Honey Ryder first came onto the music scene in 2008 as a duo. 8 years later they are still going however the line-up has changed a little with the departure of original member Martyn Shone. Lindsay O’Mahony the lead vocalist of the group remained and was joined by Matt Bishop and Jason Huxley to create the Honey Ryder we now know gracing the UK country music scene.
On Saturday night they joined a sold out crowd, Lisa Wright and Jess & the Bandits at The Little Rabbit Barn and put on a fantastic performance.
I have been a fan of the band since their beginning having caught them at a show in London all those years ago. I always enjoy seeing how artists grow and change and in this case it has done nothing but enhance the sound that was already there.
As they took to the stage Lindsay was sat in the middle with Matt on guitar and Jason on Mandolin, to start, either side of her. From the get go it was clear it was going to be a great performance. You could tell they were seasoned musicians as they seamlessly transitioned from note to note, chord to chord and song to song throughout their set. Their musicality was nothing less than what I had expected to hear and even on their slower numbers they had a way of keeping a rhythmic bounce within the song helping to drive it through from beginning to end. Jason joined Lindsay throughout the show on backing vocals and the tones of their voices complimented each other perfectly – I am a sucker for a good harmony!
Before they began their track ‘Marley’s Chains’, they talked a little about how they had first played that song on Terry Wogan’s radio show and paid tribute to the man who, in their words, was one of the nicest people in the industry.
As well as playing a great mix of old and new original material, the trio played a couple of cover tracks including ‘Landslide’ by Stevie Nicks. That is one of my favourite songs and Lindsays vocals just cut through the track making it a pleasure to listen to as she put down her guitar for this song. Matt’s guitar work carried the song, blending perfectly with the vocal line, as Jason donned his Mandolin for this track too adding a really beautiful understated musical line throughout the song.
All in all I really enjoyed the performance put on by this trio and I can’t wait to see them play at the C2C Festival in London in a few weeks on the pop-up stages!
