A stone’s throw from Highbury & Islington, the Union Chapel is a beautiful and historic celebration of the arts. The East window is my favourite part of this space. As I entered the chapel, the evening light shone elegantly through each petal carved into the stained glass which each depicted an instrument mentioned in the Old Testament. A vision of true community and union, founded by both Anglicans and nonconformists in 1799, this space is an immediately diverse and inviting space to all who enter. A celebration of music and heritage, the wonderful evening to come had already begun with the beautiful space that so powerfully hosted the evening’s sounds.
Perched on a wooden pew, I sat amidst an array of flat caps and fedoras floating around me, ready to learn some lessons not only revealing the amazing stretch of music that folk and blues encompass, but also to be prompted to consider the power of storytelling in music.
The night began with the wonderful Martin Harley. I was most struck by his repeated personification of concepts and even musical genres. In his song “Blues At My Window”, he sings “the blues is in my coffee, and you know I get the blues all in my wine”. Moreover, later in his final song “The Time is Now” he sings “life is uncertain, life is unsure, hope is sleeping on my bathroom floor”. Harley’s lyricism highlights the happening of feeling; emotions, just as people, usually arrive unexpectedly or not at all. Harley captures the ebbing and flowing of navigating being struck by, or absent of, certain emotion and experience through his words and poetry, and his fantastic slide guitar.
After a short pause and steady hum of praise which softly rang throughout the chapel like some old muted church bells, Jerron Paxton graced the stage.
Paxton’s set was one of unforgettable engagement and entertainment. Switching from the banjo to the guitar to the piano and even to rhythm bones, Paxton held the audience at his fingertips with his incredible voice and powerful messaging.
When singing “Tombstone Disposition”, he noted that he was present to entertain primarily, despite being a recording artist. His intention really shone through, as he refreshingly reminded the audience of the power of focusing on the art form first and its amazing power to connect. Paxton captures the core of struggle in this bluesy ballad, with his words “well I might get better, Lord knows I never get well”. Having sung through some tunes with both his guitar and then banjo, Paxton reached into his “happy bag” as he called it for his harmonica. This begun the instrumental section of the set, first with the harmonica, then the banjo and then the piano. The harmonica begun with many a reflection of different train sounds including “Joe’s Cadillac on the track” which he named mid song, and then moved to a fantastic 3 minutes of pure harmonica goldust. Having lightened the hearts of the audience he then proceeded to move to a banjo instrumental whilst he caught his breath back, which began to bring the audience back to centre again with its rather soft and romantic melodies before the cheeky and uplifting piano piece which followed. As with his entertainment intention, the order of his set felt very well planned out with this wonderful uplifting rise out of a beginning singing of troubles.
Completely authentic, Paxton knows how to tap into the diverse aspects of self and unpick every part with curiosity and passion through his music, leading the audience to understand themselves just that little bit better in response. From more popular songs such as “Things Done Changed” (the title track to his latest record) and “What’s Gonna Become of Me” (a recent feature on Jools Holland), to smaller ones such as his final song on the rhythm bones, Paxton raised the audience to a standing ovation and left an amazing buzz in the space where everyone was praising the beauty in his multi-instrumentalist capabilities and also in his charming introductions to the songs. A great evening overall!
Begin or continue your blues journey by following these artists’ updates on Instagram:
@martinharleymusic
@jerronpaxton
