Bristol Fiddlers
24th October 2000

Having bought her latest album Little Black Numbers after a tip off from Imperial Records several months ago, I was obviously excited to hear that Kathryn Williams was to play live in Bristol. The night both lived up to my expectations and stood them on their heads.

What I had expected was the wonderful music: From the opener, Toocan, to the encore, Fell Down Fast, (both taken from Little Black Numbers) the songs are musically beautiful, with a disarming, thought-provoking quality made wonderful by Kathryn's soft, clear voice.

As well as several songs from her latest album, the earlier album, Dog Leap Stairs, was also well represented here and we also heard a newly written song, which I think was called Foreign Skies, although I could be wrong.

What I hadn't expected was the warmth of the atmosphere. There must only be so many female singer/ songwriters - or performers at all for that matter - that would take a pub-ful of people into their confidence and regale them with tales of terrible gaffs, dreamy holidays, snuffly colds and going to the offy in Newcastle in ones pyjamas. Not to mention the Heather- from-M-People impression - the audience's 'treat' to make up for Kathryn and cellist Laura Reid getting the giggles so badly during Jonny Bridgwood's double bass intro to a song that they all had to stop and start again.

From the moment the band took to the stage to their reappearance for an encore ('they're a false economy, encores, you know'), the atmosphere on stage was so welcoming it reminded me of the time my flatmate's blues outfit played to a packed house of around forty in our living room (another article there I feel) - the same easy camaraderie, just lots more people and a bit more room to sit down.

I think that the mood was due in part to the presence in the audience of one of Kathryn's ex-flatmates with a gang of mates, but clearly these are just friendly people having a whale of time.

As Mercury Prize nominees this year, I expected that Kathryn and the band might have made the break into being able to be full-time musicians, so it was rather touching to hear that their other guitarist, David Scott, couldn't be at the performance because 'he's also a psychiatric nurse and tonight someone in Newcastle needs him more than I do'.

Acoustically, the double bass and Alex Tustin's drums were rather less audible than Kathryn's guitar and voice and the cello, however even with one component absent, the band were still more than the sum of their parts.

This was an evening that I will treasure for a long time, and I left happy in the knowledge that someone is, or in fact five someones are, out there making heavenly music with an earthy touch.