| Jolie Holland holds the accolade of playing one of the | | | | she was to be playing in San Francisco during the |
| best and one of the worst gigs I have ever been to. | | | | time some friends and I were going to be there! As |
| Hailing from Houston, Texas, Ms Holland made her | | | | soon as they went on sale, I booked three tickets |
| name with (and was a founding member of) The Be | | | | over the internet (how jet-setting am I booking |
| Good Tanyas, before releasing her first solo effort, | | | | tickets for a concert on another continent?!). |
| Catalpa, in 2003. Catalpa was recorded in a home | | | | So, having seriously 'bigged her up' to my friends, |
| studio and was never intended for release. The | | | | who had never heard of her, we spent that day |
| sound quality is appalling, but the songs are beautiful | | | | pootling up through Chinatown, past the |
| and Holland's languid voice beguiling. The opening line, | | | | Transamerica Pyramid, calling in at the infamous City |
| on the song Alley Flowers, is the wonderful "Some | | | | Lights book store, before taking in Lombard Street |
| people say I got a psychadelic presence/Shining in | | | | and North Beach. Our destination was Bimbo's 365, |
| the park with a bioluminescence". | | | | where Ms Holland would be playing. |
| 2004 brought Escondida, a much more polished studio | | | | After waiting in line outside for eons we finally got in, |
| consignment, and one which brought her to the | | | | only to find out that almost every seat in the house |
| attention of the music press in a big way. Holland's | | | | had been reserved in advance (which, as 'auslanders' |
| strange, almost eerie intonation and phrasing were | | | | we could not have known). We took some seats |
| captivating, sounding like nothing that had been heard | | | | right near the back and decided to get a drink...which |
| before, whilst somehow still managing to sound like | | | | was extortionate, particularly if, as expected, you |
| old-time music from decades past. Her jazzy-bluesy | | | | took advantage of the table service. The venue itself |
| voice (of, almost unbelievably, a woman then aged | | | | was capacious, yet somehow still quite dingy and, |
| only 29) ambled its way through folk-tinged, | | | | however many miles it was that we were from the |
| country-styled numbers...this was rootsy, yet | | | | stage, our vantage point was disappointing. But not |
| somehow fresh. | | | | to worry - she would be so excellent that it would |
| It was shortly after the release of Escondida that I | | | | be as if warm honey had been poured into my |
| first saw Holland playing live. The venue was the Live | | | | friends' virgin ears and this wouldn't matter a jot! |
| Theatre in Newcastle, a small and charming place for | | | | Sadly, I was mistaken. |
| which I have always had something of a soft spot | | | | She took to the stage looking somewhat bewildered |
| (and which, following a regeneration, has very | | | | and lackadaisical, demanding that someone bring her |
| recently reopened). She came on stage, in a rather | | | | bag, which she had left backstage, to her. Then |
| odd and mismatched outfit, every bit the small town | | | | followed an entire evening's worth of dull |
| gal. She was as humble as she was mesmerising. The | | | | meanderings, reworkings of every song so that they |
| band was astoundingly good...these people were true | | | | became tuneless, pointless and, frankly, boring. I was |
| musicians, and this included Holland, who turned her | | | | so disappointed...and embarrassed to have sung her |
| hand to guitar and ukelele (and, as I remember, fiddle | | | | praises so highly when this had been my friends' |
| too). Her natural talent was obvious and she seemed | | | | introduction to her music! We even considered |
| sweet and shy as she introduced each song in a | | | | getting out our pack of cards to keep us |
| drawl so thick you couldn't help but warm to her. I | | | | entertained, but general Britishness prevented this! |
| really felt, on this night, that I had been let in on | | | | Every single song was completely immemorable and |
| some very special secret. I even got a hug from the | | | | Ms Holland appeared to have picked up quite an |
| woman herself at the end of the gig and came away | | | | attitude somewhere along the way. No longer the |
| feeling high and happy, like my soul had grown a little. | | | | charming, unassuming woman sitting in front of us, |
| In addition to songs from the two albums she had | | | | this was someone who told a girl at the front of the |
| released, she played us a new song that she had | | | | audience to be quiet (fair enough) whilst she was on |
| been working on, called Moonshiner, which we were | | | | stage, addressing her as "Baby doll" (patronising, quite |
| later to hear on her 2006 album Springtime Can Kill | | | | rude and not fair enough!). When the evening finally |
| You. For me, this release was somewhat | | | | wound to a close my friends were so infused with |
| disappointing; and from someone I had thought could | | | | ennui that they didn't even feel like going on |
| do no wrong. The captivating voice was still there, | | | | elsewhere for a post-gig drink. |
| and it still sounded pleasant, but the songs just did | | | | There is a lesson in here somewhere I am sure. |
| not engage me and etch themselves into my | | | | Perhaps it is about not putting people on a pedestal, |
| consciousness as those on the previous two albums. | | | | perhaps it is about taking each individual experience |
| I would be hard pressed, even now, to hum any of | | | | for what it is and not expecting to be able to |
| them for you, or to name any beyond the title track | | | | recreate it. Perhaps it is simply that one should keep |
| and the aforementioned Moonshiner. | | | | one's expectations low? |
| But when I found out Holland was going to be | | | | Despite my disappointment in the way Jolie Holland |
| touring again I was keen to get in on the action, | | | | has gone, I would still thoroughly recommended the |
| having enjoyed my evening so much previously. | | | | first two albums, particularly Escondida...definitely |
| Gutted was I, then, to find that she wouldn't be | | | | worth an investment. |
| coming to the UK. And ecstatic when I realised that | | | | |