Song for the Shy
(I’m In Love With Her) Record Collection
Romeo’s Tune
I’m disappointed at my new guitar technology (I put a pickup in my lovely, old, tobacco-brown guitar, but it wasn’t registering on the H&F electronics), and that I only got to play three songs (the organiser always plays for half an hour, whether there are three people behind him or ten), but glad that I know how to play four upside-down chords. I could see the guitarists in the crowd thinking ‘what on earth is he doing?’.
A couple of really interesting other acts – one, Tawly (my best guess at the spelling), was a tiny girl in crocs who didn’t look old enough to be in a pub. But if you’re good enough, you’re old enough (even if you’re wearing crocs), and she was good enough to silence a rowdy pub. Incredible control of the guitar, incredible control of a surprisingly big voice (where does she keep it? there’s nothing to her!), and a really good choice of songs, including Mama You’ve Been On My Mind and Eric Idle’s Universe Song (on the ukelele). I wanted to be an A&R man so I could sign her up on the spot. Three parts Joan Baez to one part Nick Drake and one part Jeff Buckley, possibly some Janis in the mix too – I hope she goes on to big things and ends up living more like Joan than the other three.
There was a floppy-haired guy doing quite funky versions of Fire and Rain and Itchycoo Park. There was an older guy who did a folk cover of Purple Rain, which took me until the chorus to pick up. And there was me, banging out my standards upside-down. None of which came close to Tawly.
Kensson's ramblings 
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