One would imagine that the cross over between the hoary old rocker and up and coming UK country markets is rather slim, and yet on an otherwise uneventful Wednesday evening #TEAMw21 find themselves at the Half Moon. The main act, Robert Hart and Dave "Bucket" Colwell are playing under the banner "formerly of Bad Company" - not necessarily from their Paul Rogers heyday but a later incarnation. Regardless of that they had pulled in a respectable crowd and who was the person allocated to warm up the crowd? - none other than her very own Isabella Coulstock.
In a somewhat turbulent spring / summer we'd been unable to keep up with Isabella's exploits so it was serendipity that aligned the stars so that we could catch up and an inbuilt curiosity to see how she would fare against what was potentially very much an away crowd. Taking to the stage with a glorious tan, that made her bright smile almost light up the room and armed with her trusty guitar - her battle to win the rock fans over would commence.
With a crowd almost totally oblivious to her catalogue Isabella had free reign to play anything. She opened with a Mexican, Spanish sounding tune with a most authentic "Senorita" pronunciation that we though she must have conjured up while catching the rays for her tan - but no - as she finished she smiled and announced it to be one of her favourite Elton John songs! Not Candle In The Wind, or "Your Song" but "60 Years On" from his eponymous 1970 album. There is little room for Isabella to rise even higher in our esteem yet that moment surely did it! Finishing on a perfectly extended note she had immediately sent us on a mission to dig out the original.
Lifting the pace and keeping the Mexican link going she burst into "Nice Ain't A Good Colour For Me". Smiling throughout and occasionally wandering from the microphone to peruse out into the crowd, The Chaz Jankel co write "Broken" sounded superb in its original stripped back format with Isabella able to generate so much impetus from just an acoustic guitar and her expressive vocal.
What seemed an adventurous step was to then to embark on "The Riverside", one of her most considered and quiet songs. It ran the risk of having the magical world that it creates potentially ruined by audience chatter, yet it seemed to bewitch and becalm the onlooking crowd and played out to complete pin drop silence. Once again mixing up the pace came "Fast" with its cleverly constructed chorus, leading to the final word payoff. We'd forgotten quite how dark the opening to her GCSE creation "Outlaw" was, that leads her on the path to murder and a life on the run!
The audience had probably arrived expecting to song their hearts out to "Feel Like Makin' Love", surely they would never have imagined themselves declaring that they were there for some "Honky Tonk Beer", yet that was what came to pass and it must be said, sung with some gusto as well as some additional clapping. Closing out with the song written as a 13 year old, the excellent "Crazy Cowboy* this seeming Mission Impossible was now complete with an audience totally won over, warmed up and now ready to rock for the rest of the night.
As ever Isabella has much in her diary including a string of dates with Nick Heyward and a headline full band show band in December at the Fiddler's Elbow and hopefully some new recorded material - Do not miss
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