Jeannine Barry has been a regular on the UK country music scene since the release of her debut EP in 2013, but came to attention when her 2016 single Bittersweet reached number three on the UK iTunes country chart. Following the release of her latest single Sweet Spot earlier this month and a string of well-received performances at C2C: Country to Country, last night Jeannine opened the first ever Country Comes To The Boisdale event at the upmarket Canary Wharf venue, hosted by Countryline.
Jeannine kicked off her set with Off The Hook, the title track from her second EP. It’s a rocky number with great energy, which allowed Jeannine to show off the souful side of her voice as she jammed with her band. She followed that with the bluesy Carousel, bringing out the emotion and yearning feel of the song and showing great control in the big notes towards the end.
Throughout the performance Jeannine showed off how versatile she is as an artist, easily switching between styles on the acoustic break-up song Burning Bridges and the poppy, toe-tapping Long Hot Summer. She also threw in a couple of well-chosen covers alongside her original tracks, including a version of World Still Round, which contrasts a stomping rhythm with heart-tugging lyrics, and a moving, piano-led rendition of Make You Feel My Love.
However, what pulled the whole thing together for me were Jeannine’s vocals. She has a fantastic vocal tone and I love how she was able to bring out different qualities in her voice throughout the show. Appropriately for a show in a Scottish-themed venue, her voice almost reminded of a fine whiskey; it was smooth, rich and warm, particularly on the retro-sounding new song Undeniable and the swampy Bittersweet.
Jeannine closed her set with her latest single, Sweet Spot. It’s a fun, upbeat song with plenty of country twang and sassy lyrics, and I was seriously impressed by the power in her voice towards the end as well as her vocal runs. I can see it being a huge hit for her and am already imagining it playing on radio throughout the summer.
Overall I really enjoyed Jeannine’s performance last night. As well as fantastic vocals, she looked like she was having a great time on stage with her band and really got into her performance, and I think it will have won her more fans. It was great to see what she could do with a longer set and I’m looking forward to hearing more from her again in the future.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”208322″ player=”531″ title=”Jeannine Barry Bittersweet (Official Video)”]
Set list: 1. Off The Hook 2. Carousel 3. Burning Bridges 4. World Still Round (Logan Brill cover) 5. Undeniable 6. Long Hot Summer 7. Bittersweet 8. Make You Feel My Love 9. Sweet Spot Performance date: 27th March 2018
