Ady Johnston's day-job is as a guitar teacher and listening to him perform reveals why. His playing provides the fullest accompaniment to his songs. He writes personal songs such as that of his relationship with his furniture-restorer grandfather who taught his grandson his craft.
Ady sings with warmth and conviction and betrays his 1960's song-writing reference-points in his harmonica playing. He has a pop sensibility that places some of his work outside of the pure singer-songwriter genre, but his set is richer for that. If you weren't with us at this gig, search him out. You'll be rewarded.
Blanche Ellis and Maya McCourt (AKA Various Guises) sport deft guitar and shoulder-strung cello, but, especially, stunning harmonies sung with voices whose timbres' sweetly complement each other.
Influenced, also, by writers from just after the middle of the last century, their mixture of English folk, bluegrass/Appalachian and pop-tinged songs is high-modernist in its array of styles, but it's their instrumental blend, their on-stage insouciance, and, especially, the deftness and richness of the harmonies that will stay with you.
The club host, Simon Hopper (me), as ever, did his best to perform up to the standard of the guests and ask interesting questions of them about their art and craft for the further elucidation of the audience.
Join us next month for Jeremy Tuplin and Rob Corcoran. March 10th.
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