Review by Jennie Macfie
Tim O’Brien And Ray Bonneville
21 May 2008 in Highland, Music
Bogbain Adventure & Heritage Farm, Inverness, 15 May 2008
Tim O'Brien
OLD MACGREGOR had a farm, as the nursery rhyme very nearly said… and on that farm, fiddle maestro Bruce MacGregor has just begun promoting occasional gigs. The third one had an international bill combining famed Nashville producer and performer Tim O’Brien and equally famed Canadian/Texan Ray Bonneville.
These are artistes who can fill a good-sized venue on either side of the pond, so it was a rare treat to catch them in the intimate space of the Bogbain farm café, cleared of tables for the event but still seating no more than sixty – including several musicians, Andy Thorburn and Olivia Ross among them.
Always a good sign. The stage backdrop of teatowels and teddy bears, not to mention the wall cabinets displaying some small accordions from the Caroline Hunt collection, added to the ambience of the place. It felt much more like going to a private concert than a commercial venue.
My favourite sort of music is the stuff that musicians play when they’re on their own, relaxing after a gig or at home – and the best gigs succeed in transposing that spontaneous, honest feel into a bigger space. Here, Ray Bonneville did just that, kicking off proceedings with some superb guitar work – smooth slide, very tasty picking – and some equally superb mouth organ playing.
Frequently underrated, even more frequently murdered, this instrument can break your heart when played by a master, which Bonneville is. He is also blessed with the sort of voice it takes a generous handful of decades to earn; dark brown, gravelly, the badge of those who have experienced a more than usually interesting life. Think Johnny Cash, Dylan, Nick Cave, Neil Diamond. Songs like ‘The Big Easy’ and ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ transported everyone from the environs of the A9 to the land of Highway 61and Route 66.
After a few tunes Tim O’Brien joined him. The pair met, Tim told us, in about 1973, and have been friends ever since, which showed as their voices and playing meshed together effortlessly and perfectly on tunes from their impressive oeuvre, with the emphasis on their latest works, ‘Chameleon’ (O’Brien) and ‘Goin by Feel’ (Bonneville).
Particularly worthy of note were ‘Megna’s’, a charmingly light song inspired by the travelling Italian greengrocer of O’Brien’s youth; ‘Phantom Phone Call’, inspired by the allegedly newly diagnosed disorder that afflicts mobile owners; and the infuriatingly catchy ‘Where’s Love Come From’, which I first heard at Celtic Connections when O’Brien was accompanied by The Duhks. Stripped down to the bones as it was here it was even catchier. But ahead by a nose was ‘Get Out There and Dance’, which, judging by the tapping feet, was a pretty effective exhortation.
In fact feet were tapping along from the very first bars of the night, as much a reliable indicator of audience enjoyment levels as the loudness and length of applause; by the end of the evening, not so much tapping along as providing a proper percussion track.
At the first hint of an invitation, the audience sang along happily and very tunefully. Laden with CDs, and with the comfortable feeling of having spent a relaxing evening with old friends, we left, pausing to marvel at the breathtaking views across the Moray Firth to Ben Wyvis and beyond. On the evidence of this highly enjoyable evening, Bogbain Farm gigs look set to be the choice of connoisseurs.
© Jennie Macfie, 2008
