Sam Holmes and Phil King Gig Review

Regulars at The Beehive in Swindon were given a real treat on the 17th of September when not one but two local artists performed there. Sam Holmes from Cheltenham and Phil King from Bristol literally blew the regular Beehive crowd away with their collection of songs.

With her soft delicate voice, reminiscent of Jewel, Sam Holmes performed a number of self penned songs some freshly written and hot off the press and others which feature on her self titled demo album. Sam sang songs written about her parents as well as a song called Charlie which was written about ‘a lady of the night’ and how unhappy she looked when Sam first came across her. Sam effortlessly weaves together a clever blend of folk, pop and modern country giving her a unique and quite beautiful sound. Sam gave a rousing performance of a new song called Parade, a definite hit for the future as well as a superb rendition of a quirky number called Fool For Love. Sam’s voice has a wonderful dreamy quality about it yet she still manages to get the message contained in her songs across to the audience. Sam performed a fantastic folk song based on a traditional playhouse song, called The Drowned Lover. Her singing talents really shone out whilst singing this sad yet rather lovely number. Sam gave the song plenty of emotion and a style all of her own. There were echoes of Kate Rusby or Bill Jones in the room when Sam performed this song.

As the evening wore on more and more people appeared at The Beehive all anxious to hear Sam and Phil. With both artists receiving plenty of rapturous applause.

Phil King was outstanding vocally and in his ability to play the guitar. A truly wondrous man! Phil’s music is hard to pigeon hole as it covers such a vast array of styles. On his quieter heart felt numbers he sounded similar to James Morrison yet on his rowdy foot tapping numbers comparisons could be made to Hal Ketchum or Delbert McClinton and on his blues/jazz numbers I felt I was listening to a guitar wielding Jamie Cullum. It was this exciting mix of styles and sounds that made Phil’s music both thrilling to listen to and so memorable because you never know what is coming next. Phil performed a number of tracks from his debut album Leaves as well as some new material. He gave a brilliant performance of a song entitled – Orion as well as a heart felt performance of a slower number entitled Smiling Eyes. Phil has real charisma and it oozes out of every pore when he is on stage performing. On completion of his second set of numbers The Beehive crowd begged wildly for more and more they got in the form of another loud foot taping number.

Both artists have yet to make the big time but surely with quality songs and performances like this it cannot be long before someone out there spots them and propels them into the limelight. Both artists have bags of talent and sound great live. Definitely worth catching if you get the chance!