Americana Night @ The Grapes, July 11th : Michael Weston King + Listeners

[Amsterdamned]

Americana Night @ The Grapes on Saturday July 11th will play host to one of Britain's finest singer/songwriters, Michael Weston King. Support for the evening comes from The Listeners. Advance tickets priced at £7 are available from Jacks Records and Seetickets.com. Entry on the night will be £9 and doors open at 8pm.

 

 

***MICHAEL WESTON KING***

 

Michael Weston King is widely acknowledged as one of Britain's finest singer songwriters. Admired by the likes of Chris Hillman, Ron Sexsmith, and the legendary Townes van Zandt (who recorded one of his songs), he draws his influence from a wide range of styles, from Pop to Folk, from Country to Soul, from Gospel to Blues.

 

He is the former leader of U.K. Alt-Country pioneers The Good Sons, with whom he made 4 critically acclaimed albums in a 7 year career.

 

MOJO magazine wrote "The band who must rate as England's very own Uncle Tupelo."while Americana-uk.com said "The British band that played alt-country before anyone knew what the hell it was. Had the Good Sons done this same thing across the Atlantic, they would surely have been acclaimed trailblazers."

 

For the past six years he has been a solo troubadour, touring all over the world, performing with the likes of Nick Cave, John Cale, Roger McGuinn, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Chris Hillman, Ron Sexsmith, Steve Forbert, Son Volt, and many more, and releasing five beautiful, articulate albums along the way.

 

Many different artists have recorded his songs, while a number of his songs have also been used in TV shows in America and Germany. Beautiful Lies, a songbook of his work, was published in 2005, Happy Infidels, a play by the Irish writer Brian Richmond, was based around 12 of Michael's songs, and he is currently working on a book about some of the greatest 'lost' songs of the past 40 years.

 

A solo retrospective collection, The Tender Place, was released in November 2006, while his most recent studio album, A New Kind of Loneliness including contributions from Chris Hillman, Ron Sexsmith and Jackie Leven, was released in May 2007 to critical acclaim, and has been widely hailed as his best album to date.

 

A new live album Crawling Through The USA, recording during his most recent tour of North America has just been released on Valve Records, while work on a pure country duets album, with his wife, the acclaimed singer Lou Dalgleish, under the name of My Darling Clementine, has just been completed and will be released in Summer 09.

 

You can see the video for Michael's take on the Townes Van Zandt song 'Marie' from the album 'Crawling Through The USA' here:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj3k-D4bQnQ

 

 

"As fine a singer songwriter as Gram Parsons" Chris Hillman

 

"Michael Weston King has a voice part Nashville balladeer and part Alt Country hero, a cross between Nick Cave and Rodney Crowell." The Independent

 

"Like Tim Hardin, Phil Ochs or Townes van Zandt, King transmutes squalor and self-laceration into pure gold." Mojo

 

"King is a special talent." The Word

 

"MWK has entered the rarefied field of classic singer songwriters." USA Entertainment News

 

 

http://www.myspace.com/michaelwestonking

 

http://www.michaelwestonking.com

 

 

***THE LISTENERS***

 

The Listeners are an acoustic duo from the North of England. They have been together for over two years having played on the same circuit for several years in different bands. Emma Thorpe provides the main voice, a velvet glove softening the punch, delivering her songs with, in turn, uncompromising invective and heart on sleeve insight. Robert Cook, as well as adding a dark baritone voice, brings his rootsy rock guitar credentials to The Listeners feast. The Listeners have won over audiences from many genres...surf punk, rock and folk music.The band have a growing reputation on the acoustic underground scene in the North of England and have been favourites of BBC radio presenters and University radio DJ's, having performed many live sessions. The duo have released a series of songs which are available now on iTunes and have been winning them much praise. The project has been produced by Ewan Davies who has worked with many artists, from Arctic Monkeys to The Editors.

 

"Like P.J Harvey......****** off, unplugged and wearing a kaftan!" Music Mart Magazine 2007

 

"the listeners were f**king brilliant i really enjoyed last night!" Richard Hawley

 

http://www.myspace.com/thelisteners

 

 

Facebook Event page:

 

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106181043648

 

 

[Amsterdamned]

There's an interview with Michael ahead of Saturday's gig in today's Telegraph:

 

http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/music/Hobo-guitarist-Michael-on-the.5440623.jp

 

Also Michael is due to perform on tomorrow morning's Gareth Evans show on Radio Sheffield (sometime between 9 & 10am).

[Amsterdamned]

This is tonight. Live music kicks off around 8.15...