Borderline, London, Tuesday, July 27th, 1999

Stacey Earle and the Jewels
Michael Weston King
Words Mike p * Photographs Dave Knowles
'No need to book, plenty of room,' said the lady on the phone from the Borderline on Monday night. At 7pm on Tuesday I could hear the muffled noise of a soundcheck through the open door of the club that doubles as a haven for American troubadours and 'mama heartbeat' disco. Outside were two Stacey Earle fans. 'Not going to be sold out then?' The guy with the greying locks and moustache gave a wry smile: 'Shouldn't think so, nobody's knows who Stacey Earle is . . .'
I'm real pleased to say that when I returned an hour later the queue for the gig ran from the Borderline's wooden doors, down the alley and back around the corner. A lot of folks, like me, I suspect were back after Stacey Earle's debut here last December. An unforgettable night when the songwriter proved you don't need much more than a guitar, a stage and a big heart to knock an audience stone dead.
Tonight Stacey Earle came 'mob handed' as we say with her husband Mark Stuart and son Kyle. And she did it again.

The Borderline was packed. End to end in that dimly lit cellar room we had a night of superb music. First up was Michael Weston King whose band the Good Sons had made a record which the man around here, the late and very great Townes Van Zandt had sung on. By the time the gig got going King was jumping onto a stage facing a good audience prepared to listen.
He plugged in an acoustic and announced a song off a forthcoming solo album. What struck home was the quality of his voice. The range was deep and the tone was warm. Too many angst ridden songsters out there these days who sound like squeaky violins and King, thankfully sounds like a cello amongst them.

That first song seemed to be about a hero, possibly Townes, as a memory framed in a photograph and it was beautiful. I didn't catch too much of the rest of the set because Joanna Serraris and her two children Jessica and Jodie had arrived.
It was the first time we had met up after many months conversing on one of those wild Internet lists dedicated to a troubadour of the drifting kind. But what I heard between chatting back at the bar I liked a lot. Especially when I heard King acknowledge Joe Henry whose Trampoline and Short Man's Room are stunning. Then blow me he starts talking about Loose Diamonds, my favourite Austin bar band which includes the lean guy who was born to play a Fender, Scrappy Jud Newcomb. And his set was very well received and deservedly so because the voice was clear.
During the break Joanna and I got ourselves down near the front of the stage where my photographer friend Dave Knowles was priming his camera. The break was short but had been long enough for Joanna and I to attempt to find another Internet friend of hers Ed who was somewhere in this buzzing crowd. Ed's description (25, 178cm, blondish, a bit Italian looking), wasn't exactly easy to spot. The unannounced arrival of Stacey Earle and the Jewels stopped the search.
Stacey Earle was greeted by one of those Borderline audiences that know they are in for a treat and they gave her and her family their appreciation. Stacey in turn gave one of those big grins that are almost permanently on her face. She is clearly a lady in love with life. And when Stacey Earle gets up on a stage she shares. A little bit of heartache and a lot of fun.
And it was a belter of a set played to an audience who came to listen, not to drink. Stacey Earle plays less guitar this time, now that the sound is filled by her husband Mark Stuart and son Kyle playing drums with his knuckles mostly and brushes occasionally. The songs are mainly from Stacey Earles first CD, Simple Gearle and a handful of new songs destined for a new album coming out in the new year.
The audience is fired by this lady's enthusiasm, the sheer energy and fun she puts into every performance. Consider that over last weekend she had played the Falcon Ridge festival and an almost continuous string of dates across America. And tonight she is in London at the Borderline. Tomorrow Preston, the next night Glasgow. Then the Cambridge Folk Festival, then on to Birmingham, north to Sheffield, south to Bristol and finally home on the following Friday. Hauling drums and guitars and themselves in a tourer. A lot of miles and a lot of respect from me for the way she gives 150 per cent to her audience.
The audience, in turn, at the Borderline give her appreciation by the bucketload. She has a voice straight off a Tennessee back porch, the songs like those from Simple Gearle are clear, clean and honest. Devoid of the Nashville saccharin that turns great songs into product adverts. I love the way she pitches up to the microphone, stands on her toes and lets go with all her heart.
Mark Stuart's guitar is simply a bloody joy. Just another of those folks who knows exactly when to step forward and rip out a run and then retreat to give the vocalist some room. No surprise to discover he hung out for a while in Stacey's brothers band. He gets a roar of applause for one solo and Stacey Earle leans into the mike to say 'Thankyou, I got to take him home tonight . . .'
Mark Stuart gets the chance to sing one of his own songs from the next Gearle Records project, his solo album. He has a gentle soulful country voice, when I was expecting a chewed on barbed wire voice like Stacey's brother. Stacey's son Kyle completes the band, seventeen years old and playing with a sensitivity that was perfect for the songs. Mostly as I said with his knuckles.

