CARRIE RODRIGUEZ | livemusic.fm

So, to the Old Queens Head on drab Essex road, to catch Carrie Rodriguez’s only London show on her latest tour. And, not knowing what to expect; and not really being a fan of this particular genre, I was in need of some convincing.

Upon arrival and after some saccharin tri-melodic delights, from Bristol’s ‘The Cadbury Sisters’ Carrie Rodriguez took to the stage and played her first love song of the evening. A song she wrote with renowned country artist Mary Gauthier no less.

What Carrie has to offer, is a little more than heartbreak Delta blues, or country music. She’s fashioned her chosen form of expression in a way that has brought traditional country blues from it’s secluded monogamy, and presented it as a contemporary form that makes it immediately accessible for all, but without selling out, and without any hidden intent, just pure expressionism.

To describe Carrie’s voice as mellifluous, is an understatement. And the way that she strikes the fiddle – so confidently, yet, so gently; synchronising every movement, as if she is trying to shake the rhythm loose; but with an urgency that is serene and not in any way anxious – is something that really needs to be witnessed.

The lack of percussion only serves to strengthen the performance – Carrie often improvising by stamping on the floor – often visibly making spontaneous changes to the live performance, due to the stripped down set-up, by deliberately not finishing chorus lines in favour of hitting the first note of the fiddle response.

Her fourth song – a new one from her forthcoming album is about a lake in a pretty town in Minnesota – Lake Harriet. We’re being serenaded again; Luke Abbot - on steel string guitar, perfectly punctuated Carrie’s every word; her every draw of the bow. Abbot - often using the delay demonstratively, to great effect – almost in a percussive manner.

I barely have time to absorb the beauty with which I’ve been bestowed….then she’s gone again, in a flash of white, and cheekbones – beautiful grimaces and prettily pursed lips. Carrie Rodriguez has won the room.

Truth be told, she’d won it when the very first words that left her mouth.

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Words - Jeremy Walton