A solo act to get things going. Mississippi's Lisa Mills belts out blues, gospel and soul, in a mix of original songs and covers. No finger picking fanciness, but she's an excellent chord guitarist, has a powerful voice that brings a hint of gravel, a heavy punch and a sense of soulfulness, and an engaging smile and personality that makes an audience feel a part of the show. It's hard work being first on in an early afternoon show, but Mills did a fine job. With the highlight being a stunning unaccompanied gospel number aided by the audience clapping along. A ggod staert to the show.
The Cinelli Brothers are a powerful 4 piece band inspired by the Chicago Blues of the sixties and seventies, with R&B, soul and funk influences. The eponymous siblings are Marco on lead guitar and keyboard, with Allesandro on drums. They're joined by bassist Stephen Giry and Tom Julian-Jones on guitar and harmonica.
Initial impressions weren't all that encouraging. Largely unsmiling, little attempt to engage the audience, and a couple of songs that suggested this was little more than a good quality pub band. But that soon changed. A longer piece saw three solos from Marco on piano, Julian-Jones on guitar, and Giry's bass. The first two were decent enough, but not inspiring. But Giry sparked into life and showed off his feel for the capabilities of the four-string, and his own musical imagination. How often do you see the spark that lights up a gid being provided by a bass solo?!
Something seemed to click with the entire line up because they were like a different outfit after that. Effervescent, filled with enjoyment and feeding off one another, they got better and better over the fifty minutes. Mostly covers, some original material, with a tight rhythm section and strong vocals. Largely from Marco and Tom, but both the others showed they had decent voices. Arrangements were smart and the solos improved, keys, guitar and harmonica. At one point Giry handed his bass over to Marco and played a mean slide guitar, while Allessandro had his chance to shine near the end, with a drum solo lasting a a few minutes. Which proved to be one of the best of the set, and I was sad to see it come to a close.
The Cinellis provide rowdy fun with some classy touches.
Even before he reached the stage there was no doubting who the star of the afternoon was. With an empty spot in the middle of the stage, the drums, bass, keyboard and sax started up, quickly joined by the sound of a wailing blues guitar, and Stacy Mitchhart swaggered in from the back, saying hi to the audience along the way. Charisma is hard to define but easy to spot. Mitchhart has an abundance.
He's probably not everyone's cup of tea - a joker, a showman, a flirt, with some questionable attitudes to women being evinced - but he's very much his own man, a larger than life creation of his own making. While we and the band sweltered in the increasingly humid Spiegeltent, Stacy's fedora and suit jacket remained in place with no ill effects. As he said, that's what living in Tennessee does for you.
The set was a mix of blues classics, some original songs, and his inventive arrangements of a Beatles song (Come Together) and a Led Zep rocker (Whole Lotta Love). Mitchhart played electric guitar, steel guitar, and one of his home-made cigar box three-strings. Lots of chat, some funny stories, and one very moving tale when he introduced the cigar box. And plenty of great music. Mitchhart has a fine blues voice, less distinctive than Mills, but equally powerful and full of inflections. His guitar playing is at another level though, and we were treated to some wonderful solos. He's also generous to his band, and everyone got their chance to shine. Beautiful, soulful sax work, keys with a sixties feel to them, and decent bass and drum solos (albeit not in the same class as the spectacular offerings from the Cinellis).
But the focus remained with the star of the show, an imaginative musician and great entertainer. He left the way he came in, walking off through the audience and doing what he does best with his fingers...
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