SINGERS like CW Stoneking are few and far between in the 21st century.
With a voice from the seabed and a band that reprise the sound of 1930s New Orleans, Stoneking presents an intriguing musical persona to an enraptured audience at Mr Kyps.
Dressed in white cotton trousers and shirt, with a neat bow tie and slicked back hair, Stoneking’s visual presence as much as his sound marks him as a man newly-arrived from a bygone era.
His between-song anecdotes, delivered in a heavy Australian accent far removed from his Armstrong-esque singing style, are long, sometimes surreal, and often hilarious. Stoneking is a gifted storyteller as well as musician.
The trad jazz/blues sound created by his band, The Primitive Horn Orchestra - a line up of drums, upright bass, trombone, and cornet – conjures the deep South, occasionally straying across the border for spicy Latino horn riffs.
Stoneking fronts the band with a resonator guitar and banjo, channelling the voice of a long-dead slave planter through his extraordinary vocal delivery.
Few artists open with a funeral march, but Stoneking gives us two on the spin, lightening the mood with an amusingly deadpan introduction to Handyman Blues.
The tempo rises on the third number, Brave Son of America, a calypso driven by rumbling toms and tuba. Jungle Lullaby comes on like Minnie the Moocha after a heavy day, while Dodo Blues swaggers into its stride after an opening verse of banjo and vocal.
Mid-set, the band disappears, leaving Stoneking centre stage for an amusing 10-minute introduction into Darktown Strutters blues, and return for the driving I Heard the Marchin of the Drum, illuminated by a strong call and response between vocals and horns.
An encore of Washboard Sam’s Good Old Cabbage Greens sends an already delighted audience home with a smile on its face.
Many thanks to Haydn Wheeler for the pictures. Follow the link below to see more.
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