What fun we had! Mike Compton & Joe Newberry returned to the USA this week after more than a fortnight in the UK, where they wowed audiences across the country and made lots of new friends. After a great reception for their first duo show at Celtic Connections festival, they travelled from Scotland to London and back via Wales, with sold-out shows across the country including Dundee, Sheffield, Frodsham and New Mills. Here’s a little extract from a fantastic write-up by the friendly folks over at Visit New Mills, who organised the concert there along with High Street Books & Records. These guys are doing great work in putting on live music in the heart of their community, and were blown away by Joe and Mike’s fabulous musicianship:
Wow, what an evening – a full house at St George’s Church with Compton and Newberry, supported by Emilie Lee. Did you miss it or are were you there for what was one of the most sensational events in New Mills for many a year? No-one who saw it would be in any doubt that there wasn’t a better show anywhere in the UK last night. If you’ve seen the recent publicity you’ll know that the legendary Mike Compton has a Grammy, Joe Newberry is a songwriter and player of repute and at St Georges they showed us, in typically unassuming style, just what all the fuss was about. Everyone knew this was the real deal the moment the first notes soared out over this congregation of music lovers. They promised to come back but we hoped they’d never leave. New Mills can be more than proud of itself for securing this show, our place on the musical map is assured. Here’s to many more nights like this.
Thanks to all the hardworking promoters and music friends who supported the tour by putting on concerts and buying tickets – I received positive comments and reviews from so many people. I managed to squeeze in a quick interview with Joe while they were with us in Yorkshire, so look out for that soon. Hopefully this superb duo will be back over to the UK in early 2018, so keep your eyes peeled for news on that later in the year! In the meantime, check out this lovely clip posted by the good folks up in Moniaive, of Compton & Newberry’s performance of Joe’s original song I Know Whose Tears…