Chantel McGregor @ The Brasenose Arms, Cropredy

This was a totally unscheduled gig for me, even though it has been listed on Chantel's website for some time. I thought Cropredy was somewhere in the Midlands, probably just too far up north for up and back in a day. For some reason, I had a look at the map on the morning of the gig and found that Cropredy is a small village just outside Banbury. I made a last minute, spur of the moment decision to go. After being swept along on something of a Chantel tidal wave in the last two weeks, and the fact that Chantel had completely blown me away three times at her gigs in the last two weeks, probably helped me make my decision.

The Brasenose Arms is a smart looking country pub steeped in music history. I'm told it's where Fairport Convention wrote a lot of their songs.  When I got inside, the bar that Chantel was playing in was about the size of your living room, with a partition partly dividing the second half of the bar. And it was great to meet Chantel, and her family, once again. This was the ultimate living room gig. There were one or two people who had seen Chantel play before, but it generally appeared to be full of locals. It was the first time that Chantel had played here. It was free admission as well.

This was the other side of Chantel. Chantel playing an acoustic set, without her band. Chantel started at 9.30, and she played for about two hours. She also played without a break. Chantel played beautifully, as she always does. And this intimate setting once again showed what a great voice Chantel has.

Some of the songs were from Chantel's electric set, stripped down, and re-worked for the acoustic set. Two of these were two of Joe's songs. A personal favourite, Mountain Time, and Miss You Hate You. Chantel was also joined by another young local guitarist, 17 year old Krissy Matthews for what must have been an almost totally unrehearsed duet on Red House, and Ain't No Sunshine. It worked really well. Krissy looks a very talented young guitarist, and I particularly enjoyed the section on Red House where he and Chantel were exchanging lead breaks. Ain't No Sunshine is another song that works really well in this kind of setting. A good one for Chantel's voice.

The set also featured several of Chantel's own songs. Some I had heard before, and I enjoyed every one of them. Chantel is very creative with her own work. I asked Chantel if she would play Little Wing when I got there. She said she would, and she did. Loved her rendition of this. I think Chantel played four Bonnie Raitt songs in her set. There was everything from Fleetwood Mac's Songbird and Landslide, to hard rockers like Purple Haze. Chantel finished her set with one of her own instrumentals, a two minute whirlwind called Cat Song. This was a great ending to the set. Chantel was already going at full tilt when there was a loud twang of a broken D string about ten seconds or so into it. Despite the obvious pain this caused to her hand, Chantel carried on regardless, and without even a moments hesitation. She also somehow managed to get it to sound as good on five strings as she does with six. Very appropriate that this was her last song, and Chantel went out with all guns blazing.

Chantel certainly wowed the locals, and played a stormer. I was totally immersed in the gig, and it was also great to watch Chantel's fretwork from just a few feet away. Gigs don't get much better than this, and it was a magical night. Thanks Chantel!

Steve