Country Cantina 2024 Review – Pics Juan Fitzgerald – Ags (Lucy) Rob/Ship (Sid) Review Juan Fitzgerald & chum.
On a homely farm in Easington in the wild pastures of the County Durham countryside, folks gathered for a 2 day celebration of roots music, and a host of local and international talent, playing their heartfelt songs, up close & very personal. Of course, making maybe the 12th Jumpin Hot Country Cantina? such a special event, that it always is!
I’ve lost count of just how many times we have attended as it’s a summer must , & who cares whatever the weather might bring ( although unlike most, we do book into nearby accommodation ). The nice people who run the event were ready with their delicious food, the little bar was stocked appropriately, tents already pitched & toilets cleaned come Friday teatime, 6.30pm kick off music time.
Tony Bengtsson started the proceedings off, on the outside stage as the clouds rolled bye & although quite cold for this part of summer, rain wasn’t yet witnessed.
Tony’s cover of the old 60’s anthem “Woodstock” was a daring opener but it made absolute sense for the occasion in a field of corn with poppies & setting the gentle tone for the whole weekend. Tony was followed by the equally talented young Scots, Kari Macleod and Ben Fitzgerald and their gentle folky/Scottish/country tunes on guitar and violin & nicely serene they were too. The country vibe picked up a little with the half Wurzel/half Hank Williams artist, Ags Connelly from Oxfordshire. If he didn’t talk between his authentic Country/Tex Mex tunes you’d put your house (or bet your horse) on him being from Texas & what a great voice he has. Ags tip-top country songs about love and break ups in that deep country voice hit the mark for just about everyone & his Stetson hat & attire did too. By this time the crowd took advantage of the fiesta kitchen and chased the very rare rays of the sun in the late evening light, a rainbow had made a magical appearance just for us early birds. The final act of the evening was the ever so popular trio “The Good The Bad & The Chumsy” from Big Red & The Grinners. Indeed whatever music they played Big Red, and his outstanding vocal’s made the tune their own. Covers included as ever “Walk this Way’ the lovely Norah Jones song “Come Away With Me ” & Van’s “Into The Mystic” which was where Big Red ended up, leading the way in the late night campfire session & singalong afterwards. I heard it was still going into the early hours . It’s quite the ice cubes in the aperitif to Saturday’s main event !
Saturday was held in the cosy back Barn due again to inclement weather that was only slightly better than last year’s torrential rain & hailstones ! Ken Meek held an open mike for a midday starter which was more a word of mouth thing & lovely it was too. Everybody invited played a tune or two that was well worth a listen & even Graham (Shipcote – the programmer) played his new song featuring a hardware shop no less and Nicky Rushton (Mush/And All Because) made her way from her kitchen duties & sang the beautiful song “Moth” with its acoustic spiky guitar riffs . We had the regular MC Mr Drayton back again this year introducing everybody & he certainly makes the whole Festival more jovial. Although a unique country blues women, Elsie Franklin couldn’t help but giggle & laugh as he introduced her. Mind she was good & said her set was totally dedicated to Gypsy Bill Williams (RIP) . Like Elsie, Bill was a York based Bluesman who stole the show last year. Local act The Hightown’s were many people’s highlight this year with their unique two part harmonies,+ fiddle, double bass , drums set up. I could hear The Milk Carton Kids in the music, also The Everly Bros & Beautiful South & they even threw in a very different Radiohead cover for good measure…… not that many in the roots music crowd would have known it (not a bad thing) . Another high point of the afternoon were the Burner Band from Leeds with their infectious Country & Rockabilly style songs and good humour that almost rivalled Steve Drayton our compare for the weekend ” You won’t be able to find this song said the singer, its only on teletext “ & they were the only band here with a pedal steel player too, which really enhanced their music, even though he hid behind the excellent Bass player.
Following an interlude with Rob Heron & Shippy’s sacred 78s records played on their vintage portable record players it was time for our first US artist Cahalen Morrison. It’s not easy singing his mellow folk & Appalachian song’s unaccompanied at the best of time but here Cahalen had the bottle to do this first off & others followed similarly between his wonderful music on guitar & banjo. The duo of Pepi & Theo “Rain of Animals” whom Cahalen travelled with from Glasgow provided a lighter touch with folk / roots tunes & hot instrumentals and musicianship of the very finest order. They invited Cahalen up with his banjo for a Cantina jam finale which went down a storm.
Next up the second American singer/songwriter Diana Jones who soon connected with the locals in the audience with tales of mining disaster’s (like here in Easington) about the Native Americans heritage & her folk, country, gospel songs all featured strong narratives. My favourites being “Henry Russell’s Last Words” and “Pony”. Diana said she’d have loved to have stayed for the full weekend ; she enjoyed The Barn so much. We must also praise the sound engineer Rob Griffiths for his work during the whole weekend, as the sound was nothing short of excellent. We sometimes forget all this but in a barn with lots of echo & indeed on the outside stage with the outdoor fields, he got the perfect balance.
For the final portion of the evening we had a change around in the schedule as transport problems meant Lady Nade came up here as a trio and not the full band, & they went on second last , although she was indeed the headliner. Nade entertained us with the songs of Nina Simone and at times I thought Nina was actually in Easington, as she was THAT GOOD. Indeed her trio with Ruth Hammond (keys) & Holly Carter (guitar ) were THAT GOOD. And it wasn’t just me as Shippy said he had tears in his eyes as she sang Mr Bojangles as requested at the end. Everything she did was well presented in the songs & her singing in her own sweet way & it was an honour to be there. Songs like Ain’t Got No, I Got Life, My Baby Just Cares For Me, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood & Baltimore in a full on Nina Simone tribute.
We had a short break afterwards to get our breath back & our dancing shoes on, as Howlin Ric and The Rocketeers had the distinction of finishing The Festival off. To their credit they did a great job & have matured as a band so much, since we had them at Acklington Cantina quite a few years ago. They touch on a little garage rock these days, as well as Rock N Roll & Soul & New Orleans R&B. In fact, they wouldn’t have did an awesome version of Ian Dury’s “Sweet Gene Vincent” back when, but they did to finish the music in fine style at The Cantina 2024. Then The Rocketeers party was in full swing in the bar until 11pm at least , as we left for the car park, hoping not to get stuck in the mud on the way out. However It was well worth the boys celebrating. Long live The Country Cantina.