Homepage Site Map Performance Biography Dates Reviews
The Spitz London April, 2000 Making Music Magazine				david hughes live review
Odd cove Johnny 'folk' music, just when you think you couldn't possibly endure yet another evening in the company of some guitar-wielding troubadour trotting out more derivative 'real' music with about as much depth, soul and meaning as a week-old cup-a-soup, you pop your head into a venue (in this case the Spitz, whose increasingly excellent booking policy makes them one of London's better venues of the moment) and find yourself intrigued, amused and entertained by a man who understands that folk music is about far more than middle class navel gazing or fol-de-bloody-rol cheesy maypole bollocks. Frankly, it's hard to imagine why he's so little known, lyrically inventive, funny and as sharp as a newly-minted pin, Hughes also possesses a remarkably assured way with a guitar (ie, he can really play the bugger). Unfortunately, there's a song about football (but then that's down to my prejudices rather than any problems with the song), but the tributes to Bert Jansch and a cracking murder ballad concerning the demise of a kebab shop owner more than make amends. In an alternative world where 'folk' isn't a dirty word, David Hughes is probably very popular indeed. Andy Basire Music Editor