Pickin’ & Grinnin’ - Uncle Earl London Show
Pickin’ & Grinnin’
Uncle Earl
The Borderline, London
Monday 5th November
Despite being in one of the worlds greatest ever rock bands, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones is no stranger to good old country and bluegrass music. Previously spotted locally chipping in on mandolin at Nickel Creek’s London shows and brushing up his fiddle skills at the Sorefingers summer school, it was no big surprise then that the producer-in-chief of Uncle Earl’s latest album WATERLOO, TENESSEE would turn up for a guest appearance at their show.
Whether he joins the rest of the tour may now be a matter for debate. For he certainly appeared to relish sharing the stage with five fine young ladies, each successful musicians in their own right: Abigail Washburn on banjo on vocals, Rayna Gellert on fiddle and vocals, KC Groves on mandolin, guitar and vocals, Kristin Andreassen on guitar, feet (yes that means clogging) and vocals and Laura Cortese on double bass and, of course, vocals. Certainly no one in this audience would blame him for pulling out of the biggest reunion show of the century to hang out with these unstoppable gals, would they?
The capacity crowd is transfixed right from soundcheck. Songs such as Warfare and My Little Carpenter show the ease and beauty inherent in melody-driven, old-time music that doesn’t race like a chicken’s pulse, while rip-roaring, foot-stomping tunes like Streak O’Lean, Streak O’Fat throw sparks like spurs clashing at a square-dance.
The fiddle tunes dance, the banjo pops like corn, their voices blend sweeter than pie and the highlights are almost constant. If pressed to name a few, they would inevitably include Kristin’s outstanding clogging (which feels like a cross been tap and moon-dancing); the ‘patter-cake’ song, where the girls performed a playground style clapping game of patter-cake to provide rhythm for the multi-dimensional lyrics “Crayola Doesn’t Make A Color For Your Eyes” and their sacred-harp style 5-part harmony singing for one of the few songs in popular rotation about Napolean, St Helena.
The Borderline rarely sees such a reaction, with the audience demanding the girls back for two encores, despite the piped music and blaring lights aimed at evicting them. John Paul Jones allows them the final songs alone. He was indeed a treat for everyone, but every clap, stomp and holler tonight is clearly directed at the female Uncle Earls. HK