Tag: lady nade

One Of Us; New Single From Lady Nade

Featured Image by Giulia Spadafora

Ooo, a handclap uncomplicated chorus is the hook in Lady Lade’s latest offering of soulful pop. It’s timelessly cool and snappy, but holds a deeper narrative…..

Released at the end of November, One of Us is an uplifting song of hope against the odds. Raised by her grandparents, Bristol’s sublime songstress Lady Nade often references losing them in her songwriting. Speaking about after their passing, she explained, “at times these years felt more like survival trying to navigate chaos. ‘One Of Us’ was written from that time when I didn’t always feel safe. I was trying to make sense of grief, and find what it meant to belong.”

“One of Us is about trying to free myself from the toxic cycles and patterns that I now know only encouraged me to feel negative emotions and in turn held me back from trying to become a better version of myself,” Lady Nade continued. But its beauty lies, not in the personal reflection, but the interpersonal effect, the value of others identifying with the words. “This is not just my anthem song,” she said, “it is for anyone who has ever had to rebuild themselves from the inside out, or is still on that journey of aiming to become the best version of themselves.”

I don’t exaggerate nor flatter, even if she did give me a wonderful hug when she played at the Devizes Arts Festival! Lady Nade isn’t comparable to other singers on the southwest circuit, her extraordinarily deep vocal range rather puts her on par with Nina Simone, of whom she often pays a respectable homage to. She takes this soulful new single around the UK, then is debuting it in Kansas and Canada; we wish her luck, but on the strength of this single, I think it’s in the pocket! 

Streaming Options HERE

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Rooks; New Single From M3G

Chippenham folk singer-songwriter, M3G (because she likes a backward “E”) has a new single out tomorrow, Friday 19th December. Put your jingly bell cheesy tunes…

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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.

Meanwhile: The Duskers at the Southgate

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.

Devizes Arts Festival looks to be a cracker this year. I’m still in awe of Lady Nade this morning, but there’s lots more to come!

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Blue Sky Festival Returns to Corsham’s Pound Arts

Blue Sky Festival returns to Corsham’s Pound Arts this July. The thriving arts centre will be filled with music, dance, film, family entertainment and workshops, plus outdoor theatre. There really is something for everyone, including Claymation model-making workshops with Aardman Animations, music from upcoming Americana soulstress Lady Nade, and the breath-taking folky ambiance of Emily Barker, and comedy from Lucy Porter, who you’ll know from Live At The Apollo, Would I Lie To You and QI.

Lady Nade

Kicking off on the 5th and continuing throughout until 11th, there’s theatre for the very youngest, check out the The Bug Hotel and there’s even a Bug Making Workshop. Fly in/Drive in Cinemas, pre-school workshops where you will create your very own broomstick and hat before flying into the auditorium to watch a free, short family film, on 7th and 8th July.

Absurdist-fiction author and New York Times Bestseller Jasper Fforde does an author’s talk on the 9th July, and the 10th is the All Day Aardman Filmathon with an Aardman Model Making Workshop aimed at children aged 6 and above.

And it’s the 8th July, at 8:00pm when the wonderful Lady Nade takes the stage, Emily Barker on the Saturday the 10th. Sunday polishes off the festival with Lucy Porter, after Apocalyptic Circus return to The Pound with a visually striking, highly skilled circus and comedy show for all the family called My House.

Other events planned throughout the festival include a Blue-Sky Mural project, a Silent Disco, Fun Community Singalong Workshop, Jimmy Jams Breakfast Storytime with Gav Cross, work in progress from the Debut Dance Company.

Lucy Porter
Book tickets here
OUT NOW!

Lady Nade; Willing

Americana folk singer-songwriter Lady Nade beautifully attributes her granddad for her traits, in the song Peace and Calm, citing his love of gardening as his mellowed happy place. Wonderfully sentimental, the boot fits, as is this stunningly crafted new album, Willing, released yesterday, and undoubtedly the reason why she plays to a sold-out audience tonight at St George’s in her hometown of Bristol.

