CALLAGHAN – BRIGHTON UNITARIAN CHURCH 21.4.18
“Callaghan is amazing…she has a voice, she sings, she writes and she plays…and there is no more that needs to be said!” Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2
“A wonderful artist…hugely talented” Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2
So what’s all the hype about? The Brighton & Hove News music team were intrigued and so went along to her concert at the Brighton Unitarian Church in New Road to find out more.
On Saturday 21st April, Brighton was literally buzzing. The sun had been out all day and hordes of people were chilling out in the bars and the city had a real relaxed atmosphere about it. Callaghan had indeed brought the weather over with her from her adopted home of LA in the States.
Singer songwriter Lincolnshire lass Callaghan was initially only going to the USA for a year back in the summer of 2010 after striking up a musical collaboration with Atlanta based Grammy Nominee Shawn Mullins via Myspace, but lifes journey had other ideas for her. She told us that she has now been to 47 of the 50 states with her hubby-manager and has lived in a handful of locations during that time and that her trusty means of transport known as ‘Wilson’ has now racked up 399,500 miles. Clearly the American’s can’t get enough of her easy listening style of music.
Quite often you find that people’s journeys in life are determined by a spark of inspiration at an early age. With Callaghan it seems to be going to her very first concert at the age of five, when her parents took her to see John Denver perform live. She was besotted with him and learnt all the songs, which was possibly easier than most as she comes from a family who have a musical background.
Like any rebellious teenager Callaghan moved away from the sugary-sweet sounds of Mr Denver, but after a few years she was drawn back in, clearly there was no escaping and thus she recorded her favourite Denver tune ‘Annie’s Song’ which she sang for us.
Funnily enough we recently reported on another similar inspiration, when we witnessed Chris Watson’s launch of the ‘No Man’s Land’ show at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, where Chris told us he was inspired to make the show as in his early years he was fascinated with the many Jacques Cousteau’s undersea programmes. Cousteau also inspired none other than John Denver in their aim to save the planet. Denver recorded ‘Calypso’ in homage to him. Calypso being the name of Cousteau’s boat.
Callaghan was in Brighton as part of a UK tour to promote her latest EP titled ‘Skin On Skin’ which she played the first two songs for us ‘Better Together’ and ‘Skin On Skin’ as part of her pleasant inoffensive 14 tune set.
On stage she was accompanied by Dan Schneider on keyboards and Callaghan herself flitted from guitar to her own keyboards during the evening, whilst telling the audience anecdotes about her life in between the music.
If you gravitate to the likes of the aforementioned John Denver or The Carpenters and enjoy heartfelt music with clear vocals that tells a story just like Callaghan’s ‘Noah’s Song’ which was penned as a result of the birth of her elder sisters first born and wanting to give the baby the best start in life, then clearly Callaghan will be your dose of the feel good factor (or even your secret guilty pleasure?).
Callaghan will be releasing an album in the summer made up of the tracks from her last two EPs ‘The Other Side’ and ‘Skin On Skin’ and the third in the EP triptych.
Not afraid of putting her own stamp on cover versions, she also performed Ben E King’s 1961 classic ‘Stand By Me’ and ended with possibly her most favourite song in the whole world the Judy Garland sung 1939 classic ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’.
More info here: https://www.callaghansongs.com/
Callaghan setlist:
‘Solid Ground’, ‘Crazy Beautiful Life’, ‘Stand By Me’, ‘Surrender’, ‘Noah’s Song’, ‘When You Loved Me’, ‘Better Together’, ‘Annie’s Song’, ‘If You Miss Me When I’m Gone’, ‘Last Song’, ‘Skin On Skin’, ‘Best Year’, ‘We Don’t Have To Change The World’ (encore) ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ (solo).
