Devon Sproule - Live In London

It seems Devon Sproule inhabits a hall of 1,000 people just as gracefully as she does a dive bar.  Live in London, the 28-year-old's first live record, includes a 10-song CD and 8-song DVD: 18 performances that showcase Sproule's equally powerful and nuanced style.  "Sproule's songs ooze the atmosphere of balmy Virginia days," wrote The Observer. "She grew up in a commune in the state - and her sunny outlook is infectious."  Scattered between songs on the DVD are video clips of Devon and the band in their tour van, backstage dancing, drinking, ribbing, & lamenting petrol put in a diesel tank. "I asked God for a good man. /  But I forgot to say, / 'I wanna see him everyday.'" On many of the tracks Paul Curreri shares sonic space with pedal steel guru BJ Cole.  "Plea for a Good Night's Rest," the solo opener from Sproule's 2003 record Upstate Songs, grows from a delicate cradle into a billowing heart-to-heart between Cole's steel and Sproule's voice.   "Ain't that The Way" puts the entire band to work as singers, carrying the counter melody sung on Don't Hurry by fellow-Virginian Jesse Winchester.  Curreri momentarily shrugs off his throat woes to duet with Sproule on the desert-bluesy rendering of Black Uhuru's "Sponji Reggae."  Throughout, Coventry-based rhythm section G Vaughan (drums) and Andy Whitehead (bass) provide a solid, ingeniously subtle support. For the folkies who saw Sproule's first tour of the UK, supporting Woodstock legend Richie Havens, Live in London is just as much a showcase for
Sproule's idiosyncratic, highly original songwriting as it is a platform for her compelling band, which also includes viola and violin from Vince Sipprell and Emma Smith (Elysian Quartet).
Sproule's previous UK release, Keep Your Silver Shined, proved an indie hit for her Coventry-based label Tin Angel Records (Black Carrot, Danny Schmidt, Baby Dee, Mantler, Polarbear, DON'T MOVE!, and more).  The album topped year-end lists, & landed her a spot on Later...with Jools Holland. Paste Magazine called it "The sexiest, sultriest southern album since Lucinda's Car Wheels on A Gravel Road."

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