I first really came across Phil when he was part of the wonderful musical backdrop (alongside Benji and Will Bower) to Sally Cookson’s equally wonderful ‘Jane Eyre’ (at the Bristol Old Vic and the National Theatre)… which also featured a certain Mr Felix Hayes!
At that stage, I was very aware that Phil had a brilliant voice and played the guitar beautifully!! Since then, I’d been given a copy of his excellent CD ‘The Wreakage’ and seen him perform in the Colston Hall Foyer… and suddenly realised what a multi-talented singer-songwriter he is.
Last Saturday’s gig marked the launch of his new CD ‘Phil King Live’ (recorded at Bristol’s Wardrobe Theatre). I was already familiar with probably half of the songs… but his one-man performance last week underlined just how good he is – the quality of the songs… the voice… the musicianship (and he's a really nice bloke too!).
He’s got it all.
I’ve heard people describe him as a bit like a cross between Damien Rice and John Martyn. I certainly wouldn’t disagree with this, but also felt there were similarities with Ray LaMontagne (although Phil’s got a better voice!)… So, it was rather nice that (finding that the Folk House had its very own piano) he decided to sing a LaMontagne song (‘Burn’) just before the interval… and I’ve attached a link to the actual video of him performing it (hope he doesn’t mind me downloading it from his facebook page).
As you’ll see/hear, it was excellent…
just like the rest of the brilliant evening.
