Friday 30th March, fearing I would be stuck in rush hour traffic, I thought I would leave early for the short trip up the motorway aiming for The Stables in Wavendon. Plain sailing all the way and the only queues I saw were those people still convinced there would be a fuel crisis, clearly they hadn’t heard the news to stop panicking.

Tonight is one of my highlights of the year with a Sold Out visit from Judie Tzuke, someone I had followed since day one and have seen on many occasions and always love seeing at this special venue. In fact I first discovered The Stables due to Judie playing there, in those days it was a much the small venue, where if you were in the front row you could put your feet up on the stage (actually if you were tall enough and in the back row you could put your feet on the stage, it was that small.)

So arriving early and getting the usual warm welcome, reserved for everybody not just regulars like me, gave me the time for a chat with some old friends before the 8pm start and the support of the evening from Bailey Tzuke. Bailey’s singing and her own compositions have matured over the years from when she first appeared with her Mum and ironically the first time I saw them together was here at The Stables on the first ever Bob Harris Introduces shows, Tonight she was joined by Judie’s backing band and she sang and swayed her way through her 30 minute set with ease.

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So the sun was out yesterday and for me a trip to London was on the cards, I’ve not really been up to the smoke for over a year so I thought I would put the tourist hat on rather than trawl around the shop, well I’ve not got the money to spend either. The other reason to go was to check out The Station Sessions I’ve mentioned before and seeing that Eliza Shaddad a Scottish and Sudanese singer-songwriter, based in London,was due to play, it’s  a good enough excuse to hang around and catch the later train home.

I’ve seen Eliza before as she’s a frequent visitor to Bedford Live events at Esquires in Bedford, but this would also be the first time to get hold of her first 4! track EP. Playing in the busy concourse at St Pancras International Station, with all the usual noise and bustle and Tanoy announcements of rush hour traffic, you would have thought would be off putting, but not for Eliza who carried on regardless as if oblivious to what was around, though still engaging with the crowd that slowly gathered happy to delay there journey home, just to stop and listen for half an hour and looking at people buying the EP at the end of her set they clearly wanted to take a piece of her home too.

A stroke of genius to place a music stage, at rush hour, in a International rail terminus, let’s hope this helps spread the word of some of the great unsigned music that is available and look out for Eliza’s video session amoung many found on their site.

So check out Eliza if you can, she’s a regular at The Gallery Bar in West Hampstead (singing of course) and track down the CD or download it via her Bandcamp page, it is rather good.

There is a video for one of the tracks A Good Man which was filmed and edited all on a mobile phone by Eliza and follows her recent trip to Scandinavia – it’s really clever what you can do now.

The last few times Richmond Fontaine played for Empty Room Promotions was last year at The Bullingdon and the 2010 sell out at Tingewick Village Hall, both with the full band. So I was not too sure how they would come over as a duo, lead singer / songwriter Willy Vlautin and guitarist Dan Eccles, well there was nothing to worry about here. By Willy’s own omission his song can often be dark and depressing, though always with a great narrative, I guess this is why he’s also a successful novel writer too. The breaks between song did allow Willy to tell some much lighter anecdotes of touring, people back home and living with band members, while Dan’s guitar playing and use of feedback really evoke the full band sound we all know. Not only did they dip into their current CD High Country they played many tracks from the past not often played with the band, including a song Don’t Go Back There, which although never originally recorded, but will soon be released on a re packaged album. So the hour and 40 minutes soon flew by.

Support for the evening was from Danny George Wilson from Danny and the Champions of the World. This was Danny’s third visit to Empty Rooms in 5 months and we joked he’ll soon be classed as our resident singer, still we have no problem with this and whether playing in a band or solo Danny, put on a great show, also to his credit he did finish off with one of my favourites These Days.

So a great evening in the company of three real gentlemen who are always welcome back.