What a great evening! I knew SUSIE DOBSON would be good, as I have heard her sing and play many times. However, I wasn’t expecting to be quite so bowled over by GILMORE & ROBERTS! No wonder there was a full house!

Katriona and Jamie absolutely blew me away with their wonderful singing and imaginative use of their instruments: guitar (Jamie) and the fiddle and mandolin (Katriona).

Particularly poignant was 'Dr. James', which had a powerful message even though it was somewhat macabre. Another favourite for me was 'Every Midnight Mile', a very quiet, tranquil song. They wrote the song and released it as a single to raise funds for Shelter. So far sales have reached over £500. This song was in stark contrast to many of their other songs, but just as amazing in its message and delivery.

We were also treated to songs from the latest album, of which some have already been covered by others. What an accolade! Their next song, 'Selfish Man', written by Jamie whilst on the Isle of Man, got us all singing along!

I asked the people sitting close to me, during the main interval what they thought of the session so far… ” very peaceable and sung very well. An amazing session”. Another comment was that it was one of the best Folk Club evenings they had been to.

Other songs included 'All I Have Known' and 'Billy Green'. The latter was written for the project “Songs For The Voiceless”, which was about recording stories from WW1. 'Billy Green' tells the story of someone in the trenches who, the night before he was due over the top, prayed for the safety of Billy Green, rather than his own safety. This was because in his opinion, Billy was more worthy of being saved from death.

After more wonderful songs, we were treated to a rock song as a lively finale to end the evening. Obviously there was an encore which, unusually, was performed unplugged. A wonderful end to a great evening.

Susie, accompanied by Joe Futak, opened the evening. In his introduction, Ant mentioned that people who have had the pleasure of hearing Susie, are sure "she is going places". Certainly her performance did nothing to make me doubt that!

Their opening song, The Staves' 'Facing West' was wonderfully performed, in a most poignant and evocative manner, while 'Why We Build The Wall' delivered a powerful message about the prevalence of inequality and poverty in the World. Joe’s voice as Hades, added an additional dimension, a perfect blend of voices, to this beautiful song.

This was followed by Passenger's 'A House On A Hill”, which Susie had sung at her debut with the Folk Club, early in 2015. Since then she has developed her delivery of it, to be even more beautiful. Their next song 'How Long Will I Love You' was very poignant despite the absence of a fiddle player! Susie and Joe concluded the set with 'Travelling Alone' and 'Underneath the Stars', the latter being a fitting finale to an amazing session.

So in conclusion, as I said at the beginning, what a most enjoyable evening!  Massive thanks are due to Susie, Joe, Katriona and Jamie. Oh, and by the way, also to Ant and the rest of the Downend Folk Club Committee, without whom such great evenings would not be posssible.

- Jan Bacon, DFC member

Photos by Chris Dobson