John Prine Band

I don’t know about you, but anybody deemed talented enough to place on Paste magazine’s list of the one hundred greatest living songwriters has already done enough to pique my interest; I think we can probably conclude that Josh Ritter isn’t there for nothing. Hailing from the comically-monikered town of Moscow, Idaho - I bet they had some fun there during the Cold War - Ritter is primarily a folk singer who occasionally blends country influences into his sound, and has built up an impressive cult fanbase by doing so down the years. It’s probably down, in no small part, to his impressive rate of return in the studio the past decade or so; he’s turned in seven full-length records, with the most recent, The Beast in Its Tracks, dropping last year. He plays shows at a pretty prodigious rate, too; since releasing that last album, he’s toured relentlessly across his home country, playing mellow, stripped-back shows to adoring audiences in apparently every single corner of that enormous nation. He retains an impressive overseas following, too, and accordingly played a slew of shows across Europe last Autumn - that run included shows in Manchester, London, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and, bizarrely, Pocklington in East Yorkshire; apparently, even small market towns need a dose of Ritter every now and then.

Coming from a family of musicians, it’s easy to be overshadowed by another family member, but Alejandro Escovedo broke free of this trap at a young age when he made a break into the singer/songwriter scene. Starting out as a member in a band, Escovedo has had extensive experience performing with other musicians, which was evident in his performance with the way that he interacted with his own band onstage.
He opened the show with the track Sally Was a Cop, which as a slow track, got everyone moving to the front of the auditorium to sing along and wave their arms in the air in appreciation of the music. After the song he stopped to introduce himself and the band and had a bit of a chat with the audience. He mentioned his collaborations with Ryan Adams, which had everyone cheering, and he even played Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight for everyone.
Seeing him play his acoustic solo set was wonderful as his vocal and instrumental talents were equally balanced, and it was great for us as an audience to really appreciate the skill involved in his musicianship. His backing vocalists, guitarists, and drummer were also phenomenal musicians, and the way that they created an additional depth to Escovedo’s sound was a wonderful touch to the performance.