Gretchen Peters, Sage Gateshead

GRAMMY winner and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Peters brought her latest batch of songs to a venue where she is no stranger. Peters put the audience and herself at ease the moment she walked on stage to announce how she had missed playing in the UK last year, due to working on her new album Blackbirds.

Her singing voice is a good one, but it is her songwriting that is her greatest strength. With her husband, Barry Walsh helping out on harmony vocals and sharing a little magic on piano and accordion the foundation was well and truly set.

Peters, who Walsh announced mid-way through the evening, had recently gained a prestigious entry into Nashville Singer-songwriter Hall Of Fame showed us just why. On studying the hits she has written, and others that have seen covers, and quality of material Peters’ resume is hugely impressive.

She picked up the pace a little, which I felt was needed due to the material starting to become predictable as the finale curtain drew near. Juggling it around in clever fashion the first inkling came when she turned to a more urgent Woman On The Wheel.

With her descriptive lyrics, and old favourites Independence Day and Bus To St. Cloud in her war chest, and inspired choice for her encore her fans went home walking on air.

With both artist, and audience keen to show their appreciation it was of no surprise Peters’ encore spanned three songs. As a rousing cover of Rodney Crowell’s Ain’t Living Long Like This, and beautifully worked duet version with Walsh of John Prine’s humour-filled In Spite Of Ourselves ended the evening perfectly.

Maurice Hope