REVIEW

RODNEY BRANIGAN

Corn Exchange, Dorchester

THE man from Amarillo shows the way to play the guitar as people have never seen it before, a truly remarkable musician whose jaw-dropping performance in Dorchester kept the audience clung to their seats throughout the evening.

Texas-born Rodney plays not one but two guitars simultaneously and even creates a wholly convincing percussion sound as he strums the instrument framework with a beat that identifies him as a man born with music in his soul.

Totally likeable and amusing, he tells his life story as a boy in farming country who plays and sings his own compositions in the style of rock, rap, ballad and blues, bringing sweetness and sorrow into his harmonies then quickly changing to quick fire comedy and laughter, an amazing and hugely talented young man.

And just when you think you have seen it all, the American star produces a harmonica and in an instant he becomes a one-man band as he pounds out the beat with his feet and creates the sound of an entire orchestra all by himself.

With support in the first half of the show from Weymouth folk band Sandtimer, this was an evening that brought together a bunch of musicians who know just what they are doing and give excellent value for money in an informal and friendly atmosphere that makes you feel you have known them for a lifetime.

MARION COX