BY LESLEY HASTINGS

A hidden gem in the heart of Soho, the gorgeous Crazy Coqs cabaret room was the perfect venue last Friday for an early evening set of country music showcasing some of the incredibly talented female artists we have here in the UK. 

The event was the brainchild of California native Savannah Gardner who is gaining a reputation not only as a brilliant country artist in her own right but also someone who is keen to uplift her female counterparts, and she was shown a lot of love and respect from those who joined her at this particular show. The packed room bore testimony to the support for the idea too, which involved each artist playing a twenty minute set of originals while also including a tribute to the female country artists who have paved the way for them over the years. 

Savannah acted as a more than competent MC for the evening,  which built perfectly and ended with all the artists on stage for a rousing medley of a few of Dolly’s many songs, the audience on their feet singing along too. 

But before that, the evening began in much more sedate style as multi award winning instrumentalist Holly Carter (one of the UK’s few professional female pedal steel players) enthralled us all with her proficient fingerstyle guitar picking and well crafted songs. Lyrically and melodically strong, her music really draws the listener in and I particularly enjoyed “Our Hands Are Tied” which was inspired by union leader Frank Little who was  murdered by lynching in 1917 for his unswerving support of the Montana miners who worked in horrific conditions

Holly’s tribute song was a brilliant version of Dolly Parton’s composition “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?”, first recorded as a duet by Dolly and Chet Atkins in 1976 . 

Next to take to the stage was Brooke Law, introduced by Savannah  as an “Epiphone endorsed artist who is also one of the ‘BBC ‘s Artists to Watch‘ ” and it really is no wonder on both counts! A force of nature, her attacking country-rock style performance and powerful vocals gave me Janis Joplin vibes, add some fabulous original songs to the mix she is definitely a star in the making for me. Her set included her most recent single “Help Me” plus a preview of her upcoming release “Gypsy Woman”, out on 17th April, with her tribute song being one of the best covers of Carrie’s “Before He Cheats” I’ve ever heard. 

And last but definitely not least it was Savannah’s turn, joined on stage for the first time by a new (all female of course!) band and wow did they gel! Holly Carter returned on lead guitar, with Carmen Ruiz Vicente on drums and Texan born Riley Caskey on bass to form a real gal-power combo for a powerful set of outlaw-country inspired music. The fun they were obviously having was infectious and they performed songs from Savannah’s ever-growing catalogue …… look out for her debut album coming soon. “Outlaw” ( about “marching to the beat of your own drum and kicking the patriarchy’s ass”, an introduction that was met with whoops from the females in the audience!), “City of Cowboys” (“for all my cowgirls with a dream”) the dreamy, bluesy “Heaven Is A Feeling” (“heaven is what you create around you”) and the uber-energetic “High Desert Memory” (“you guys want a little honky -tonk?“ …. Hell yeah we did!) were all deservedly well received, and in the mix was Savannah’s tribute song, “Lovesick Blues” a massive hit for Hank Williams but also recorded by her favourite artist, Patsy Cline. 

With Brooke returning to the stage for the aforementioned Dolly medley (“Jolene”/ “I Will Always Love You”/ “9-5”) the evening sadly came to an end but let’s hope this is the first of many such shows. Always leave them wanting more, as the saying goes, and that’s definitely how we all felt as we left.

Watch this space …..