Festival has its roots in American music Review of Southern Fried showcase at Perth Concert Hall
The Southern Fried Festival (of American Roots Music, to give it its full name), came to Perth for a long weekend of music from the heart and soul, filling every nook and cranny of Perth Concert Hall with sounds, barbecue smoke and appreciative audiences.
So if you were wondering who all those smiling 40 and 50-something people were milling about (some in pork pie hats, and even a few in Stetsons) from Thursday to Sunday, and weren’t one of them, you were missing something.
Outside Perth Concert Hall was where it was all happening, where you could stand, Cajun burger or beignet (like a doughnut) in hand, and listen to no less than 14 free bands during the weekend.
This is the place where young bands, nurtured by Southern Fried or by the wider musical community, can try out – and there were many long-established performers, too.
Indoors, there were more free sessions. We were treated to an hour of the cool, powerful presence of Hannah Aldridge, with her hard, sweet lyrics about whisky, men, demonic possession and the passing of time.
That was all tinged with a selfknowing humour: she treated us to “the best sex demon song you’re going to hear all day long”, and jokes about bad experiences with drunk audiences in Birmingham, Alabama (we, in Perth, are of course much better-behaved).
She moves into touching family reminiscences and then back out into a massive unplugged rendition of ‘Them Howling Bones’, showing she can fill a hall with her own electricity.
Roseanne Reid, home-grown in Scotland, had the room listening to every word of her cracked, fragile songs, while Dean Owens and Amy Geddes (together as Redwood Mountain), with guitar, violin and two voices, gave us energetic, melodic reimaginings of songs from ‘The Book of American Folk Songs’ in a self-described ‘completely miserable set’ (it wasn’t).
Big names included Nick Lowe, Beth Nielsen Chapman, and Loudon Wainwright III.
Nick Lowe’s rich, strong voice and sonorous guitar delivered a rapid-fire sequence of poignant troubling songs (‘I trained her to love me’, ‘I live on a battlefield’ and ‘Lonely just like me’).
If you know one song of his, it may well be ‘I knew the bride when she used to rock and roll’.
The greatest moment for me was a spellbinding cover Linda Ronstadt/Elvis Costello’s ‘Alison’ (my aim is true). A great song, delivered with poignancy and painful beauty.
Beth Nielsen Chapman is a sweetheart warrior. She describes her life as being ‘like Mary Poppins’, but as the set went on, she revealed experiences which have led to some beautiful songs about loss and pain.
Reading this now, it might seem like a misery party – but her effervescent humour and warm, soaring voice made songs like ‘Nothing I can do about it now’, ‘You’re still my valentine’ and ‘This kiss’ both moving and uplifting.
She’s written for Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson and Neil Diamond, and the title track of the album ‘Sand and Water’ was sung by Elton John at Princess Diana’s funeral.
But as a further antidote to loss, there was Loudon Wainwright III’s funny, human songs: ‘I’d rather be lonely’, ‘Old, grey and only in the way’, and ‘This summer I went swimming’.
The take-out message was, whatever happens, everything will probably be alright – and the Grammys agree, with his album ‘High wide and handsome’ winning the accolade 2010.
Oh, and in case you haven’t heard of him in his own right, he’s Rufus and Martha Wainwright’s Dad.
We have to mention Glassrooms Café and the Perth Concert Hall bars, who kept us all fed and watered in fine style.
The standard of food was restaurantquality, much more than you’d normally expect at a festival.
You’ll have come across fried chicken, but if you’ve never had seafood gumbo and jalapeño cornbread,
Nick Lowe’s set included a cover from Linda Ronstadt and Elvis Costello or coca-cola cake (already good value, but with 10 per cent off if you have a weekend Festival pass) then, unexpectedly, Perth Concert Hall during Southern Fried is the place to come.
In fact, as festivals go, not just the great music and food, but the lack of mud, clean and plentiful toilets, comfortable seats and bang-on-time concert starts and finishes made the whole thing work beautifully.
Make sure you’re part of it next year – you don’t need to wear a Stetson.