Hand on my heart, PATRICIA VONNE is by far one of the most endearing and fun performers on the Alt Country/Americana circuit at the moment.
Right from the start, from her outlandish sparkly jeans, her thigh-slapping enjoyably dubious dancing (mainly involving lassoing motions and the occasional bout of line-dancing), to her powerful, rockin vocals, you could not help but warm to her. She can yodel to perfection, and don't get me started on those castanets.
They opened the set with the fantastic "Texas Burning", an unsung classic in my books. And quite simply, they rocked. With tongue firmly in cheek, she would frequently yell in her Southern America drawl, "Hey you guys, the closer y'all get together then the warmer our bodies are gonna be!", before leaping, literally, into another jumpin rock n roll number.
Her music comprises a healthy mix of Americana rock and Tex Mex. When she sang in Spanish (which she does for about half of her songs), she had the uncanny ability of conveying the meaning of the words across the language barrier. Or at least I think she did. I mean to be honest she could've been singing about egg and chips as far as I was aware, but it sounded great and that's what counted.
Oh, and she's a bit of a stella Flamenco-dancing castanet player as well. She gets it from her mother apparently. So, with a cheerful scream she yelled "Hey you guys, lets play some Guitars and Castanets!" (title of her album), clipping and snapping her way across the stage, into the audience, and sprinting right to the back of the venue, before leaping deftly back onto the stage and completing the first ever castanet solo I've ever seen, and one that truly rocked my world. Ole!
The mood just kept on lifting, feet were tapping, the band was swinging, and Patricia Vonne rode the atmosphere with some more lassoing action, and howling to the audience "Come on you guys! Y'all gonna GRITTO for me now, OK!"
No one quite knew what 'Gritto' meant, but they got into the spirit of things by making some nondescript appreciative noises.
And then, before launching into a rather superb "Joe's Gone A'Ridin", she hailed one of her musical gurus, "Jo Ely, in Texas Austin! I'm in London God Damn It, and I'm singin' this to you ARGHHHHH!"
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The whole evening was just pure unadulterated fun. I loved every second of it. With song titles such as "Rebel Bride", "Sax Machine" and "Lonesome Rider", maybe it was clichéd in parts, but Frankly My Dear I Don't Give A Damn. That misses the point entirely: she is a bloody brilliant feel-good performer, with a stock-pile of superb tunes and a fantastic band to back her up. The perfect lift for a gloomy winter night in London.
Wow, phew, honestly I was exhausted on behalf of her by the end of the set. But she threw herself into an epic autograph-signing session with gusto, and had a good old chinwag with her fans. I was lucky to catch her and her husband Robert LaRoche (guitarist, vocals, co-writer) for a quick chat, and believe me they are both as infectiously giddy off stage as on.
I asked her about "Texas Burning", as it is such a brilliant song, one of the stand out tracks in the set for me. "Yeah thanks!" she enthused, "It's about being melancholy, about going home, but also celebrating the feeling as well."
Robert LaRoche continued, "I remember when we wrote that one. Patricia had the blues, and she NEVER gets the blues."
I can well believe it, "Yeah! So I asked her what was wrong, and she missed her Dad and her Mom. So we sat down and wrote about it. And you know, most songs can take weeks to write? Well this song was finished in a day." Awwwwwwww.
Before I shot off into the rainy London night, I asked Patricia if she would give me some hints and tips on my castanet technique. She was only to happy to oblige, and I kid you not, I now have the hang of it. Genius. So watch this space peeps, I may well be clippin' my way round London in the very near future. Available for weddings, funerals, and Bar Mitzvahs...
(Patricia Vonne's second album 'Guitars and Castanets' is available on Measured Records.)
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