Review: Rhiannah Warm & Tony Floyd Kenna, Live And Acoustic.

I met Rhiannah Warm in Belfast at the end of August when she and her friend Christine Robinson kindly gave me a lift from Van Morrison’s concert on Cyprus Avenue to the post-gig party at the Park Avenue Hotel. I knew Rhiannah was a musician so a few days later out of curiosity I looked on youtube and found a video of her and her friends playing in O’Donaghues in Dublin in the very seats where I had been sitting just a few days before. I liked what I heard and recently Rhiannah told me they had a new CD coming out so I ordered a copy which arrived two days ago. I must say it is a most enjoyable CD as well. On opening the package the first thing I thought was that I really liked the artwork by John A Rubery which is very attractive. The sleeve notes tell us that the album was recorded live at Ram Alley Studio in Belfast in September. There is practically no post-production so I would imagine that this is exactly how they would sound if you heard them live in a club.

The first track is called Light And Shade and written by Tony. He is an excellent guitarist and sings the lead vocals on this track. I am pleased to say that all the songs on this album are original. There are no cover versions which shows how clever they are. The next song was a collaboration of Rhiannah & Tony called My Bones Belong In This Place which demonstrates what a good vocalist Rhiannah is. The following song Cold Lonely Nights was written by Rhiannah and is one of my favourite songs on the album. It is quite up-tempo and driven along by Tony’s guitar work. The next four songs were all written by Tony. The first of which is Suzanne Vega’s Eyes. Tony sings this one and the lyrics are quite humorous. Rhiannah’s vocals are very soulful on the next track, My Man Blues. Her bluesy voice also excels on All The Colours which to begin with reminded me of ‘Motherless Child’. It is a complete change of mood when Tony takes the lead on Bought And Sold. The quite angry social commentary of the lyrics show what a good songwriter he is. The next track was written by Warm/ Cunningham and shows that like Van the man Rhiannah can sing any genre of music with the country flavoured Texas Plates. This is a very enjoyable pop song and probably the most immediately accessible song on the album. The final song is their homage to Belfast written by Kenna/Mannah McMeeken called Belfast, City Of Life which ends the album on a very optimistic high note.

I must say I have really enjoyed listening to this music on a dark rainy Saturday afternoon and if you ever get the chance to see Rhiannah Warm & Tony Floyd Kenna at a folk club or a festival then I urge you to go along. I certainly would.

You can visit Rhiannah & Tony's Facebook page here-
https://www.facebook.com/Tony-Floyd-Kenna-Rhiannah-Warm

To order the album you can contact them on Facebook or visit the website here-

https://tonyrhiannahbluesrock.wordpress.com/