Review: Iain Mitchell, 5th July
By Dave Hart
What a breath of genuine Scots air, in more ways than one. A
voice like a Scottish gale indeed. I’ve known this wee lad
for some decades now and his ability to regale with song and
yarns is legendary.
He is steeped in his traditional roots and from an early age has
surrounded himself with the music and songs of performers of a
very high calibre, such as The Corrie Folk trio, Archie Fisher
and Hamish Imlach. He has also appeared on the same bill as such
luminaries as Dick Gaughan and Billy Connelly.
His concert at The Christchurch folk club in early July reminded
us all of Mitch’s fine stage presence and ability as a folk
raconteur. He shared his material as warmly as ever, assisted by
three of Christchurch’s finest; Jimmy Young and Davy Stuart
and the silky voice of Denny Stanway.
Mitch started with “Spencer the Rover” and
“Paddy lay back”. Good to hear his rendition of
“Haughs of Cromdale”, reminiscent of Dick Gaughan. A
song which always does it for me was “The Flower o’
Northumberland”, with Jimmy on small pipes, contrasting
nicely with “Slieve Gallion braes”, with Denny.
The second half kicked off with “Lads of the fair”
and “At a country fair dance”, the latter being one
of Mitch’s forays into a very different song style. Davy
joined Mitch for the next two, “Nor’ land wind”
and “Udnie’s wa’s”. No Mitch concert
would be complete without “The Engineers’
picnic”, a song of shore leave, followed by a fine version
of “If I had a boat”, ably assisted by Denny.
The general mood was then transformed by another of my
favourites, Mitch’s very personalised version of Richard
Thompson’s “Vincent 52”. If Mitch thought that
he could escape the stage after his final song, “Rambling
Rover”, he was mistaken as he was forced back to give us
“Mary and the Soldier”.
What a refreshing night. It was so good to have songs with which
the crowd could join in and so good to have this fine performer
in our midst again, to share his love of things Scottish. (To
Mitch, “Bantam Of The Opera” have long since forgiven
you for taking off up north...please return to us soon to give us
all more of our and your favourites.)