An excellent evening that was enjoyed by all who had come to see highly acclaimed and award-winning singer/songwriter, and consummate guitarist Steve Tilston magically weaving his stories, songs, and humour (Steve blaming the one pint of Doom Bar from the barman). Flanked by double bass virtuoso Hugh Bradley and special guest harmonica player extraordinaire Keith Warmington. A close-knit team who obviously knew each other well and gave the audience two excellent sets. We knew we were in for a treat.
The set list was a compilation of Steve’s latest album – Last Call and songs from his extensive back catalogue. I have a copy of the set list which was tweaked a bit during the evening. I do not want to include a copy of the set list here, as it will spoil the surprise, as there are a fair few more gigs this tour coming up. Before most of the songs, Steve explained their background such as ‘Apple Tree Town’ off Last Call is from memories of childhood. Another song from Last Call was ‘Never Could Have Asked For More’; – a tale of iconic landscape’s which take your breath away as so beautiful. An excellent album!
The evening was a mix of folk singing, jazzy blues, superb harmonies and of course, audience participation when needed!
Rumours had it that this was to be Steve’s last album, and that he was retiring, but after Steve and I had a chat in the interval, he was not keen to say it was a final goodbye. I said to him “Never say Never then” to which he agreed and gave me a few hints of what might happen, so we will have to wait and see.
Exeter Folk Club is ably run by the Cornelius family, who are stalwarts of the Exeter Folk scene, having run a folk club for many years. A friendly club made up of musicians and regular folk attendees. Pete, Maggie and Martyn Cornelius kicked off the evening with a Show of Hands song – ‘Tall Ships’ and then Martyn sang a self-penned song showing us his talent too.
I brought along a friend who had not been to a folk/roots acoustic gig for decades, and she was bowled over. She promptly got home and looked for Steve Tilston on You Tube, so she was obviously impressed!
Check out Steve’s website for details on how to purchase his albums and where you can see him live.
Jean Camp
Artist’s website: www.stevetilston.com
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