For those of you that saw the poster for Corinne West and thought, shall I go, or shall I not bother? Where is The Ravenswood? Who is Corinne West? Well, Corinne is new to this neck of the woods and despite being played on BBC's Bob Harris show, earning her an accolade from 'Whispering Bob' himself, she is still relatively unknown, but I don’t think that will be for too much longer. You surely missed a real treat. "You must dive right into it, or else you’ll find…it’s passed you by" [David Crosby]

For those of you who saw the poster and came, well I needn’t go on need I?

Corinne (acoustic guitar and lead vocals), hailing from Northern California, ably assisted by Walter Straus (acoustic lead guitar and vocals), are both warm, down to earth people. Now here are two consummate musicians whose music sits at the country end of Americana. Corinne sings with great passion, at times sweet, pure and velvety, at other times, still pure but with grit, sparkling energy and wonderfully clear diction. The songs are extremely well written and are laden with hooks to latch on to your interest buds.

Walter is a brilliant guitarist, one would think perhaps classically trained. I really don’t know how he keeps up those complicated finger runs when he does solos without tripping up, but he sure does keeps up the momentum with dazzling accuracy. The harmonies blend together with sublime crystalline clarity adding to the virtuosity of both musicians.

Weather-wise (I suppose us British must always talk about the weather), the rain finally stopped and a large patch of blue sky opened up above the venue just before the show started, bathing the beautiful, natural surroundings in exquisite radiance. The fresh evening air and the wonderful sounds of nature contributed to the idyllic atmosphere. In fact I heard my first cuckoo of the year.

If you don’t particularly like country music, then fear not, for Corinne’s music is not typical. I personally think she will be, if she’s not already heading for the territory of Emmylou Harris and that is surely well deserved. Buy Corinne’s Album “Bound For The Living” at www.corinnesmusic.com and that’s an order. You won’t be disappointed, that’s a promise.

To warm up the audience we were fortunate enough to have as support, a wonderful bunch of people called Piefinger who all come from various parts of London. They are Lovely Jana Carpenter (lead vocals) Glynne Steele (acoustic guitar and Vocal), Lovely Rachel Steadman (violin), David Sherwood (bass and vocals) and Ben Woollacott (percussion) Sorry guys, you may have been a wee bit lovely but not quite like the girls. Piefinger perform brilliant original harmony oriented music which I suppose could be in the area of country/folk/acoustica with a little bit of a jazz feel. The harmonies were real sweet and tight and after the first number, the band relaxed and they launched into a competent display of excellent musicianship. They are warm and friendly people without any airs of self importance and to top it all I don’t think of any bands who can match them for originality. Watch their reviews; I think they will be famous! And soon!

As one of the audience emailed after the show:

“Thank you for a wonderful evening with Corinne West, WS and Piefinger. We loved them all, and the venue is a thrill. I'll try to persuade more people to come in future. Perhaps if you put on your publicity for Ravenswood ”easy to find, plenty of parking, beautiful surroundings" it'd help people over the hump of searching for an obscure new venue. You are doing a great job organising these evenings though. Conor”

Well said Conor, my sentiment entirely.

Review courtesy of 'Maximum Bob' Preece