Friday 21 October, Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead. It's not often you go along to a gig for the second time because you missed the support act the first time. This was the case however with Langhorne Slim, the warm-up for The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. We'd seen them at 21 South Street in Reading but agonisingly only caught the tail-end of Slim's set. So off we're traipsed to Norden Farm arts centre in Maidenhead to do it all again, this time ready and seated.
So what is it about this 24-year-old New Yorker that's so darned captivating? Perhaps it's his Bob Dylan narrative sung with his incredibly powerful Jack White-style voice (it's much better than Jack's incidentally), or maybe it's the sheer force of passion in his old-style country blues, or even simply the charming melodies and lyrics from songs such as Mary. Appearing on a compilation CD called New Sounds Of The Old West Vol.4 (Start Your Own Country), out in November, and with a new album called When The Sun's Gone Down, which has featured on BBC Radio 2, this young man deserves all the exposure he can get. Live he's a cracker as well. Encouraging audience participation in a panto-style calling back of lyrics, coupled with frenetic strumming and bursts of heart-felt screeching that leaves you winded, Langhorne Slim leaves you vibrant and wishing you could, like him, travel the country with just a guitar on your back and a beer waiting for you at the bar. This is a rough diamond who should never be polished for fear of dimming his shine. | 
