Driving the band is the man, the rhythm king, Rupert Brown, the smooth, firing on 16 cylinders master, clipping every backbeat within a snare shot. Up front is the dance preacher himself one JC Grimshaw, electrified mandolin, frilly shirt and a pirate's hat plumped on his head. Jake 'Shabby' Rodriques erstwhile partner in crime side stage wailing on harmonica and squeeze box. Paul Armfield playing killer bass lines, Angelina Grimshaw on vocals and guitar and a guy called Steve Smith on the far side cutting the cornbread soul of the song with guitar like moonshine whiskey.
The Dance Preachers three sets tonight are peppered with songs from Angelina Grimshaw's latest CD. The band are hot as a Chilli Releno through a whole bunch of Texas Mexican tunes. Remembering this is Cowes yacht haven the Dance Preachers include What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor and a fast frame version of Bobby Shaftoe. On the final set Rod Garfield squeezed on to blow some mean harmonica through a raucus run of blues numbers which climaxed with that good old John Lee Hooker juke joint back beat and the audience breathless. Then the Dance Preachers tried to close but the punters refused to let them go without an encore.
Sweat tipping from the entire band they blew into one last number. The Armfield/Brown backline just stoking it out of thin air, JC's fingers a blur on the mandolin, Jake having to wipe the sweat from his glasses to find his harmonica mike, Angelina vocals all grits and gravel, Steve Smith playing like he was in a Mississippi juke joint.
Sheer sweaty class.
Charly Patton