LIVE REVIEW: COUNTRY CALLING FESTIVAL - MEGAN LEE - THE HOMESTEAD STAGE

Following on from Kier on the Homestead Stage, and keeping the standard high while flying the flag for what is known as "Classic Country" came Megan Lee. With hubby to be Tom Wright in tow, the twin acoustic guitar sound made for something different,a rootsy country ambience.

Megan with a flower in her hair would open with "Now You're Gone" from her 2023 "Origin" EP. With a strong country vocal style and a handily placed support for providing any required solo's, Megan would show that classic does not mean, not relevant

An unreleased song "Forever Mine" had a "Stray Cut Strut" rock n roll groove to it, and was equally s vibrant and a little steamy for a Saturday afternoon crowd!!

"I felt your breath gently on my neck

And I questioned my next steps

And the bitter consequence"

Excellent stuff, enhanced even more by one of Mr Telecaster's more acoustic solo's!

Greeting the death of Loretta Lynn by wearing black for 2 weeks, her take on "You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man" was duly respectful

Some song have classic potential written on them, even from just hearing a few bars, and Megan's "Situationship" song, "Break The Rules" was one of those. Beautiful melodies, delivered in an authentic style, with Tom adding additional vocals on the chorus, made for the sweetest of combinations.

A Tom Wright written duet followed called "Regret", with Megan and Tom's voices naturally blending to perfection. The sort of song that would not have sat out of place in the 1st Series of Nashville, this was as good as it gets, with the icing on the cake being more excellent guitar work.

Megan's announcement of a Tammy Wynette cover, did send a little nervous ripple around the audience, surely not "DIVORCE" before she was even married, and the lyrics to "Stand By Your Man" don't really stand up as well to the test of time. Megan having shown her credentials earlier pulled another masterstroke with "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad". Attributing her swaying playing style to trying to avoid a wasp, this would prove to be another reminder that classic country can still be rocking good fun, with Tom once again adding backing vocals, to Megan's perfect delivery.

Another unreleased song proved that Megan has many strings to her bow, with "Monster In Music" sounding more like the classic female singer songwriter sound of the Seventies. It was fleetingly short, or maybe #TEAMw21 were so engrossed time seemed to speed up - a quality tune to look for on any future Megan release.

A final return to the "Origin" EP would close out the set in style with "Church On A Sunday" a little bit of soulful country to close with. It afforded Megan the chance to project out some powerful extended notes and showed yet another side to this most enigmatic of performers and continued a stunning start to the Festival.