Jez Lowe ~ 2017 October 1 ~ Woods Hole Folk Music Series ~ Woods Hole, MA
Jez Lowe, vocals, guitar, cittern, mandolin, harmonica
Set List
Jez played guitar on every song except where noted. [C] = cittern; [H] = harmonica; [M] = mandolin.
Tether's End - Taking On Men - Pitmen Poets - Bother at the Hoppins [CH] - The Bergen - Wrong Bus [M] - Fan Dancer's Daughter - Black Diamonds ... interval ... Time Rich Cash Poor - Aloysius - Austerity Alphabet - If I Could Buy a Blighty [M] - Dover Delaware - High Part of the Town [C] - The Elves Have Left the Building - Old Bones - You Can't Take It With You [C] ... encore ... Nobody Wants To Be My Facebook Friend
Review
The second show by Jez Lowe in three nights was even better than the first. Jez had recovered from a little bit of jet lag (the Me and Thee show two nights ago was the first of his U.S. tour). However, he still hasn't had a chance to get to a music store to pick up an extra couple of guitar straps. In very typical humorous fashion, Jez turned the fact that he had accidentally packed only one guitar strap (for three instruments) into a quip about economic conditions in England.
The set list was much the same as at the Me & Thee, with a few different songs in the second set. Both shows were ended by the funny "Nobody Wants To Be My Facebook Friend." Jez introduced this as a spin-off on the "Lambton Worm," a folk legend from the northeast of England. In Jez's version, the "worm" is so ugly that no one will "friend" him on Facebook. Other verses poked fun at governmental leaders in both the U.K. and the U.S. Another song with content about economic and political conditions in England was "Austerity Alphabet," in which Jez borrows the idea from the "sailor's alphabet" and tells the story of the current state of affairs in England with twenty-six words.
The audience was a bit more lively than at the Me & Thee and there was more singing along. Jez, in true folk tradition, encourages audience participation and often recites the words to the chorus before a song to help us out. "Bother at the Hoppins" has an especially fun singalong.
The Wood Hole Folk Music Series is a local venue for me and they usually have two shows a month during the fall and winter. Because it is so close, I can readily check out an unknown performer, and this is where I first heard Jez Lowe perform about a dozen years ago. Jez is easily the best performer I have ever seen at this folk series. His mastery of wit, poetry, melody, and expression, his excellent playing and singing, and his appealing personality put him at the top of my list of solo performers in the folk world.
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