 I know its been said before but this is a man that can make you laugh and cry in the same breath - and he did both again for me. This was a personal journey through his 40 years on the road as a professional musician.
I count myself fortunate to have seen him very early in those 40 years and was glad to hear him sing Streets of Staithes from his first album, Valley of Tees (1971). The Lovers Ghost was faithful to his first live album The Young Tin Whistle Pest (1975) but the rambling, and very funny, introduction has changed entirely.
Vins sense of injustice shows through his songs and England My England, The Potash Song and Waits and Weeps (about the Piper Alpha tragedy) are, sadly, as relevant today as when they were written. There is anger in his performance but often optimism as well as in the wonderfully insightful Punjabi Girl. A lot of smiling people leaving the hall carrying wet handkerchiefs, I suspect.
- Mike Simmons |
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