Tonight’s venue was a first for me, even though it is situated within a town that I have known for most of my life. Market Rasen lies approximately 13 miles north-east of the city of Lincoln, upon the river Rase that runs east-west through the Town. It was first attested in the Doomsday Book of 1086, where it appeared simply as Rase, which is an Old English word meaning plank, that probably referred to the bridge that crossed the river. These days, apart from the racecourse that sits on the outskirts, the town is most notable for the famous songwriters and thespians who at one time or another have called the town and the local area home. Among these are Bernie Taupin, who spent his teenage years here, while Rod Temperton attended the local school, and actor Jim Broadbent grew up only a few miles away in nearby Holton cum Bickering.
Built in 1972, this evening’s venue, The Festival Hall, serves the Town with a range of facilities, which over the last 2 years has included acting as a folk music venue. Run by local promoter Les Worrall, it has already built a reputation for punching above its weight in terms of the quality of acts it has attracted for a town whose population, even today, amounts to less than 5,000 people. That fact was personified by this evening’s main attraction, with none other than the legendary singer-songwriter and guitarist Steve Tilston visiting this community nestled in the heart of the Lincolnshire countryside.
Tilston took to the stage, accompanied by his regular musical cohort, Hugh Bradley, on double bass, opening with the perennial favourite ‘Rocky Road’, which immediately connected with the local congregation. The hall, generous in space for its type with a high ceiling, reputedly seats around 150, with this evening’s attendance accounting for around half of the available seating. Tilston, now in his 75th year, also performed seated for each of the two sets, though his musical dexterity and vocal delivery offered up little evidence of the six decades he has been plying his trade, honing his craft as one of the finest songsmiths this country has produced.
After a fine rendition of ‘Daylight Rising’, the opening track from his 2021 album “Such Times”, the focus of attention turned to his most recent, and very possibly, final release, with three songs from “Last Call” that saw the light of day earlier this year. Starting with the rhythmic glide of ‘Apple Tree Town’, on which Bradley took to the bow on his double bass, drawing on childhood memories, followed by ‘One More Day’, with its narrative inspired by the London Underground, and a suitably propulsive accompaniment. The final song of this triptych was ‘As Night Follows Day’, which, along with its uplifting storyline, saw Tilston deliver some delightfully melodic guitar playing, his fingers appearing to traverse the fretboard as effortlessly as they ever have.
In between songs, Tilston is happy to regale the audience with stories of the places and people that have marked his musical journey. Recalling both his university days at Loughborough, along with his early days in London, he recounts the start of his musical career working as a duo with Dave Evans at a gig in Nottingham where the constant retuning of the guitars took longer than the songs they were playing. There was also stories of Tilston’s time spent with the legendary guitarist Wiz Jones, who sadly passed away a few months ago, before a wonderful rendition of Jones’ ‘The Night Ferry’, provided one of the evening’s many highlights as well as a fitting tribute to the great man.
After the obligatory interval to allow the audience to recharge their glasses and take advantage of the wares on the merchandise table, Tilston took to the stage, opening the second set with the ever-popular ‘Oil And Water’ before returning to the latest album and the jaunty ‘Hard Cheese’ that takes a swipe at the recent political hypocrisy, reminding us that folk music is as much about addressing the times we live in as it is about preserving history.
From here, Tilston returned to his back catalogue, starting with ‘The Fisher Lad Of Whitby’ which featured a masterful solo on the double bass from Bradley that was warmly appreciated around the hall. Though throughout both sets the music from the stage came across clearly, Tilston periodically struggled with what he was hearing from his monitor, which required occasional adjustments. This, however, never proved to be overly distracting or break up the musical flow emanating from the stage, a point emphasised by the following number. ‘Waters Of March’ or ‘Aguas de Marco’ to give it its original title, is a song written by the late-great Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim, which, in 2001, was named the all-time best Brazilian song in a poll of more than 200 local journalists, musicians and artists. The song draws its inspiration from Rio de Janeiro’s rainiest months and lyrically does not tell a story but rather presents a series of images that form a collage. This understandably required a certain level of concentration to recite, with Tilston singing, eyes tight shut, as he tried to picture the sequence in his mind while at the same time impeccably capturing the ambience of the piece with every note from his guitar, holding the audience spellbound throughout. Simply breathtaking.
There was still time for more reminiscing from Tilston’s colourful past, this time recalling time spent with the mercurial genius that was John Martyn, including sharing what proved to be a challenging 50-date tour during the 1970s. Tilston had originally written the following number, ‘The Devil May Care’, with the intention of offering it to Martyn, who unfortunately passed away before the opportunity presented itself; however, as the song resonated around this evening’s venue, you could almost hear Martyn approvingly singing along.
There was one last song from the new album, ‘Time And Tide’ on which Tilston managed to conjure up the sound of a sitar from his guitar, before the second set closed with what is probably his most famous song ‘Slip Jigs And Reels’ that never fails to delight, leaving the audience baying for more. Needless to say, they were rewarded with an encore, though in truth, as is fitting these days, neither Tilston nor Bradley had actually vacated the stage; instead after accepting the generous applause they treated the local congregation to an instrumental piece from 18th century composer Luigi Boccherini and his ‘Quintet for 2 Violins’ that had been used at the end of the 2003 film “Master And Commander; The Far side Of The World”. Tonight, performed with guitar and double bass, it proved the perfect finale to a perfect show.
Steve Tilston may well have decided to call time on recording new albums; however, long may he continue to share his songs, guitar playing and stories with live audiences up and down the country.
The evening’s entertainment had kicked off with a performance from a trio of local musicians who were performing for the first time under the name of Tetherer. Consisting of Steve Le Voguer on guitar, Carol Dawson on fiddle and Liam Robinson on anglo concertina and melodeon, the trio are all tutors at ‘Folklincs’, based in the north of the county at Barton on Humber, which offers step-by-step learning and development of music, particularly traditional music, for all ages. The level of musicianship on stage was immediately palpable as the trio treated the audience, which unsurprisingly included several family and friends, to an excellent selection of traditional tunes, some with a local connection, delivered to the highest level, suggesting that a bright future lies in store for Tetherer.
