Folk ‘n’ rollers: Gigspanner Big Band with Raynor Winn, author of the bestseller The Salt Path

Saltlines: Gigspanner Big Band with Raynor Winn
at the Oxford Playhouse
on Friday, May 24

Coming to Basingstoke and Marlborough this week

Review by JON LEWIS

Folk ‘n’ Rollers

The idea for Saltlines, a concert by Gigspanner Big Band alongside Raynor Winn, the author of the 2018 bestselling book The Salt Path, came from the wife of folk violinist Peter Knight, formerly of Steeleye Span. She was inspired by the true story of a couple overcoming a mortal illness and homelessness caused by a failed business deal by walking the South West Coastal Path. ‘The lady said yes’, to the joint project, Knight explains and Saltlines became reality.

The evening begins with the sound of rollers crashing onto the shore and seagulls crying. An overture of the Cadgwith Anthem merges seamlessly into Winn’s introductory poetic prose informing us that ‘we are all made of salt’, that there’s salt in every breath, salt influences life and what we are about to hear are our saltlines. The first number, Shower and Sunshine, sung gorgeously by Edgelark’s Hannah Martin, her voice plunging and rising that simultaneously appears modern and ancient, sets the standard for an evening of musical splendour. Playing violin, viola and banjo, she performs alongside her Edgelarks partner Phillip Henry on his slide guitar and in a couple of numbers, his harmonica.

Gigspanner’s other members, Roger Flack on guitar and Sacha Trichet on percussion, and Knight’s duo partner, melodeon and concertina megastar John Spiers of Bellowhead, all have their moments to shine. It’s rare to hear Spiers sing, but he helms the second song, the gentle Lemonday, a love song about birds and a posy of flowers that is wrapped around Winn’s homage to the flora of the South West, The Last Stronghold. When she mentions types of bees feeding off the flowers, ‘no extinction in the last stronghold’, the sound of violins magically conjures up the buzzing. At this point, the concert becomes a theatrical event, the songs a swirling, awesome wall of sound. Winn tells of different people in the region – knitters, a surfer, a homeless man, whilst the band’s hypnotic repertoire includes songs about Padstow, Helston and Brixham, but also of foreign influences – France, and India. The penultimate song, sung by Martin, Salt Song, beautifully encapsulates the themes of walking and salt. Incredible.

NB Saltlines is touring to the Haymarket Basingstoke on Wednesday 29 May and the Memorial Hall Marlborough College on Thursday 30 May