"So there I was in Oslo. My record company promised me all the faces would come to meet me and I'd play to a packed house," says MICHAEL WESTON KING, by way of an introduction to great new song "Rosencrantz And Kristengate." "I ended up eating alone and playing to 12 people."
Oh God. There's a 'Spinal Tap' moment in everyone, and Michael seems to be having another one tonight, as Ireland's World Cup qualifier with Switzerland and an exodus of students from the city has conspired to whittle down his potential audience somewhat at The Lobby. You half expect Artie Fufkin to be manning the merchandise stall, actually.
But MWK has been around the block a few times, and tonight - with partner Lou Dalgliesh supplying keyboards and the sweetest of harmonies and maestro Alan Cook weighing in with the subtlest colourings of pedal steel, mandolin and dobro - he's not easily fazed and proceeds to remind the discerning why he remains one of the best, undersung singer/songwriters around.
It's hard to imagine that it's actually a decade now since King made his first album with pioneering English country rockers The Good Sons, but with a dynamite European 2CD compilation called "Cosmic Fireworks" just out and an inimitable solo back catalogue to his name, he has a deep, dark well of inspiration to draw from these days.
And he does so to great effect during an affecting and eclectic set. The trio kick off as they mean to carry on with the dramatic Hank Williams tribute "Higher Ground" and follow it up with "Tim Hardin '65", where Michael's lyric of formative years hero worship juxtaposes beautifully with present day reality and is tied up in ribbons of liquid silver from Cook's pedal steel.
Fine start, and they rightly proceed to treat us like "human guinea pigs" as they try out satisfying new songs such as the aformentioned "Rosencrantz...", the poppy and immediate "Here's The Plan" and "My Heart Stopped", which was apparently inspired by "being chased by a herd of wild deer in the Lake District" and comes on like a distant cousin of The Handsome Family's daffily emotional heartbreak.
Meanwhile, when King dips into his impressive back catalogue, it's clear he's become a writer/ observer with the tenacious fatalism of Richard Thompson. Many of his songs bravely take on subjects many singers would shy away from, such as Alzheimer's ( the achingly lovely "The Girl That Got Away" is even starker in this wholly acoustic setting), while the stench of frustration and failure wafts dangerously from the self-explanatory "Always The Bridesmaid." As ever, though, the darkness is tempered by the laconic wit of roadsongs like "The Englishman's Obsession with America #2" and their punchy cover of T-Bone Burnett's "Any Time At All."
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Fittingly, they make for the tape with Michael's dark'n'tender tribute to touring partner/ hero Townes Van Zandt in "Lay Me Down". The opening lines ("they buried me today in Corpus Christi/ to the sound of my hit from '74") still make your reviewer's neck hairs bristle, and with MWK and Lou hitting the chorus to perfection it's something else tonight, seguing into Townes' own prophetic "Waitin' Round To Die" before steering back for the final chorus. The Townes theme continues as they close with Van Zandt's "A Song For", which Michael suggests is "even darker than Dylan's "Not Dark Yet." He's not kidding, neither.
It's a hell of a way to wind down, but it's a tribute to the strength of King's dynamic performance and self-penned material that his own tunes are anything but dwarfed in the company of his exalted peers. Indeed, his show tonight reminded me of watching Billy Bragg casually toss his own tunes into a set of Woody Guthrie's material and come out on top.
It would be a crying shame if Michael Weston King remained on the small club cult hero circuit as his fantastic songs are drawn from enough rootsy integrity AND tuneful immediacy to connect with a wider audience. Still, Michael's philosophical about it all, as he says when he finishes off his introduction to "Rosencrantz And Kristengate": "Well, there were only 12 people in the audience, but I got to stay at this beautiful hotel called The Bristol. It could always be worse." Indeed it could. And while Michael Weston King's songs are out there, the silver linings are clearly visible.
(www.michaelwestonking.com )
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