Mick Hartley

I have to put up another Gillian Welch video today after her watching her performance at Hammersmith Apollo on Wednesday night (along with the PM, who at least has good taste in music). It's maybe worth stressing that it's really Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, because though she's the undoubted star, his contribution's essential to the sound – understated harmonies, but especially that fabulous guitar playing. It looks kind of ungainly, like he's hacking the music out of the instrument – all part of that raw Country ethos – but it's incredibly effective. The two of them come across very strongly as a unit when you see them live. Reviews here and here.

I've featured a couple of Gillian Welch tracks recently – The Way It Will Be, and The Way It Goes (from the album). Here they are from 2004, the last time they were in London, with Caleb Meyer:

They haven't changed much. His hair's shorter now and he wears a cowboy hat. Well, see for yourselves: here they are on Tuesday's Later, Live with Jools Holland, with The Way It Goes. 

At Hammersmith they featured a couple of unlikely numbers from outside their own compositions: Jackson - yes, that Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra song. [As an aside, I've always thought the original writers missed a trick by not using the lyric, instead of "I'm gonna snowball Jackson", "I'm gonna stonewall Jackson". See? Stonewall Jackson? Oh well, maybe not.] And, as a final encore, an extraordinary version of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit….in case we thought they were all about Country doom and angst. A great show. 

Tonight's Later with Jools Holland promises a couple of songs from them.