Karen Westerhout

@ The Marr's Bar, Worcester - 21/10/01

A quiet, acoustic night with Londoner, Karen Westerhout performing a set of original songs. Mainly sad songs, as Karen herself pointed out, but songs of quality and feeling. A small but appreciative audience were held almost spellbound by the lyrics and voice of a songstress relatively unknown outside the London area. I had heard that Karen came into the performing side of the music business almost by accident. Having, for some time, quietly strummed and picked away at her guitar and singing her songs to many inanimate objects like mirrors and the back of doors etc. at home, she happened across a small venue that was looking for some help in setting up a musical night. It would appear that the rest is history - what a very fortunate kind of accident that was!!

Karen reminded me a little of a youthful Joni Mitchell with a bit of traditional English folk thrown in for good measure. A more than competent performance with just her own guitar accompaniment and superb use of her excellent voice. She filled the gaps between songs with short bits of banter and even managed to cope with one 'arse' who'd over indulged in the amber fluid and wouldn't keep quiet.

The set started with 'Eagle Song' after which she admitted that it was the only song she'd written that almost had a happy ending. 'The Affair', 'I Am Not She', 'Dreams', 'Nothing To Fear' and the hauntingly beautiful, 'Beautiful View' were just some of the numbers included in tonight's set.

"How long have I got?" asked Karen towards the end of the set. To which Marzy, top geezer, owner type person replied, "Well I've got tomorrow off!" That just about summed up the feeling really. Just over one hour of crackin' songs performed impeccably by a charming lady with great talent. Of course, she wasn't allowed to just walk off and leave everyone spellbound; one encore followed.

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