A Unique Night of Blues and Gospel from The Holy Rollers – Salsa Café November 16

Kathryn Lowdon (Vocal) and Gypsy Dave Smith (Guitar and Vocal). (Review by Kath Jobes).

Memories of the Jazz Café as it was were tangible this evening as Gipsy Dave Smith kicked the evening off with Careless Love, followed by I’m The Whining Boy, and if I closed my eyes I would have believed that there really was a trombone introduction as the skill of this great performer excelled as he mimicked the sound of a trombone to open the number… Just wow! 

Kathryn Lowdon then joined Gypsy Dave for a Willy Johnson Number, Nobody’s Fault but Mine, and then the ‘little bitty mamma’ carried on with a grand tune - Skinny Leg Blues.  Mary Don’t You Weep, Get Away Jordan and the Claude Ely gospel number - Ain't No Grave (Gonna Hold This Body Down) followed on and the first set ended on a Gypsy Dave Smith original - Blue World.

The second set was a marathon of tunes from this superb unique duo commencing with another original by Gypsy Dave, written in the winter of 86/87 in the cold hard snows called Dead End Street.  Ida Cox’s Four Day Creep  and Looky Looky Yonder were wilder and lively but the next number Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out was a little more subdued and led nicely into a sensitive and sentimental song that would bring a tear to your eye,  What Are They Doing There Now.

The sentimental theme continued with the Kris Kristofferson number, Help Me Make It Through the Night and then a song first recorded by Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1933 – Irene Goodnight, punctuated by sound effects from the entertaining humour of Gypsy Dave. 

The pace picked up for a delightful Black Betty and a well-known rugby song, Swing Low Sweet Chariot which seamlessly joined with Lord Wont You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz, before flipping back to the original tune. 

Kathryn Lowdon showed her versatility as a gifted singer on Evil Girl Blues. The final number of the night was an animated Skillet Lickers gospel tune – Don’t You Hear Jerusalem Moan, what an unforgettable end to the evening … and Holy Moly did they Roll!

Kath J.