Lady Nade at Devizes Arts Festival

If the opening Friday evening of Devizes Arts Festival was amazing for lively pirate-punk craziness, Saturday night was too for precisely opposite reasons. Bristol’s soulstress Americana virtuoso, Lady Nade arrived, and in a word, was mesmerising…

I’ve put her ladyship on the highest pedestal since reviewing her lockdown album Willing, longing to see her perform. With a firm handshake she thanked me for the review at the interval, and I was truly honoured. Yet the grand venue was rather scarce on audience; you should take heed that I don’t do flattery for flattery’s sake, I’m aware it was a busy weekend for events, but you missed the single most mind-blowingly sublime gig in town I’ve witnessed in Devizes for a long time.

A few minutes late due to the unreliable bus service, at least one thing was reliable, the divine sound blessing the Corn Exchange, as Lady Nade stood in the middle of an archetypal country vocal and guitar harmony trio. I felt an immediate emotion rush through me, imagining I was witness to Nina Simone performing in her heyday, of the southern state persuasion of gospel artists like Ray Charles to record country, fuse Appalachian folk into jazz, and open the melting pot of pop.

Like a tour guide to her psyche, Lady Nade narrated her life story and innermost thoughts when inspiration struck. Her reasons for writing her pending songs gave clarity to the narrative, yet is often conveyed with wry banter. She referenced her influences too, Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, jokingly snapping at one chap getting up for a drink, just as Nina commanded. Through all the subject’s solemnity, from the state of today’s music industry to dealing with grief, splices of stand-up comedy were thrown in. Whatever the angle, whatever the art, though, they conveyed it astutely and professionally.

Even with all these perfectly delivered elements combined, none are more impressive than Lady Nade’s sublime vocal range, the expression and conviction of her own words, and the accompanying harmonies. The rarity of contralto, to border mezzo-soprano, and countertenor; hey, I’m no expert on such technicalities but the depth rewards them my ‘in a word’ evaluation of mesmerising.

Dealing with the passing of her caring grandparents, to thoughts of mental well-being were the most touching. The audience took away a little part of Lady Nade and related them to their own stories, and that is the mark of genius. This communal experience came to a summit at the finale, when she unplugged her acoustic guitar and sauntered through the audience singing. As her songs flowed through me, I closed my eyes and saw my father, smiling back at me, forever grateful to anyone with the power to evoke such reverie through song.

Lesser emotional moments were equally as entertaining. Critical of the mechanics and monopolising of streaming music, the trio covered Gillian Welch’s Everything is Free, and the opening song to the second half was decidedly upbeat soul, akin to The Jackson’s I Want You Back. Yet the concentration overall was dulcet, euphonious and soulful vocal harmony, original yet reminiscent of the gospel-country fusion of yore, naturally spliced with Bristolian banter!

There is an unusual angle to Lady Nade’s creativity, she associates her songs with food, focussing a recipe relating to each song. If that sounds a tad bonkers, perhaps, but in this performance, like all her reasoning, the back story provides the logic!

It was a breath-taking performance, only Nina Simone between Simon & Garfunkel could’ve equalised. Signing in this year’s Devizes Arts Festival beautifully, in which there’s a fortnight of greatness yet to come. There’s two fringe events today, Sunday, seed detective Adam Alexander at the Peppermill, and loop guru Eddie Allen at the Bear for 7pm.

I know and accept the struggle is real, all promoters are at risk when putting food on the table is priority, but if you can, don’t overlook our brilliant Arts Festival this year, check out the programme and treat yourself, else we seriously face losing this opportunity in future, alongside others.

As it was, last night I had time to drop into the Southgate, to hear for the first time Salisbury’s The Duskers, an extremely proficient five-piece twisted folk roots ensemble, and they were euphoric in their fashion of elongated mellow-driven compositions. I could, and would have otherwise been there from the start.

The pub circuit in Devizes is second-to-none for a local town this size, live music thrives here freely, yet while I know this is all awesome, organisers of annual events like the Arts Festival will bring superiority in sound, professionalism and variety of acts to our town our trusty pubs couldn’t. Last night with Lady Nade proves this, but unfortunately such greatness costs to stage, ergo we back ticketed events with equal gusto as those free pub gigs. I believe there’s room for all, but only if we support the ones funding themselves through tickets too.