BY MICHAEL CHOWNE
Another wholesome and quality songwriters’ night on Thursday 15th October 2026 at The Southgate Club in North London put on by the UK Country Music Association.
These newly established regular nights provide a wonderful opportunity to hear original country songs played acoustically, in their rawest form, by the artists who wrote them, allowing the stories behind the songs centre stage.
This month was four UK artists and hosted by our friends Geoff Meads and Victoria Meads aka Tennessee Twin (this was our 20th time seeing them live).
Joining them were Luke Flear (seen live 12 times), Donna Marie Songs (7 times) and Shea Rafferty (5 times). All artists appear on stage together and sing their songs one after the other, Nashville style, and last night had 3 songs each in each half.
Luke is an up and coming country star, originally from Leeds but based in London for the last year. Really lovely to hear him singing his original songs, he chose 5 unreleased songs, alongside ‘Red Vodka’ from his 2022 album ‘Looks Country To Me’. Some really strong releases incoming, the pick of the bunch for me was ‘Beg Me To Stay’.
Donna had travelled down from Warrington and, along with her brand new shiny guitar, ‘Dolly’, played a set that made us wish we could see her more. Donna travels around the country performing in the theatre show A Country Night in Nashville as part of Dominic Halpin & the Hurricanes so look out for a show near you. ‘On The Road’ is a favourite and it was nice to hear ‘Ghost Of You’, a song from her former duo, Dove Ties.
Shea is originally from Northern Ireland, near the border, but had made the short journey from Muswell Hill to be here! He gave us four songs from his new album ‘Livin” (well worth a listen), along with one from each of his first two albums. I particularly liked ‘Nashville Life’ – Shea said it’s his goal to get that played in the airport in Nashville! Some really good Springsteen inspired country rock, played here in it’s gentlest form.
Tennessee Twin are based in Cambridgeshire/Suffolk and it’s always great to hear them play. They have a new 12 song album due out before long and played 3 of the new ones, all sounding great. ‘About Last Night’ (if it becomes that, title not yet nailed down) was my favourite, but ‘Beautifully Scared’ was just, well, beautiful!
Look out for an announcement soon about next month’s show – and set aside Thursday 19th November in your diary. It would be really nice to grow these evenings further if we’re to ensure their survival so please spread the word!
