The Nashville Story theSpaceUK Aug 22nd 2021

The Nashville Story from Night Owl Shows is a gentle introduction to the history and the music of the home of Country Music.  Through the talents of Dan Clews (vocals & guitar), Alex Beharrell (vocals, guitar, and a little bit of stand-up comedy) and Hannah Richards (vocals) we get a selection of songs from the very start of Nashville music when it was a promotional radio show for a local insurance company, through the Grand Ole Opry days and all the way up to modern times.

Along our journey we met, amongst others, the music of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, John Denver, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and a few more that could be fitted into this 50 minute or so show format.

I have to admit to not being a massive fan of some country music stars and it was obvious with the almost instant connection that our trio had with their audience this evening that many knew some of the songs far better than I did.  Country/Nashville music has for me always been in the writing of the songs and there are simply some wonderfully written songs in the history of this music, and few musical genres know how to put real life people and real life emotions into songs better than country music writers, and that was obvious in some of the songs in this show.  I hope “the boys” take no offence here, but for me Hannah Richards stole the show vocally, particularly on her versions of the Tammy Wynette classic “Stand By Your Man” and Patsy Cline’s  “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”.

As with any Night Owl Show that I have been to, there was warmth to the show that is always nice to be a part of, and our on-stage trio were obviously having a lot of fun tonight putting both their musical skills and when needed their ad-libbing skills to good use; you have to be good to run with whatever direction the audience is moving in on any show, and our Nashville Story tellers made it all look so casual and easy this evening.

Review by Tom King (c) 2021
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