Preview

With her sultry voice and riveting presence, Lisa Mills has been compared to many but is matched by few - she's been dubbed 'a modern-day Janis Joplin', very appropriate when you consider that she's frequently fronted Joplin's legendary former band, Big Brother & The Holding Company.

Lisa Mills grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where her early heroes were Elvis Presley and Brenda Lee; later influences were Chaka Khan, Bonnie Raitt, and Aretha Franklin. As a full-time mother, her music had to take a back seat for 15 years, but she also found the time to gain a fine arts degree in sculpting.

Lisa's recently been recording with top UK band The Big Time Playboys along with Jeff Beck, Andy Fairweather-Low, Robert Plant (with whom she's toured USA and Europe), and Jools Holland; and her 2004 UK visit includes a tour supporting Jeff Beck and an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival. She's accompanied at the Talbot by blues bass demon Ian Jennings and vocalist Mo Birch.

'You should all check her out - she has a wonderful voice' - Robert Plant

Gwenno: Having already travelled the world with Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance show and starred in the S4C soap Pobol Y Cwm, Gwenno decided to concentrate on her musical career. Since being signed-up by Caernarfon record label Crai she has released 2 EP's titled 'Môr Hud', and her latest, 'Vodya'.

The critical acclaim that these recordings achieved was reflected at the 2002 Welsh Music Awards in Cardiff when she won Best Newcomer at the Dance Award night, and Best Video at the Rock and Pop Award night.

Review

A fine, larger-than-expected crowd turned out to see an all-female bill (notwithstanding Ian Jennings backing Lisa Mills on bass) consisting of two very different performers. First up, from Cardiff, was 24-year-old Gwenno. Wearing a very fetching hat and seated at the piano, her appearance suited the rather quirky nature of her mostly self-penned material.

Opening her short support set with an ode to our increasingly follicly challenged PM, ‘Tony Blair is Losing His Hair’, she displayed not only a strong melodic sense, pithy lyrics (The Beautiful South could be one of her reference points), a fine voice and neat piano skills, but also great linguistic capability, performing in English, Welsh and Cornish! The Cornish part comes from her father, like daughter a native speaker, and lyricist of the lovely ‘Vodya’ (‘Leaving’). A talent definitely to keep an eye on, her set was over almost too soon. We shall keep a beady eye on her career......

The opposite of the formally attired Welsh songstress, a denim-clad Lisa Mills, from Mobil, Alabama, took the stage with the aforementioned Big Town Playboys’ Ian Jennings on upright bass, and immediately showed us just why Robert Plant is such a big fan. Lisa’s voice has to be one of the greatest instruments ever to grace the Talbot stage. By turns powerful and soaring, then soft and vulnerable, it could not come from anywhere except the Southern States: it is authentic in every way.

Underpinned by a simple, uncluttered guitar technique, and driven along by the diminutive Jennings, with some sensational bass licks, she just blew the audience away with a set that consisted of a mix of originals – a particular stand-out was ‘I’m Changing’, a beautiful ballad about the pain of a relationship reaching its end, and some classic soul and blues from some of the greats. Among these, an astonishing a capella version of Carole King’s ‘Natural Woman’ made the hairs on the back of the neck stand to attention, and demonstrated how perfectly pitched her voice is. On ‘Dock of the Bay’ (again sung a capella during a small technical hitch) she got the audience to give their tonsils a workout, and brought smiles to our faces.

Lisa has that incredibly rare gift of the best blues/gospel singers to effortlessly gear-shift from a low moan to full-throated blues wail, without ever losing musicality. The evening was a pure joy and one that will simply have to be repeated in the not-too-distant future.

Oh, and if anyone in the audience thought they spied Martin and Toby Levan from Red Kite clambering around the stage, they were right. Due to some unforeseen contractual difficulties with a couple of artists, we have decided to record another couple of gigs, so if you happened to miss Lisa at the Talbot, you may be able to catch up with her on the CD.