NORTHUMBRIAN MUSIC
NIGHTS
What we said
about Pat
Kilbride
PAT KILBRIDE CRISS-CROSSES
THE COMMON DIFFERENCE
"Two cultures separated by a common language." A useful maxim throughout these Isles, let alone across the Atlantic. But acclimate over twenty years in New York City, however, and you'd be hard pressed not to develop some mannerisms that would seem foreign back home.
Fortunately, Pat Kilbride, the Irish-American expatriate who headlined last Friday at The King's Head in Allendale, has retained the best sense of personal integrity in performance, while adding some delicious licks and experience to his guitar picking skills honed decades back as the only Irish member of the original Battlefield Band.
Back again near to his roots for an extended tour of the British Isles and Europe, Pat took to the stage with unaffected grace, and let his guitar playing speak for him. It was a stunning opening which just kept on travelling along like classic road music, and then segued into an Irish boxer's lament "It was a dark night, my father said". Still no let-up as he bridged smoothly with a steady driving beat into an Irish jig that you would never believe a single guitar could accomplish. The spontaneous applause was well deserved. One man and a guitar, indeed!
A graceful nod to Martin Carthy's interpretation of 'Lord Randall' and 'Where have you been all day, dear darlin' boy' was followed by 'Whiskey from the field', sung with the sort of passion only a confirmed waggoneer (8 years now!) could muster. Then the whimsical 'Three Drunken Ladies', Robin Williamson's haunting 'October Song', the sad 'Ballad of Tir Na Nog', and a self-penned 'Working Man' with an added instrumental teaser finished off the first set.
It was only the repartée or patter that really exhibited the separateness of Pat's American sojourn, and set up a slight clash of expectation, but the personable rapport between artiste and audience overcame any misapprehensions, and beginning again with the cittern, Pat warmed hearts with his interpretation of 'The very old man with a herring for sale' at the beginning of his 'Fish Suite' followed by 'John Rattle-down-a-day'.
A set of his own tunes followed: 'Bainbridge Street' evoking the bitter nostalgic cloud surrounding the Irish emigrant population in New York City, and a sad one about loneliness in the sea of people at Picadilly Circus.
Then just for the sake of added contrast and comparison Pat threw in an Irish interpretation, which really jigged along, of 'Where have you been all day' with its 'In the meadow' response, after the Swedish 'Swedish March' and the Irish 'Swedish Jig' instrumentals.
By this time his voice was well warmed up, and the higher smooth registers began to elicit profound attention and great respect, so that his paean to a poor out-of-key busker with heart in Dublin was spot-on and pure. Instrumentals that poured out fluttering from the throats of both cittern and guitar like so many diaphanous winged creatures seemed finally to end on 'A song for Ireland' and Pat concluded with the Nanci Griffiths song, 'It's a hard life wherever you go' that is becoming something of a favourite amongst entertainers in the Dale.
With an encore of an a capella rendition of 'The Flowers of Magarally-o' that really exhibited some of the most delightful grace notes out of a masculine voice ever heard in the region, and incidentally proved his honest credentials as an Irish entertainer of great worth, the evening was over. A great show, and a great exercise in cross-cultural appreciation, as seen through Pat Kilbride's Irish eyes.