Reviewing after just the one listen is usually dodgy ground, but when an album engrosses you as Willing does, it’s all that’s necessary to reverberate the news to you just how fabulous this is.

If Lady Nade has a physical resemblance to Heather Small, she certainly has the deep and soulful voice to match, but any musical comparisons have to end there, unless either Mike Pickering is taken out of the equation or the nineties electronica inclination was mysteriously replaced by Nashville country. For pigeonholing this, it is soulful country, in sound and subject matter.

Written during the pandemic, there’s a secluded ambience echoing through these eleven sublime three-minute plus stories of friendship, love and loneliness lost and found, reflecting the fact it was recorded in multiple studios and engineered by all the musicians in isolation. Yet to hear it will hold you spellbound in a single place, till its conclusion.

With a folk tinge the title track kicks us off, and sucks you in with a romantic notion of loyalty. The slide-guitar fills a tale of faith against missing someone follows, and, lighter, You’re my Number One, trickles euphoria, warmly.

Indeed, mellow is the key throughout, Josette being breezily romantic, while Wild Fire offers a darker, moodier tenet. Whimsically spoken, One-Sided is perhaps the most beguilingly pop-like with a cannonball despondency you cannot help but be touched by. But if identification is what you’re after, Call Yourself a Friend has the sorrowful, trust vs cheating friendship, and accompanied by pedal-steel guitar-picking, traditional country music is honoured.

By Rock Bottom, as the title suggests, there’s a slight rock breeze to it without defiling its roots, Tom Petty style. Then we have the aforementioned, Peace and Calm, an upbeat, jollily ironic Many Ways to Sink This Ship, and Ain’t One Thing makes for a perfect finale, by summing up the perfect person to be in love with. What a gorgeous sentiment to seamlessly end a captivating album from start to finish.

It often perplexes me, how Ray Charles deviating from the jazz-laden soul ABC Records necessitated as the key to his achievement, to release the double-album, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was considered so shocking, when artists such as Nashville’s DeFord Bailey was fusing harmonica blues into the more acceptable country style forty years prior. Still, some may be surprised by Lady Nade’s affection for Americana folk, but after one listen the surprise will turn into amazement.

As a form of healing from grief, Lady Nade started writing poems and songs, and performing locally, learning loss and sorrow isn’t something one can recover from alone, and with her music and recipes she creates a communal experience, a calling to connect with her fans on a deeper level. This shows in the sublime dedication she transfers to this, her third album.

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Devizes Winter Festival This Friday and More!

Who’s ready for walking in the winter wonderland?! Devizes sets to magically transform into a winter wonderland this Friday when The Winter Festival and Lantern…

Snow White Delight: Panto at The Wharf

Treated to a sneaky dress rehearsal of this year’s pantomime at Devizes’ one and only Wharf Theatre last night, if forced to sum it up…

Song of the Day 37: Lady Nade

I could scrutinise my archives, like a minister’s accountant, but without doing so I highly suspect Lady Nade has had a song featured on our Song of the Day feature once before.

Futile to check, as if I’ve implimented a ruling of one song per artist on our feature, which I haven’t. And even if I had, I’m my own boss here, and have every right to override it. And for what? What purpose?

I’ll tell you, shall I? If only to share and spread the word, this is a gorgeous tune, with a video nodding to her home city, Bristol, and its hint of topical affairs, despite the conotations of the song not revealing a similar notion, rather a classic theme of romance.

But the soulful expertise of Lady Nade makes it look so easy, and in this beautifully executed breezy ballad, one can only gasp at her skill and wallow in its splendour.

And that’s my song of the day!! Very good, carry on…..

Song of the Day 22: Lady Nade

A tad shocked my car fluked its way through its MOT today, first time. Going on the theory good luck is a positive virus, maybe I should get a lottery ticket.

It’s your lucky day too, Song of the Day needs no introduction; Lady Nade, ’nuff said?

And that’s my song for the day. Very good. Carry on…..