Americana weekend on the Tyne; Big names in American music are attracting fans from far and wide to Gateshead, as David Whetstone reports.Byline: David Whetstone whetstone, natural or manufactured stone used as an abrasive solid to sharpen tools. It is used dry, with water, or with oil. Such a stone of the finer grade used with oil is usually called an oilstone. STARS and stripes embrace the Tyne this weekend with Loudon Wainwright III, Lucinda Williams, The Flatlanders and other celebrated performers headlining the annual SummerTyne Americana Weekend. This is a short, sharp blast of American music - country, rock 'n' roll, bluegrass bluegrass, any species of the large and widely distributed genus Poa, chiefly range and pasture grasses of economic importance in temperate and cool regions. In general, bluegrasses are perennial with fine-leaved foliage that is bluish green in some species. and more - which is proving a major attraction, not just on Tyneside but across the country. Tamsin Austin, performance programmer at The Sage Gateshead, says some 33% of tickets sold for this weekend's gigs have been bought by people from outside the region. "You would be hard pressed to find a comparable festival anywhere else in the UK," she says, citing the number of top acts and the comfort and perfect acoustics of the Gateshead venue. She adds: "We have attracted such fabulous international guests over the past four years that the event is now firmly established in festival-goers' and musicians' calendars and continues to go from strength to strength. "All we need now is for this crazy weather to follow the pattern of the last three years and be a scorcher scorch·er n. 1. One that scorches: an iron that was a scorcher. 2. Informal An extremely hot day. for us." That may be wishful thinking. But there's no doubting the quality of the line-up. Most would agree that Loudon Wainwright III is a pretty decent replacement for Taj Mahal, who dropped out for reasons which have been described as personal. According to Tamsin, more than 50% of those who had bought Taj Mahal tickets were happy to transfer them to the Wainwright concert. There's a nice sense of continuity since Loudon's daughter Martha was an Americana star last year. With concerts inside the Sage and outside in Performance Square - these presented in association with the long-established Jumpin' Hot Club - there is plenty to see. "The Flatlanders concert offers a very rare opportunity to see a band which formed in 1971 and only re-formed again quite recently," says Tamsin. "They're only doing one other concert and that's in London at the Barbican BARBICAN. An ancient word to signify a watch-tower. Barbicanage was money given for the support of a barbican. . The three Texas singer-songwriters who formed the band - Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock - are really well known." Grammy-winning Lucinda Williams, described as "country rock's bad girl" is also performing in Hall One, supported by Devon Sproule, an up-and-coming singer who wears vintage dresses and plays a 50-year-old Gibson guitar. The singer from Virginia has her own gig in Hall Two supported by Canadian band Woodpigeon which is tipped to be one of the finds of the festival. Tamsin is particularly excited about the appearance of Diana Jones, who has attracted a lot of media attention with her soulful songs and affecting performances. Success has come relatively late to her, which makes her story particularly intriguing. Those who remember last year's Rogues Gallery, which pulled together a host of starry performers to record a sea shanty shanty, in music: see chantey. , will be pleased to see the return of Baby Gramps. "He's brilliant and very entertaining," says Tamsin. "He's got this really deep, throaty throat·y adj. throat·i·er, throat·i·est Uttered or sounding as if uttered deep in the throat; guttural, hoarse, or husky. throat growl and a very old acoustic guitar but he's a great entertainer. "I've put him on with Lisa Mills on Saturday afternoon. He's not really known as a family entertainer but I'd take my kids." Another highlight is likely to be Gary Louris and Mark Olsen in Hall Two on Friday evening. In 1985 they formed alt-country band The Jayhawks. Olsen left the band 10 years later but the pair got together again last year and brought out a new album of original material, Ready For The Flood. It seems the festival is also inspiring young musicians nearer to home. Among the many acts due to perform at Americana is Mothers Ruin, a four-piece bluegrass band comprising graduates of the folk and traditional music degree course run by Newcastle University and The Sage Gateshead. They are Dan Walsh (banjo banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. , vocals), Bethany Coyle (guitar, vocals), Matt Price (guitar, dobro, vocals) and Tom Cronin (mandolin mandolin (măn'dəlĭn`, măn`dəlĭn'), musical instrument of the lute family, with a half-pear-shaped body, a fretted neck, and a variable number of strings, plucked with the fingers or with a plectrum. , vocals). "They're really brilliant," says Tamsin. "They're one of the bands Kathryn Tickell has been working with and she took me to see them a couple of years ago. "They're all great instrumentalists and I've put them on with Diana Jones in Hall Two." For full details of SummerTyne and the Americana Weekend, log on to www.thesagegateshead.org. Ticket office: (0191) 443-4661. CAPTION(S): BIG ATTRACTIONS Baby Gramps and left, Devon Sproule. POPULAR STAND-IN Loudon Wainwright III. |
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