Music > Live Reviews
Jolie Holland and Samantha Parton
Norwich Arts Centre
23/01/17
This show at the Norwich Art Centre felt low key, in part due to a mid January date on a Wednesday. However, when Outline took its place at the back of a crowded room, the place was pleasingly full, primed and rapt. Support came from Reuben Hollebon, a Norfolk barefoot troubadour with a delicate style on a Spanish guitar. His vocals were pitched somewhere between Eddie Vedder and Josh Ritter and while he hasn’t the purest of voices, he has plenty of heart and passion and a lot of words. His guitar was not allowed a moment's break from the plucking and flourishes so after a particularly energised rendition of Move Me we were all relieved to see the capo removed and some much needed retuning attended to. All told, Rueben has a good style with emotional content and it’s good to see a local dude supporting on this nationwide tour.
Sam Parton and Jolie Holland were both founding members of the Be Good Tanya’s, Jolie leaving before the first album Blue Horse was released and Sam being part of the group through all three studio albums. The voices are the thing with these guys, and from the off they were stunning in their harmonising. The Lakes of Ponchartrain was a beautiful beginning, more languid than a Cadbury's Caramel lullaby, with Jolie taking lead vocal duties. The ladies had a groovy cowboy sharing the stage in the form of Stevie Weinstein - like a six string wielding Russell Brand he also tackled some of the between tracks chit-chat with relaxed, outgoing banter. His personal vintage acoustic guitar was being played by Jolie throughout, and while the sound and look were perfect, it needed tuning between every song for what felt like too long; this aspect was about the only thing that could have improved a performance by two unique voices and three special players. Sam had been involved in a life-changing car accident a few years ago - in fact the night her old band mates played the Arts Centre in September 2013 she was in surgery, and the future felt very uncertain. Her rendition of Waiting Around To Die was as vulnerable as it was gorgeous, and all the more heart-string-pulling when you know what Sam had so recently endured.
The latter half of the year promises a new album by the pair, and we were treated to several previews in a scaled down format. Make It Up To Me recalled the Muscle Schoals sound, and fingers crossed the studio production can stretch to some horns – I do love a horn – although it was a thing of bold and laidback beauty in its trio format. Jolie’s rectangular violin made several appearances through the night, and every time was most welcome. She can create some sensual and emotive sounds with it, and, along with her incredible whistling, it’s a very organic way of accompanying the tunes.
Naturally everyone was eager to hear the latest incarnation of Littlest Birds, which was the reason most people got to first hear the Be Good Tanya’s way back in the early 2000’s, and the addition of a subtle Soweto touch to the guitar felt just right. During all the songs performed Sam and Jolie held the crowd in the palm of their hands and no one spoiled the tender sadness with talking or interruptions, a very grown up crowd showing respect which is always appreciated. I was new to Jolie's solo work, and was pleased to get the chance to hear some direct from source; my favourite of these was Last Crazy Person, a powerful song which had positive feminist overtones in this new era of American premiership. This was a night where those of us who were lucky enough to be there saw talented, motivated, compassionate women sing and play their hearts out.