Kris Barras’ Hollow Souls plus support from Troy Redfern at the Birmingham Castle & Falcon

First up tonight is Troy Redfern, who I knew of but have never seen live. He looks every bit the rock god and warmed up the Castle & Falcon crowd with an excellent set of guitar driven rock/blues. Joined on stage only with a drummer with a very sparse kit, basically one drum and symbol, they rocked, and Redfern kicking the literal out of a very very old acoustic guitar was a revelation. And not forgetting he has a very good voice. Can’t wait to see him with a full band.

Hard rocker Kris Barras has been around for a while now and has achieved so much. Headline shows, playing with the likes of Billy Gibbons and Joe Bonamassa, he known for his strong gravelly voice and fiery guitar playing. Though his own albums have steadily got heavier, as he admits to the crowd, and the next album is going along the same vein, he felt he needed to scratch his blues itch. So after only six songs released, he embarks on a 20-date tour alongside lead vocalist, Phoebe Jane, (Barras himself didn’t want to be at the forefront on this project), who has sung backing vocals on some Barras albums in the past, and what voice she has. Strong with a terrific range, treating the crowd to one hell of a performance, in a set mainly obviously blues based, but with the occasional hard rocker like Rock n Roll, thrown in, and a few Barras favourites re-imagined, like, ‘Hail Mary’, ‘My Parade’, and lead single ‘Borderline’. Can’t wait to have a listen to the album, and we suspect we will be hearing more from Hollow Souls.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe