Gig - Andy White

Tonight Irish singer-songwriter Andy White hits The Marquee. That is to say he’s the latest class act to grace Barcombe Mills’ idiosyncratic gig venue outside the Anchor. Although definitely more of a draughty wedding tent stuck to the back of the pub than a classy dancehall, this venue is nonetheless a wonderfully intimate space to hear music. Andy, originally from Belfast, is the fourth act to play here and audiences are building. He’s been making albums and touring since the mid 1980's. He plays guitar and harmonica and writes his own material so inevitably comparisons with Dylan arise.

I first saw him in the acoustic tent at Glastonbury in 1986: it was a corker of a show and confirmed me as a fan. His unpolished singing style and relaxed way with audiences make his performances easy to enjoy. Andy's songs are strongly narrative, biographical and autobiographical: telling of life, love, travels, injustice, passion and anger he has a very particular way with language. Sometimes it's poetry put to music, other times it's pub rock; it can be deeply emotional and it can be jump-around energetic. My favourite lyric? ‘God's sitting up in his heaven, writing us all a new tune, looks like I better build myself an existentialist canoe’. Anyone who can get a five-syllable word into a song deserves some respect. White is now living full time in Australia so it'll be interesting to see how antipodean life has changed the man, his music and the line-up of the band. Veteran Jazz-blues pianist Radoslav Lorkovic is the support act. Take my advice and bring a nice warm sweater, you'll be grand. GB