Founded by an Iranian pianist and a singing chef, Peggy’s Skylight nestles in the heart of Nottingham’s Creative Quarter. Over the last few years, it has fast become one of the city’s premier go-to places for lovers of both excellent food and music. Its Middle Eastern menu features ethically sourced ingredients, with many of the recipes inspired by the chef’s childhood experiences growing up in Iran. At the same time, the music on offer reflects the diversity of the UK and International music scene, showcasing the best in jazz, blues, soul, world, folk and, based on tonight’s headline act, Americana music. The venue itself was a nice size, cosy and capacious in equal measures, with a raised and generous stage to the left of the room offering good viewing from most angles.
The evening’s promoters were ‘Folkroom’, who have been running gigs in the London area since 2010, becoming a record label for a good chunk of that time. In 2017, they launched a second regular event in Brighton, and more recently, their attention has turned to Nottingham. Founded by writer and promotor Stephen Thomas and award winning folk artist Ben Walker, the duo continue to operate a hands-on policy, with Thomas present to introduce the artists and make the local congregation aware of up and coming gigs at this venue, which include Jon Wilks, Matthew and the Atlas, as well as the legendary Riley Baugus who will be performing at Peggy’s Skylight on the 16th of November which will surely be a must see gig.
Tonight’s headline act was Canadian folk and country artist Sarah Jane Scouten, who in recent years has been living in Moniaive, a delightful and historic Scottish village in Dumfries and Galloway. It was here, after becoming burned out and jaded from constant touring in 2019, that Scouten became initiated into the world of herbal medicine, leading her life down an unexpected path, applying to a professional programme in her newfound passion, and training in an entirely different field. This new focus in her life helped to reignite her love of music and live performing, which would eventually see Scouten return to the recording studio and release her fifth album in 2023, entitled “Turned To Gold”, some six years after its predecessor. The cathartic distraction gleaned from her new pursuit had clearly enabled Scouten to gain a broader perspective on life, with her writing now displaying a deeper dimension and empathy than anything she had previously recorded, with the new album drawing plaudits and critical acclaim from across the musical spectrum.
Performing just the one set this evening of around 75 minutes, Scouten, seated throughout and with just the one acoustic guitar, started as she meant to continue with one of the strongest and most popular numbers from her latest release. ‘Wilder When I Was With You’, a co-write with Samantha Parton of the Be Good Tanya’s, hits you immediately with its infectious chorus, the song’s title being the first line you hear before the narrative takes the listener on a cinematic journey of reflective youthful adventures. Delivered with a vocal intensity that mirrored the emotive poetry, the song offered instant confirmation in the newfound confidence and self-belief in Scouten’s songwriting, with the latest album supplying around half of the songs in the night’s show.
Despite that, the set list still held quite a few surprises in store as the audience was introduced to two new tracks back to back straight after the opening number, firstly with ‘Circle Around The Sun’, followed by ‘Alright On My Own’, both imbuing the same quality of song craft and storytelling found on “Turned To Gold”. After the two new songs, Scouten informed the attentive congregation that she would be returning to Canada in October to start work on recording her next album, which immediately received a seal of approval around the room.
From here, there was a run of songs from the newest album, starting with the achingly beautiful ‘My Heart Ain’t Broken’, its narrative and delivery drawing faint comparison to the late great John Prine. The influence the legendary songsmith has on Scouten is not one she shies away from, as the following number, ‘Rose and Carnations’, was written as a tribute, and even name checks the genius who was admired as much for who he was as the endless classic songs he wrote. The delicate love song ‘Is It Just The Whisky Talking’ was delivered with just enough vocal fragility to betray the vulnerability behind the poetry, while a delightful whistling accompaniment that Roger Whittaker would have been proud of, lifted the instrumental outro, holding the audience spellbound. The final delivery in this run of songs from the latest album saw the joyous ‘Wanderlust’ with its narrative of dreams of the open road, and all the possibilities that travel can bring. Again, the melody is infectious, the impact immediate, with the locals requiring little encouragement to sing along to the chorus.
Throughout the evening, Scouten embroidered her set with a mix of personal stories and observations, all laced with a dry, subtle humour, reflecting her Canadian upbringing as well as her ancestral Scottish roots. Her grandparents are from Glasgow so finding a sense of belonging on the west coast of Scotland, having been brought up on Bowen Island in West Vancouver, probably comes as little surprise. However, many of her songs are inspired and influenced by the country she grew up in, and one in particular has very quickly become her most requested song. Introducing it this evening, Scouten simply said, “I’d better play this before you start shouting for it”, and you could tell by the stifled excitement rippling around the room that the bulk of the audience knew what was coming. The powerfully emotive narrative of ‘Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry’ explores the emotional impact of World War One from a mother’s perspective and was commissioned by Flemish arts organisation Dranouter for its Modderland Project. Basing the song around one of the three Regular Force Infantry regiments of the Canadian Army, it is storytelling of the highest order, and as Scouten sang, you could have heard a pin drop, the warm and relaxed ambience of the room, suddenly replaced by a more rarefied air as the tension within the narrative played out. It was truly spellbinding, and the audience’s appreciation at the song’s conclusion reverberated around the room like a constant echo.
