Stephen Wilson Jr at Gorilla in Manchester last night.
First time at the venue for me. Reminded me of The Cockpit but with a better PA.
Brilliant show. Opener was a lass called Zandi Halup. A lot of traditional country in there, but with songs about negative body image and beating heroin addiction replacing trucks and whiskey (although she did do a tune called Mountain Man that was pretty retro). No album out yet but one to look out for.
Wilson is something else. A country singer that grew in small town Indiana listening to Nirvana. When people try and reimagine something it usually means one interesting track before it all goes horribly wrong. None of that here.
His drummer was one of the best I've seen in a long time. He has a slide player and his own heavily-distorted acoustic guitar, but the sound they make is massive. And he has a hell of a voice. You could tell he's been blown away by the reception he's getting on this tour. It had a bit of 'glad you were there' feeling.
