Gig Review
Terry Garland
Saturday, 10 March 2007:
We were lucky to have one of only three UK dates on Terry’s latest tour and as it was the first time he had appeared at Bluesnights we were keen to see and hear what he could do! A very affable, polite Southern Gentleman from the USA he nevertheless has a powerful style of playing that is up front and often in your face. Most of the material that he performed were his own compositions and I felt that he has quite an original take where the chord structure and rhythms are concerned. There was a good balance between full-on boogie numbers and slower, often poignant, ballads.
The first set got going with a trio of hard driving numbers - “Bad Luck and Trouble” was good, “Trouble In Mind” was excellent, with an insistent rhythm, and “Get Bitchy” really cracked along with a shimmering slide solo. Terry toned it down with the lovely slow blues “Trouble On The Way” - a very measured number. The superb “Hard Weather”, again featuring slide, just flowed up and down the fret board! A very nice soulful rendition of a Sam Cooke song and then the set finished with a high octane, rollicking “Dude Boy Boogie”.
Note: Click thumbnail to view full artist image.
Photo credit: Paul Martin.
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Terry Garland’s second set featured several introspective poignant numbers, “When You See Their Eyes”, was also quite energetic. The haunting lament “Courtesy Of Love” and a very interesting rhythm on ‘Without You’, a number he dedicated to his wife. Another (largely) self-penned number ‘Jim Beam and the Bible’ made full use of dropped-D tuning on which to hang a hypnotic riff and mournful vocal line. A good extended version of “Dust My Broom” went down well. “44 In My Hand” had very good chops. Again on Champion Jack Dupree’s “That’s The Boogie Woogie” the chops were excellent! Then Terry wound it right up with a rip roaring version of Willie Dixon’s “Wang Dang Doodle". We still got him back for an encore though. Four guys (a.k.a The Crew) came all the way from Ashford in Kent to see this show. After this performance, I think he will get a solid following!
Review by: Lewis A Harris.
© Bluesnights. The Dorset Blues Society.
10 March 2007.