They opened with Weekend Runaways, steaming start. Just a short gap as Stacey Earle announces she'd been listening to a Bobbi Gentry record and it inspired Wedding Night, Mark Stuart's guitar solo rang around the Borderline on this one. The set was just simply brilliantly balanced and well thought out. And just a delight to be there amongst the real stuff.

Slow songs, sad songs and strong rockers. Some amusing tales too. Letting brother Steve borrow her harmonica and finishing his lunch off when she got it back. The story about writing Tears That She Cries inspired by a pain in the arse secretary on the Nashville songwriting conveyor belt. A touching tale to begin Another Day about the kids growing up and the house being empty. And Stacey Earle rounded it all off with a storming Cried My Heart Out that had the Borderline screaming after her as the trio walked down from the stage and disappeared through the back doors.
It was electric in there, smokey, steamy and charged. Duly they returned and Stacey Earle thanked the audience and hoped we would all sing along with a song she didn't write. Mark Stuart cranked the guitar riff in, Kyle booted in on the tiny drum set , Stacey Earle bent her knees as she strummed the acoustic and looked over at her husband as he stepped up to the microphone:

Absolutely corking version of You Ain't Going Nowhere that just about ripped the place apart. Stacey Earle asked the audience to sing the chorus and in everyone came while the band stood back and then came roaring in on the last line. Michael Weston King got invited up on stage for the harmonies and we had this gorgeous blend of voices just flying over the music. One to kick your boots to.

The trio kept it up with the next song, Afraid of the Dark, which started with Stacey Earle asking if anyone out there was afraid of the dark and then the whole joint got jumping again. The final song, a powerful one, think it was White Lies, not sure don't know it but it rang all around.
And that was it, another reason to be out in tiny bars where real folks come to kick up a storm. The house PA turned over to playing some mama heartbeat at ear deafening volume to clear the place ready for the changeover to some plastic dungeon for dance music. Stacey Earle retired to the street outside to sign CDs and talk to folks.
You got to admire the lady, ahead of her was a long four or five hour drive to Preston for tomorrow's gig and she has time to be there talking to fans.
Johnny Guitar, a character and regular on the Soho scene is stood in his long black boots, his Los Alamos, New Mexico t-shirt, Pirates hat and Napeolonic tunic. Johnny is trying to blag a gig at Joanna Serraris Happy Daze in the Hague. 'Are you acoustic?' she asks him. 'Sure, me and Steve were acoustic this afternoon working out some stuff.' Mark the cameraman, another Stacey set in the can gives out a huge laugh. 'Johnny Guitar, acoustic, that'll be the day . . .'. Johnny is a character, a gentleman of the street and without folks like him life would be terribly boring.
Perhaps the greatest compliment that Stacey Earle didn't hear that night came from Ed who was found amongst the crowd by way of a Mark Stuart stage announcement. His eyes were lit when he said to Joanna Serraris: 'I heard her music and I wasn't sure and then I decided I would come tonight and well, she's stunning.' And with that he handed Joanna a Will Massey tape and disappeared into the night. And Kathleen Haskard, co writer of Stacey's Loser's Weep fired up the tourer and headed North to another town and another gig. Me I went South on a late night train with a dozen Stacey Earle songs still ringing in my ears.
A short version of this review might just say: 'It was a corker.'
Mike Plumbley

Set list: Weekend Runaways, Wedding Night, Show Me How, If It Weren't For You, Must Be Love, Simple Gearle, Losers Weep, In My Way, Gonna Love Me, Candra Dance, Tears That She Cries, Next Door Down, Just Another Day, Cried My Heart Out. Encores: You Ain't Going Nowhere, Afraid of the Dark, third song was either Makes Me Happy, White Lies (White Lies I think, thanks for the set list Jessica Serraris)