Jo Bywater at The Bluecoat, Liverpool. August 2014. Photograph by Mr. Graham Holland.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Revolution and even evolution can be triggered by adversity, the moment in which personal hardship or disaster upon a species or a country can be the catalyst in which change happens. Revolution is not something to be feared, unless you are the oppressor, if you are the one in which is placing your boot upon a human face, revolution is only wrong when the incorrect dogma takes a fall and evolution is as inevitable as empires crashing to dust eventually.
In the individual, the two towering forces are just as needed for personal growth and progression. All that was needed was the appearance of tobacco smoke spiralling in the air and leaving the tell-tale brown stain attacking the light bulb in an undignified and unnatural joust, the smooth dulcet tones of a bar tender with a soft Manhattan accent taking orders and flirting with the customers and W.H. Auden sitting in the corner licking the top of his pen and taking down notes of the woman with the new Blues sound. Jo Bywater would have been right at home in the clubs surrounding 77th Street in the 1960s.
Revolution and evolution happens because it must. Nature abhors not just a vacuum but staleness and unhindered decay. To watch Jo Bywater perform has always felt like an honour, a privilege in which to sit and wallow in the sheer exquisiteness of her distinctive voice. Revolution is in the air though and it is to be cheered with great fervour and going by the reaction to the new sound that Ms. Bywater placed within her set as part of Above The Beaten Track at The Bluecoat, darker Blues is on the verge of having a new hero to stand beside.
The set contained a couple of wonderful favourites for the audience, including the superb Chopping Wood and Woollen Hearts but these songs were waving a warning flag, Jo Bywater is changing, growing, and evolution smiles broadly. It is in the song Bag Of Bones that evolution and revolution dance together in a sort of karmic jig. The guitar sighs with passion loudly, the characteristic sound of The Blues hails another convert and Jo Bywater takes to it as easily as duck finding the simple village pond to simple a proposition and astounds bird lovers by sailing its way single handed across the Atlantic. Thrills come sparingly in life, Jo Bywater gave her audience several during her portion of music on the final Saturday of the 2014 summer.
Ian D. Hall