Phil Beer has been a professional musician for more or less his entire working life and it had been stated that he would be starting to take things a bit easier but, based on what he has been up to, it is hard to see much sign of that.
Before a Show of Hands tour in May, there are many solo dates including a handful of Phil Beer Band dates. When not touring Phil also been on production duties – he produced Odette Mitchell’s debut album, The Wildest Rose (reviewed here) and is working on her next – and then there is Volume 2 of his Box Set (which he says is now 9/10ths complete). Not forgetting his passion for gardening and sailing, you get the picture.
The Phil Beer Band formed 20 years ago, put together initially for a Ceilidh, but they morphed from a mostly instrumental based band to one that cover a variety of material, but now mainly songs. Twenty years on, Steve Crickett still keeps the group on track with his solid drumming and has worked with Phil since his days in the Arizona Smoke Revue. The band sadly lost original Bassist Nick Quarmby a couple of years ago, and his place has been filled by Greg Macdonald (when not playing with his group Glymjack), who follows the Show of Hands always dress in black code. Gareth (GT) Turner, another original member, whose granite set features just occasionally twitch into a quiet smile, contributes his subtle magic on the Diatonic accordion, weaving around that and Phil’s guitar is Olivia Dunn on violin, clearly having a ball and adding her voice and guitar to complete this mix is Emily Slade.
Last year the band played, what was surprisingly their first festival, appearing on the main stage at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival on a hot, Sunday afternoon. This being a March evening in Yeovil, the air temperature outside might be somewhat cooler, but the reception as Phil comes onstage to do a couple of songs on his own is undoubtedly warm. There are two things that you can guarantee when you go to a Phil Beer gig; one is that the musicianship will be impeccable and the other is that at some point in the evening he will perform Willin’ by Little Feat.
The songs come thick and fast. Unlike a Show of Hands gig, there is not as much between number stories, so Warren Zevon’s For My Next Trick I’ll Need a Volunteer, rubs shoulders with I Cannot Keep From Crying, a version of a Blind Willie Johnson song. The band switch from Blues to Country rock with John Hiatt’s song Perfectly Good Guitar, written as a response to the tour Garth Brooks did a few years ago, where guitars were smashed during the performance.
One shame is that despite having such an excellent band, there are no CD’s available. Only two have ever been released. Mandorock in 2000, a live set and sadly no longer available and the very rare Once In A Blue Moon, which Phil says was something only sold at gigs and very few copies produced. The good news is that Box Set 2 will feature a lot of band material as well as some solo stuff. Phil says that it will definitely be coming out later this year! He has also delegated some of the early band recordings to Show of Hands producer Mark Tucker so maybe there could be quite a bit of Phil Beer Band material becoming available?
One song that has been brought into the set after an absence of some time is The Dominion Of The Sword. This is based on Law Lies Bleeding, written around the time of the English Civil War and recorded (with amended lyrics) by Martin Carthy on his Right Of Passage album in 1988. Phil arranged the song for the Albion Band, going back to the original lyrics and Show Of Hands also recorded a version of this arrangement.
The beginning of the second half starts once again with Phil on his own performing Paper Round by Decameron’s Dave Bell. Then the band return, and it’s back to the business of musical genre-hopping. Folk music is not forgotten, and we are treated to another of Phil’s favourite’s Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy. Aside from being a great musician, Phil is also a great supporter of up and coming talent, and two members of the band, Emily Slade and Greg MacDonald are both given the opportunity to showcase their talents with a slot for a song, Emily’s lovely More Hill’s To Climb and Greg’s wistful The Nightshift.
Then it is time to celebrate Phil’s love of Little Feat and what he calls the ultimate road song, Willin’. He has already provided us with another road song, The Next Best Western, in the first half, a stalwart of the current Show Of Hands set written by the wonderful Richard Shindell (recently interviewed here). The origins of the band are celebrated with a set of tunes, and soon we are at the end of the evening. There is an encore and a chance for Phil to musically celebrate another of his heroes, David Lindley, via Jackson Browne’s Before The Deluge. Phil starts on guitar but towards the end, switches to violin for the glorious, baroque playout.
Smiles and wave, acknowledging the applause and they are gone, and we hope that Phil somehow manages to continue to spin the various plates that make up the musical pattern of his life alongside the sailing and the gardening.
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