S.O.B. This is a mighty fine festival. Black Deer Festival Rocks to the sweet sounds of Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats at the end of a fantastic day of quality Americana.
Words and Photos – John Hayhurst
Near Royal Tunbridge Wells is a little know state of Americana called Black Deer and the residents here know how to hoedown, from the moment Rob Heron steps out on the main stage to Nathaniel Rateliff closing the evening it was fun in the scorching sun all day. This music never sounded so good set within a beautiful parkland setting and the quality produced stage sets.
CMAT were full of fun, Kelly Jones and his ‘Far From Saints’ project fitted perfectly in the vibe, expertly covering ‘Stop Dragging My Heart Around’ and playing somenew tracks fromthe debut album only released today.
Elsewhere the sweet sounds of This is the Kit enchanted an audience on the Ridge (2nd Stage). Kurt Vile looked overawed on the main stage, but his introverted blues based tracks went down well here and that left us with Nathaniel Rateliff who effortlessly got this hoedown properly started. S.O.B at the closing stages of his set was a sublime example of good time rock n roll.
This is only day 1 of Black Deer and with Chrissie Hynde and Bonnie Raitt due on stage tonight, this is building into a special weekend and establishing this festival to be a main part of my summer season.
