St Mary’s has watched over Rye for centuries, and last Saturday night the church proved itself once again as a fine concert venue and a resource for the whole community. A capacity crowd on Saturday 16 May filled the pews for a night of classic tunes from the Americas and beyond, raising funds to re-gild the Quarter Boys above the clock along the way.
Rye’s Sing It Out choir set the tone beautifully, with a wide range of reference points: a Congolese folk song, a Brazilian lilt, a little Disney, and a Shoshone love song that hung in the stone and hushed the venue. By the time the choir had the audience clicking along on the two and the four in Wade in the Water, the evening had quietly announced what it was really about: bringing people together in music.
The choir prepared the room, and Rebecca Stroud transported it. She took the audience back to the 60s and 70s with rich, powerful and evocative voice to match her grand piano. Two of her own songs framed the set, along with Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine, and a Wild Horses that found the ache in the Stones original and amplified it. The night had its centre of gravity.
Assembled specially for this one-off show, the Long Riders moved through roots, blues, folk and country with the ease of a band that had been together far longer than one night. A clear, punchy mix from Rye’s music shop maestro Richard Kingsman matched the sound perfectly to the church’s acoustics.
Cal Roberts and Andy Guainiere shared vocal duties for the first half, with Jackson Browne’s These Days setting the register; the Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want opened it out; Woody Guthrie’s Vigilante Man and a cheeky version of Smiley Lewis’s Mama Don’t Like It showed how wide the net was being cast. Rebecca Stroud returned for Angel, and Sally Bayly joined on vocals for The Band’s The Weight, and had us all singing along with Jolene.
Jackie Wilson’s Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher did exactly what the title promises, and the room went up with it. Honky Tonk Women closed the night with the aisles in motion. We look forward to many more nights with the Long Riders.
Image Credits: Jeff Grice .