After a good support slot from the ever reliable Teddy Thompson who sounds more like Jackson Browne every day it’s onto the main act.
What’s clear from the get go is that tonight is all about what’s important in life. Namely family and home. Home is not a building, a place or a town but Alison says its right here next to the ones you love as she points to her sister. Tonight is also about roots and where you come from with many tracks of the set reflecting their Alabama beginnings including a cover from Alabama alumni Jason Isbell.
The set tonight is predominantly covers from their new album, Not Dark Yet, produced by Thompson, the one original ‘Is it too much’ and assorted other tracks from both of their careers.
Its high quality stuff with their voices both complementing and contrasting each other perfectly with Lynne especially shifting effortlessly up and down her range. Alternating on lead vocals but harmonising throughout it’s a wonderful sound supported by their solid but not showy backing band.
Lynne berates a UK reviewer who criticised their cover of Nirvana’s ‘Lithium’ on the album and I tend to agree but live they just manage to pull it off unleashing their inner rock chicks with pure raw emotion the likes of which I would guess the usually sedate Cadogan Hall has not seen before.
On a night of highlights it’s the deeply personal ‘Is it too much’ that steals the show and highlights the tight bond between Lynne and her sissy Moorer. At a time when there is so much strong young country female artists it’s great to see these two ‘old timers’ still at the top of the tree.
Keep on country rockin’ y’all