Hollie Turner shot down to The Kitchen Garden Cafe to catch Guy Jones and Natalie Shay! Here's her review and pictures for you to enjoy!
19 year old BRIT School derived Natalie Shay, is a young, fresh faced, acoustic artist from London. She has a confidence and an energy that makes you instantly like her.
She sang her way through her original 7 song set with ease. It was short but sweet, with angst and emotion in all the right places.
‘This Feeling’ is her new single, it’s a cool, poppier upbeat number in the set that Natalie flips her hair back and forth in style to. The Kitchen Garden Cafe feels like the right setting for this free spirit. She has a beautiful vocal range which encourages people to applaud as she belts out the higher notes amidst her quiet and more emotional moments. Natalie accompanies Ben’s set with the same welcoming attitude to her audience, chatting and giving short stories of how she came to writing each of her songs which makes for a great warm up to the headline set.
Like a few people I’d assume, this was the first time I’d heard of Guy Jones. A folk, acoustic singer/songwriter from Birmingham.
His music has previously been showcased by the likes of BBC Introducing, from which he managed to gain some of his loyal fan base who appeared from various different areas of the country, and even Norway to watch his show at The Kitchen Garden Cafe tonight. Guy is a really interesting character. For example, in 2015 he launched a crowd funding page in order to go to New York to record his first full length album. Within two months, the target was exceeded and as a thank you, Guy played 2 weeks worth of exclusive private shows to contributors. Knowing this, I already had a respect for this guy.
He clearly knows about hard work, and loyalty.
Guy chatted to the crowd, and like Natalie, told of how he came to writing his songs. It was nice to learn a little bit more of who he was, where he came from and about his loves. ‘Down Right Easy’ was a personal favourite of mine, taken from his 2016 album ‘Kicking Stones’. It has a country feel to it which is a breathe of fresh air, an upbeat track, with a melancholy undertone.
Guy mentioned how he felt like he hadn’t played in a long time to a live audience, as recently he’s been speaking a lot to camera in live sessions that he’s been putting out. He thanked people for keeping up and supporting those.
Overall, this was a really nice, intimate show in a unique venue with two artists who gave an unforgettable night of authentic music.
You can catch these two on tour at the following dates:
