Trevor Sewell

It’s always a great thing when someone recommends new music on here, but when it’s their friend that they’re recommending, then it’s a bit daunting - what if you don’t like it, what do you say?

No such worries on that score - Trevor Sewell’s Independence is quite simply one of the very best albums to slip out in 2013. The first play through, and your thinking when the hell did Ian Siegal join Dire Straits? Then you wonder since when was Sunderland on the Mississippi delta and when did they start toting bales of cotton over the pedestrian crossing outside Joplin’s.

Kicking off with The Train, which I agree with my mate, will be considered for plenty of nominations before the year’s out; a flurry of Albert Lee style picking (that just gets faster and faster…. That’s just the first volley; though things slow down for Calling Me Home, which is another class track followed by probably my favourite, the shuffling Fade To Grey. Then another favourite, The Moment’s Gone, a moody ballad that would worry even King King. Easing the tempo back up a little, DNA, leads into No Future with some fine “gypsy” fiddle work. Home Alone does draw comparison to Knopfler works but then we hit a more “rootsy” vibe for Talked To The Devil which gets the feet going and the blood pumping. Take This Chains takes a more Chris Rea rocky stance. How Does That Work brings in vocal sparring from Lorraine Crosby for a funky tinged number that wouldn’t be out of place on a Jeff Beck album, nor would the guitar licks Trevor fires off. That brings us round full circle to the final (official) track, One Wish that closes with more fine fret flurries.

If you’re lucky enough to get one of the digi-pack editions, you also get a radio edit of Trevor’s Hundred Years track, tribute to Robert Johnson. Also, a couple of instrumental tracks from an earlier album, starting off with Mission Improbable which certainly has a Dick Dale “surf vibe” not usually found on Seaham beach, and closing with Bridge of Spies; both show off Trevor’s skills and superb tone.

But why are you reading this when you should be tracking the album down for yourselves. Do yourselves a favour while you’re at it - get his previous album Calling Your Name while you’re on. The best kept secret in the N.East? Not now!

Darlington 20/6/14

So, Friday night (20th June), caught up with Trevor and his band playing at Voodoo Café, Darlington; a more intimate venue being tried out by Darlington R'n'B Club.

So then, small venue, and to be honest, a modest turn out on a muggy Friday night but that just lent the event the sort of vibe you get when you're in on something exclusive; which is a shame as Trevor should be a national treasure; certainly for the awards and acclaim he's picking up for his incredible song writing and his deceptively laid-back guitar picking that bridges Mark Knopfler & Albert Lee.

The set started off low-key, just Trevor & his red Strat picking a couple of numbers before being joined by (new) bass & drums and things just got tighter & tighter, rolling through great rootsy tracks like Talked To the Devil and winding up to a stunning The Train before letting the crowd off with One Hundred Years to recover for the interval. The 2nd half started off very much in the same manner and then the change up began with a striped back cover of Stray Cat Strut and the band were off again, this time finishing the set with a another cover, a soaring Comfortably Numb before really letting rip in the encore with Hey Joe which stunned some late-coming walk-ins at the door.

Anyone at Maryport on Sat 26th July, look out for Trevor doing his thing and have a look in, you'll be in for a treat.

When I get in early enough, always like to have a look on the stage, to see the set-up, sneak-peek at the set-list etc. So, imaging the surprise I get, looking past the supports’ gear to see almost enough instruments to stage Tubular Bells. Aside from Trevor’s selection of guitars, (including a tasty Telecaster bodied mandolin), the obligatory drum kit and bass amp, a larger than usual bank of keyboards;  it looked like we were going to be in for a night of “gratuitous sax & senseless violins”* or, if you take into account the various mandolins, maybe even some Folk music. It was certainly a worry where all these people were going to stand on the limited Cluny stage, but, fortunately, this music shop corner was the province of one guy.

Trevor opened his set with the haunting and echoing first track from his new album – Hollow (pt 1) and immediately, you could see the where and why of the musician’s corner, the mandolin and violin not only adding filing to the sonorous Strat, but a distinct “Celtic” feel to the newer material. Things only really taking a Bluegrass/Delta turn when Trevor mixed in slightly older songs like The Train from his previous Independence album, and really blew things apart with the best take on Copperhead Road this side of Steve Earle himself. The saxophones were kept back for the more mellow numbers, or the older, and took a little time to get used as I’d only just got the hang of Trevor having a keyboard sideman.

It’s not to say that the set only had the 2 dimensions, Trevor has to be the best writer/performer out the North east since Mark Knopfler, and there are echoes of Dire Straits in the more conventional songs, and even a little 50’s rock’n’roll shuffle numbers like So Tired. And, if you’ve got a hot fiddle player, and you’ve got a hot band and a great party cookin’ what better way to finish than to stick your tongue firmly in cheek and rip through Devil Went Down to Georgia, or maybe it was Jesmond… Either way, it lead to a little “after-curfew” storm through Hey Joe before the band jumped off stage and the new Cds flew off the merch table.

* thanks to Ron & Russell Mael for that - been itching to use it somewhere....