Monday 19th December. The Borderline. Yola Carter. In one of the last gigs at The Borderline before its refurb in the new year it’s the fabulous Yola Carter once of Phantom Limb now solo cutting a new path in the country soul scene. Hitting a lot of the ‘one to watch’ lists for 2017 we jump on board at the first stop.
It’s refreshing to see the artist hit the stage at the allotted time and despite her nursing a cold we are overwhelmed by the force of that voice from song one. Self-medicating on water and beer, if she’s not at 100% it’s not showing tonight.
She hops, skips and jumps through her only recorded release to date the EP ‘Orphan Offering’ joined on stage variously by her backing band and guest vocalists Danni Nichols and Emily Barker. Highlights for me are the excellent ‘Fly Away’ and the new song about her mother’s death ‘Free to Roam’.
After the usual charade of leaving the stage before the encore, Carter reappears with the excellent Emily Barker for a great version of the Band’s ‘The Weight’. I am not familiar with Barker but her higher range perfectly complements Carter and I would have welcomed a lot more of them together.
It’s a small but enthusiastic crowd and I’m sure that once the word gets out the crowd and the venues will get bigger. Carter is such a talent and her voice in the lower range grabs you from your toes and envelopes your whole body as she goes through her vocal gears. If this is what it is like with a cold then stand well back when she unleashes the full force of that voice when fully fit.
It’s been a hellava ride this year with this being my 52nd gig (many thanks to the most understanding wife in the world) and considering what has happened in the world in the past twelve months it’s a fine way to send off 2016. This year has only cemented my passion for live music and 2017 is already shaping up nicely.
One final word for The Borderline and its makeover. Don't change too much, lose the velvet curtain so we can see the iconic sign on the wall again and please, please make the men’s toilets bigger and drier!
Keep on rocking into 2017 y’all.
Don Toliver
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