Emma Rugg's Directions Tour (1/2) By Steve Rudd

(1/2), (2/2).

It's fair to say that it has been relatively quiet on the Emma Rugg front over the past couple of years. I, for one, thought she'd relocated to the United States in the wake of the Directions Tour she undertook there with Henry Doss in 2007. Having first made contact through the BBC radio show Raw Talent in 2003, Emma had visited Henry in the states on a couple of occasions prior to heading over to hit the road with him. An incredibly gifted American singer-songwriter who hails from North Carolina, Henry is a former banker who 'returned' to music in 1999 after thirty years 'away'. The proud bearer of two astounding albums, Henry's music is liberally laced with elements of Country and Rock, underpinned by upbeat melodies which are easy on the ears.

As for Emma, she has been penning and performing music for over ten years, having taught herself to play guitar in 1998. Remarkably, she funded the recording of her debut album by busking come rain or shine on the mean streets of Hull. Released through her own record label - Indreams - it deservedly received widespread acclaim upon its eagerly anticipated release.

It was immediately evident that her epic, acoustic-anchored tales of love and loss could be easily related to, the darkness of her emotionally mature lyrics lunging straight for the jugular. Her supremely versatile voice has always ensured that even her most heartbreaking songs can still be uplifting.

Impossible to pigeonhole, Emma loathes her music being described as 'Folk music'. Should you really listen to it, and listen hard, you'll realise that there is nothing 'Folky' about her music in any respect. 'I'd rather it be described as "Anti-Folk" if anything,' she confesses. Unconsciously straddling a multitude of genres, her music is experimental yet catchy, alternative but accessible. Her lush melodies never fail to engage, while the raw passion dominating her vocal performances is naturally intoxicating. The fact that her 'MySpace' page has received over 100,000 hits - a staggering amount for an unsigned artist - is testament to Emma's talents. Interested to see what publicity would come of them jumping in Henry's car and stalking the highways and byways between innumerable towns and cities in the northeast of America, Emma left the UK on March 27, 2007. She returned on May 9.

In the interim, Emma and Henry gigged and travelled between venues on almost a daily basis, their debut performance taking place in Jefferson, North Carolina. It might have been April Fool's Day, but there was no fooling the folk down at West Jefferson Golf Club. Emma's and Henry's musical and vocal interplay left the captive audience speechless. A few days later they were treading the proverbial boards of The Acoustic Coffee House in Johnson City. Having temporarily fled North Carolina, they were eager to see how their songs were received by folk in Tennessee. It was the state in which Henry had been born, and the omens were good, the formidable strength of their collective vocal performances and melodies silencing any wannabe critics.

Emma and Henry then returned to North Carolina in order to play a series of universally well-received shows in Charlotte and East Asheville before they excitedly edged into the state of Virginia. Playing at a wide variety of venues which took the form of chilled-out bookstores, cosmopolitan cafes and rowdy bars, Emma and Henry wound up exposing their music to a true cross-section of the American public, having the privilege to talk to many of their new found fans after each respective show.

Emma took her camcorder wherever she went, shooting over six hours of footage which she has somehow managed to edit down into twelve Internet-friendly episodes, all of which boast a running time of approximately eight or nine minutes.

Effortlessly encapsulating what it's like to go on tour, this documentary wields a perfect balance of music and behind-the-scenes fun, with Emma eager to introduce viewers to some of the genuinely extraordinary characters they met as they pounded the wide open roads and music-hungry venues of America into submission. After exiting North Carolina, the pair made their presence felt in Michigan, playing shows in Traverse City and Detroit. They subsequently concluded their tour with a gig at New York's home of Anti-Folk: The Sidewalk Cafe.

By default, a superb selection of both Emma's and Henry's music is featured in the documentary, live footage culled from their gigs popping up between 'interviews'. Having never played proper shows together before, it was fortunate that their singing and guitar-playing styles couldn't have been better suited.

Chopping and changing their set-list on a nightly basis, Emma and Henry duly played a smattering of their own songs in their own time, on their own terms, yet Emma also learnt a clutch of Henry's songs to enable them to collaborate to stunning effect at some points during their shows. Naturally, the bulk of the material Emma aired came from her mesmerising debut album Isolated Impression and her Oceans/Depart EP, with live performances of the understated magnificence of Oceans, the dark sincerity of Grand Designs, and the entrancing Floor 8 striking rousing chords in episodes two, four and nine respectively.

Continued .... Next Page (2/2)

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