Tonight’s concert at Lincolnshire’s premier Americana Music venue, the Town Hall, Kirton in Lindsey, saw a return to the usual Friday evening residency but with a new name treading this hallowed stage for the first time. Carter Sampson hails from Oklahoma and has to date released six studio albums, her latest being the highly acclaimed “Gold”, which came out in 2023, with a new live solo album entitled “Live At The Blue Door” seeing the light of day earlier this year. Renowned for her songwriting prowess she is already the recipient of many accolades including the prestigious ‘Merle Fest’ award, and after a successful solo tour of these shores just last year Sampson has returned for a run of dates with a group of musicians who are more than familiar with the benefits of this venue. Collectively Joe Coombs, Scott Warman, and Jamie Dawson are probably the most sought-after ‘pick-up’ band currently operating on these shores and last appeared at the Town Hall supporting Sara Petite during her most recent tour last year.
The opening number of the first of two sets saw Sampson sing the title song from her breakthrough album “Wilder Side”, resplendent in her trademark red glasses and sparkling jacket that reflected the stage lights with a kaleidoscope of colour. From here on the set was focussed on songs from her last two albums, starting with the opening two songs from “Gold” which included the title track, one of her finest creations to date with its tale of hard-earned wisdom inspired by and written for her mother. This was followed by the beautifully reflective ‘Home’, the band having immediately settled into a groove, adding just the right amount of light and shade to this intimate number. ‘Drunk Text’, a humorous slant on a modern-day love song that featured some sublime slide playing from Coombs is the last of the three songs from the latest album during the first set. Sampson also included four numbers from her 2018 album “Lucky” which included the traditional love song ‘Hello Darling’ where Sampson’s gentle delivery caressed her heartfelt poetry. This was followed by the joyous ‘Peaches’ which, with its infectious shuffle beat, proves to be a popular choice with tonight’s congregation, while the uplifting ‘Wild Ride’ with its narrative of resilience is the third of the quartet of tracks performed during the first half. In between there is still time to squeeze in one more song from “Wilder Side”, with the excellent ‘See The Devil Run’ allowing the four musicians on stage to stretch out, and Coombs to again excel on slide guitar, before a delightful rendition of Shel Silverstein’s ‘Queen Of The Silver Dollar’ brings the first set to a close.
After the usual break for refreshments, the band returned to the stage opening the second set with ‘Tulsa’ which was swiftly followed by an intensely powerful performance of ‘Ten Penny Nail’, a song inspired by the late great songwriter Guy Clark and his relationship with his wife, Susanne and their best friend Townes Van Zandt, with Sampson’s emotive delivery providing just the right amount of vexation to this tale of ménage á trois. The gear shift is maintained on ‘Can’t Stop Me Now’, a song of defiance that highlights Sampson’s heartfelt poetry which is never sugar-coated, but always full of honesty and integrity. This is followed by a song that has become something of a Sampson classic since it first appeared on the “Lucky”, album. ‘Rattlesnake Kate’ tells the story of Katherine McHale Slaughterback, a woman from Colorado who gained fame from an incident in 1925, where she allegedly killed 140 rattlesnakes, a tale that never fails to raise a few eyebrows. Whatever the truth, it’s a great story and Sampson has turned it into a fabulous song which tonight with the help of the band is lifted to an almost anthemic level, with Coombs again providing such deft guitar playing that it seems almost inconceivable that he wasn’t nominated for UK Instrumentalist of the year at the recent Americana Music Association UK Awards. In truth, all three musicians are of the highest quality with Sampson indicating she would like to take them all back to America with her at the end of the tour which has just three remaining shows after tonight’s concert.
At this point in tonight’s proceedings, the band is given a break as Sampson performs two songs from her most recent studio album solo. First up is the excellent ‘Black Blizzard’ and its tale of life during the 1930s Dust Bowl period, followed by a song of eternal hope, ‘There’s Always Next Year’. The stage then returned to its full complement of musicians for the final three songs of the second set which included ‘Queen Of Oklahoma’, a song that since it first appeared on her 2011 album “Mockingbird Sing”, has become something of a calling card for Sampson as the self-crowned Queen of her home state.
The jazz flavour of ‘Since I Fell For You’, brought the second set to a close but the hardcore Americana music fans that made up tonight’s congregation were never going to let the evening’s wonderful entertainment end there, demanding an encore and being duly rewarded with a joyous rendition of the title track to the 2018 album “Lucky”. This may have been Carter Sampson’s first visit to this hallowed stage but on tonight’s performance, one feels it’s unlikely to be her last.
The evening’s show felt slightly like a doubleheader with support coming from Lancashire-born Joe Martin who was returning to a stage he had graced many times before. Martin released his debut album “Empty Passenger Seat” in 2023, having already headlined this venue the previous year with a band that included renowned pedal steel and lead guitar player C.J. Hillman. Tonight he performed solo with just an acoustic guitar as he introduced the audience to a batch of new songs that he’d written during a recent spell over in Nashville. Opening with the beautiful ‘Strangers To Lovers’, which has just been released as a single, the first thing to strike you was Martin’s voice. Always a great singer, one now sensed a greater self-confidence in his delivery, as if more comfortable with his sound or maybe just the quality of material, for this is certainly one of his best songs to date. That said, the following ‘Can’t Promise You The World’ along with ‘Brown Paper Bag’, were also out of the top drawer, suggesting that Martin has really begun to hone his art as a songwriter, and if these new songs are anything to go by then his next album can’t come quickly enough. A truly excellent way to start what was a wonderful evening of music.
Your trademark due diligence research is once again in evidence Graeme. Allied to the fluent narrative style you always provide, it’s no wonder your reviews for both live and album releases garner numerous responses. Spot on with lavishing praise on the wonderful musicians who were with her. Among Britain’s finest! Well done matey.
Hi Alan. Glad you enjoyed the review. Yeah, always nice to give praise where it’s due.
Oops … remiss of me not to also give a BIG shout out for Joe Martin. A real star!
Yeah. I do feel his writing’s improving, songs are stronger, and more memorable. With just a little bit of luck and the right break he could be ready for bigger and better things.