BJ COLE IN MY BACK YARD!

[Ken Byng]

Brian Cole contacted Gerry Hogan and I recently to let us know that he was playing in concert east of Winchester last night with cellist Emily Burridge. I was doing my regular Saturday afternoon gig with the Ed Nix Band in Netley, Hants, from 3.00pm to 6.30pm but I calculated that I could get to the venue in Twyford by 8.00pm when the doors opened for the concert. After getting my gear packed up and getting past the hordes of fans outside the stage door (joke) I was in my car and off to Twyford. I found the somewhat tiny venue which housed maybe 2 dozen people max, and got a seat in the front row right in front of Brian's keyless Williams S12 guitar.

Brian was playing through a Peavey 112 combo, and Emily through Brian's very old 50's Fender tweed combo. Their repertoire was mainly classical with a smattering of original compositions written by Brian. They started with the standard Cry Me A River, which was a little pitchy from Brian's Williams steel due to the temperature in the room rapidly increasing as a result of the full house. Brian quickly remedied the problem with a re-tune, and his guitar was pretty stable for the rest of the evening.

Brian briefed the audience on the guitar - his tuning, the purpose of the pedals and levers, his rig, and landmark recordings that he has done. There was interest from many in the audience of the pedal steel, and Brian went to great lengths to give his point of view that the instrument is capable of many more genres than country music and jazz. On with the music and we were treated to compositions by composers such as Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, Aaron Copeland and Brian himself. I have to admit that not all of the interpretations rang my bell, but the sets were genuinely interesting.

Here is Brian talking to the audience.

[Ken Byng]

Here is an example of one of the numbers that Brian and Emily performed.

[Haddock]

Absolutely fabulous!

[Uncle Roy]

Excellent!

[RonMc]

I loved that, the instruments seemed to compliment each other, great post.

[Danny Mitchell]

Fantastic
A very different kettle of fish indeed Got me wondering about how a composer would score for PSG Has it been done?
And playing behind the bar That's a first for me.
Cello and PSG; the perfect match for emotional impact.
With his diverse approach, BJ Cole can certainly be described as catholic, so it's no wonder he's in The Convent, does that make him a nun
Great post and review, Ken

[alan cannell]

I seem to recall Buddy Emmons once said something like Henry Mancini was the only composer who understood the dynamic range of the Pedal Steel and scored properly for the instrument.

[Nick Bidmade]

Beautiful. Where do I recognise this tune from? Tried a google search but couldn't come up with the answer. Maybe BJ has recorded it before? BTW - great review, Ken.

[jonshack]

BJ has recorded Indian Willow before on his Lush Life album, I assume it's his composition. The shows he does with Emily are really wonderful.

I'm doing a little interview with BJ in a couple of weeks on my friend's internet radio show, look out for that! Country Hayride https://www.nts.live Sunday 25th Feb at Noon.

Jonathan