Though songs from Scouten’s earlier albums were a little thin on the ground, possibly a reflection of performing just the one set this evening along with the strength of material on “Turned To Gold”, there was still time for a few older numbers. Amongst those were ‘Darkside’, originally the opening track for the 2019 album “Confessions”, which included a superb bilingual vocal delivery, and ‘Acre Of Shells’, the opening track from the 2017 album “Where The Bloom Falls From The Rose”, both proving delightful additions to the set.
Before the conclusion of the evening’s show, there was still time to return to the new album, with the glorious ballad ‘Little Band Of Gold’. This achingly beautiful song about the unalloyed joys of love was inspired by Scouten’s marriage and the intimacy of her ethereal poetry, along with the gentle vocal delivery, totally transfixed the audience who held their breath until the final note drifted into the ether. Truly spellbinding, and to be honest, if the show had ended there, I’m sure the locals would have happily floated home. However, Scouten had one more surprise, closing her set with another brand new song with the sublimely titled ‘What Music’s For’. Another fabulous song destined to appear on the forthcoming album that helps to cement the widely held opinion that Sarah Jane Scouten has blossomed into one of the finest singer-songwriters of her generation.
Opening proceedings this evening was local singer-songwriter Emily Ashberry. Having originally trained as an actor, her final year of study and burgeoning stage career had been completely knocked back by the global pandemic, at which point Ashberry decided to turn to songwriting. Influenced by much of the traditional music she had grown up listening to, and, along with six months travelling around the US and Canada soaking up the folk and americana music scene, she honed her songwriting skills into a style that appears to be both personal and introspective. Acquiring the help of the Lincolnshire organisation ‘Acoustic Nation’, a not-for-profit, Lincoln-based media production company that specialises in inspiring and supporting music at all levels across the county, Ashberry was able to release her debut EP “Roots” in 2023. This EP gave Ashberry her first taste of success, receiving multiple plays on BBC Radio, and before the year was out, she was back in the studio recording her sophomore EP “A Pleasure To Teach”. Since then, she has performed twice at the highly acclaimed ‘Gate To Southwell’ festival as well as supporting such well-known folk and americana artists, including Beans on Toast and Elise LeBlanc.
This evening, her support slot consisted of six songs, starting with ‘Redwood’, the opening track from her debut EP that immediately drew attention to Ashberry’s stunning vocals, with a style that leaned slightly towards indie folk, evoking a faint comparison to Laura Marling. The second number, ‘Darling Don’t Mind’, was a delightful love song that also opens her sophomore EP, offering up an emotively delicate narrative delivered with just the right amount of fragility in the vocals to match the mood of the poetry. Ashberry, seated with an acoustic guitar, engaged confidently between songs with the audience, any possible nerves well concealed on her first visit to the venue. A small handful of what appeared to be newer songs made up the rest of her half-hour slot, all betraying a songwriter of considerable worth with ‘The Bee Charmer’ being a particular favourite. In between the self-penned numbers, Ashberry performed an excellent version of the old traditional American Parlour song ‘Hard Times’, first published in 1854, and written by the man many consider to be the father of American music, Stephen Foster. Whether Ashberry was fully aware of the song’s history is debatable, but in truth, it was immaterial, as she breathed new life into this old song, successfully encouraging the local congregation to sing along. Very much one of the highlights of the evening, but little did anyone know, as Ashberry left the stage to a generous ovation, that it wouldn’t be the last time this evening that we would hear that song or see Ashberry.
At the conclusion of Scouten’s wonderful set, the audience raucously demanded an encore, to which she happily obliged. However, rather than play another of her own numbers, she invited Ashberry to join her on stage, and, lending her guitar, the two artists shared the one stool and one mic to revisit ‘Hard Times’. Ashberry took the lead while Scouten and the audience enthusiastically joined in on each chorus, building in crescendo until the final note brought the evening to an end, all corners of Peggy’s Skylight echoing to the vociferous applause.
A fantastic evening that proved categorically that Scouten is now an artist at the height of her powers, while, with Ashberry, we saw a burgeoning talent ready to take her career to the next level. As for Peggy’s Skylight, it’s a venue that will surely see many return visits.
