Preview

We're delighted to welcome back our good friends Albert and the boys, for a third year in succession - of all the scores of gigs they play across the world each year, the Talbot is one of their favourites, and their annual visit to Tregaron is now a treasured Cambria Arts institution (and we know you punters appreciate it too!). Last year Albert was fresh from his coveted Grammy Award for his contribution to a landmark Earl Scruggs album, and this year he has added a fine new CD, 'Heartbreak Hill', to his illustrious discography - check out his official website for full details.

Review

Just about as good as it gets - that's the universal verdict at HQ on the third annual visit to Tregaron of Albert and the lads, who so evidently enjoy including the Talbot in their seemingly never-ending world-wide itinerary. And to judge from their ecstatic response, every one of the 225 enthusiastic punters who crowded in felt the same: to witness one of the world's most revered guitarists and his equally illustrious compadres gracing our relatively modest stage is a pleasure and a privilege that still has us pinching ourselves in near-disbelief.

This year's Albert-fest found the band on particularly good form, aided by a clarity of sound from their PA engineer, Ian, that was a marked improvement on 2003's gig. The whole band were definitely up for it: Pete Wingfield, as ever, sets the standard by which all other keyboard players should be judged, while generating enough energy to light and heat a small town (watch out, Camddwr Trust); Gerry Hogan proves that the pedal-steel guitar is as legitimate a rock instrument as it is the archetypal country one; Brian Hodgson's peerless bass is a foundation of strength and taste; while Peter Baron's work on drums is a consummate essay in power with subtlety. As for the man himself, Albert played - and sang - an absolute blinder, combining his unique mind-boggling speed and lyricism on guitar with passionate vocals and a piano technique that many for whom it's their first instrument would be hard pressed to equal. We've never seen the band play better.

All our favourites from the splendid 'Tear It Up' CD were there: 'I'm Ready' is the dream opener, while the venerable 'Singing The Blues' doesn't show its age at all in the Heroes' hands. The sheer speed of 'Tiger Rag' and Albert's celebrated 'Country Boy' is simply dizzying, and the more reflective side of life emerges in Albert's piano-based take on Jimmy Webb's 'If You See Me Getting Smaller' and Hoyt Axton's lovely desert opus 'Evangelina'. In addition to his customary Floyd Cramer spot, Pete Wingfield now brings Bobby Charles' 'Before I Grow Too Old' to the party; and among other new material this year was a lovely loping recreation of the Gosdin Brothers' 'Just Enough to Keep Me Hanging On', the Everly Brothers' 'Brand New Heartache', Delbert McClinton's roadhouse request for 'Two More Bottles of Wine', and, perhaps most striking of all, 'Take Me Where the River Flows', a heartrendingly lovely song co-written by ex-piano man Mike Bell and Peter Baron, whose lead vocal from the drum-stool was a real show-stopper. Pace, variety, virtuosity, wit, and generous playing time - our five friends brought us all these and more. At the close of the evening, as the band's number one fan Sue Hargreaves did a brisk trade in CDs and associated merchandise, the band members mingled and socialized with their customary courtesy and friendliness, underlining how much they value their grass-roots fan-base - a full house in Tregaron means just as much to them as a few thousand in a stadium on the other side of the world ...

Post-gig beverages were shared in the back bar with the ever-affable Peter Baron, while the irrepressible Pete Wingfield, a man who's probably incapable of passing a piano without striking up an acquaintance, gave the Talbot's much-abused instrument a jolly good, if brief, seeing-to. And will they return? You betcha - their annual pilgrimage to the Talbot clearly means as much to them as it does to us, and, happily, we're powerless to resist ...