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A lot of brilliant art, poetry and history comes from Wales (including, if I may add, in an unwitting, yet quite serendipitous moment-the quite apt naming of my maternal family farm through my great-grandfather Rowland Hill Kay, when he found a sign in a yard sale which read “Fern Hill”- unbeknownst to Rowland-this happened to be the title of a poem by world renowned Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas (spoken of later here) which quite astonishingly turned out to be a poem of wistful longing and looking back to a period before “Time held me green and dying” to being “young and easy among the apple boughs about the lilting house and happy as the grass was green” (“Fern Hill” was the perfect title for a farm which has passed through the maternal side of the family (including my mother happily growing up among the green fields, Grandpa’s veggie patch and that farmhouse with very low doorways and high roofs) for generations…a place where a lot of good happy memories live to look back on for comfort)- anyway thank you reader, for allowing a bit of personal nostalgia…back to this review…)
The art and literature of Wales extends to music through perhaps one of Wales most well known and influential (rightly so) poets and writers of the 20th Century in Dylan Thomas. The relationship between Wales, Dylan Thomas, radio (through his pioneering radio play “Under Milk Wood”) and then music trickles through to one of the 20th Century’s music history’s most enigmatic and brilliant songwriters who happened to change his name from Robert Zimmerman to the more widely known name Bob Dylan (after Dylan Thomas)
In our current indie community there has been an exemplary artist whose acoustic influenced music and spectacular storytelling style inspires the vast majority of us and his support of others alongside him has been appreciated and needs recognition here as well. I speak here of indie multi instrumentalist and exceptional songwriter Andy Carr-of whom we can say carries on the traditions here within his songwriting style which Bob Dylan begun and continues to bring.
We come to a piece of musical storytelling recounting the sense of relief when the time spoken of in this song finally arrives- a time when you can live fully- “When The Weekend Comes”. Originally appearing on “The Critch Cratch Tracks Volume One” of which first arrived on streaming services during 2024 and written around 15 years earlier-this song is one of those from Andy which really does sum up his music and style. Beginning with an assured count off…we’re led into an acoustic beauty with sold percussive backing (including tambourine, what sound like bongos (may be congas) and a bass drum) from drummer Andy Richardson as there’s some quite delightful and satisfying guitar runs and melodic lines to weave around, with a solid bass guitar line- a great musical background to paint some stunning lyrical vocals (it seems here there’s another tradition of Dylan Thomas when the drinking references begin to seep in to celebrate that time when the weekend comes) I do like the lyrical line during the refrain (which does remind me in a subtle way of the themes conveyed in “Soul Kitchen” by the Doors) “get the same old feeling I don’t want to go home.”
Then the final stanza in the refrain which conveys this feeling that once the weekend comes, it’ll be alright- “Got to Work in the morning cause you gotta survive…when the weekend comes-I Feel Alive”
With all the instrumentation going on here played with real emotion and feeling, this song would be the perfect opening song for a live performance (especially (and quite obviously) on or around the weekend…) or a fantastic set closer. In all this is a brilliant example of the quality of music that Andy Carr is capable of delivering. Another indie artist we can be inspired by and who helps make us proud to be a part of this music community of ours.
