Two` for her Dad, who chose to go and see Tom Robinson last time she played in Brum and is surprised that he’s not at Jarvis Cocker, who happens to be in town today.
We enjoy a few numbers from her debut album `The Eternal Rocks Beneath` with the ethereal `Eurydice`, `Letters From A Travelling Man` a song that was inspired by Katherine’s Mum’s view of her unsuitable boyfriends whom she referred to as men with no postcodes, entrancing `Indigo` and the haunting `Wolf`.
`Selah` the first song this artist ever wrote is played with a story about performing it as a competition winner at a Busted event before closing the show with `Ready To Go` a co write written and sung tonight with George Boomsma which is a kind of encore which saves all the embarrassment of leaving and returning to the stage.
This was a delightful eighty minute show and goes to prove that you don’t need flashing lights, bells and whistles just a trio of seasoned musicians fronted by a singer who has a breathtaking voice and a captivating presence sharing some well written numbers. Welcome home Katherine and let’s hope it’s not another ten years until we catch up again.
PHOTO: KEITH PEARCE
