SINGLE REVIEW: SUSANNAH CLEGG - PROSPECT STREET
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
On paper the thought of a young girl from Lancaster, singing songs about mining, to a traditional style of playing, seems an unlikely route to success, yet no artist has made quite the impression on #TEAMw21 this summer as Susannah Clegg. She is another of those artists who is relatively shy off stage yet give her a guitar and microphone, or as at Buckle n Boots, don't even bother with the microphone and she transforms into a super confident performer with a booming voice.
It's not just #TEAMw21 that thinks so either, Susannah's Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for her debut album met its target within a week, which bring us to "Prospect Street" the opening single from that campaign,
The cover is perhaps not the most flattering it could be, Susannah is wearing her trademark hat , eyes closed, clearly in the zone while performing, with her mouth mostly covered by the microphone. It is very much what you get when you see her live, as indeed is her sound, had it been recorded 60 or even 80 years earlier, it probably would have sounded exactly the same!
Prospect Street itself, seems a modest distance from the Infirmary to keep the old time theme going and runs parallel to Hope Street - all good names to inspire a songwriter however if all this talk of Hope & Prospect has you expecting an upbeat outlook on future happy times then you really need to get to know Susannah a little better.
The opening is pure classic country, a solid guitar intro followed by the arrival of a fiddle
Susannah is able to ooze bleakness and the songs narrator counteracts the optimism of the street name with her own tale of woe.
"I walked down this road, a hundred times or more
If these stones could speak of hurting, they'd just weep
Now there stands a house, where once there was a home
Now there's nothing to be found on Prospect Street"
Susannah goes on to describe the person at the root of the problem, whose actions have left her so bereft.
"His hair of copper, his heart of gold
Her ring of silver, has turned my heart to stone" the final word stretched to its limits bringing us to the chorus
"My lover now he's gone,
He left me all alone
Now there's nothing left but heartache
To be found on Prospect Street"
There is a stunning simplicity to just letting good players play, and the bass, fiddle guitar combo are a delight on the instrumental break.
"He had never said he was not mine to claim
and his words went to my head like something sweet
Now loneliness is the only address that I have to my name
Now you won't find me here on Prospect Street"
The final take on the chorus, give a suggestion of the vocal power that Susannah brings to her live performances, it threatens to break out of the speakers it is so powerful.
Susannah Clegg is one of the many acts at Country Calling - Chelmsford Aug 14-16th
