Katy Moffatt

Katy M at the Black Swan folk club this time — stretch­ing “folk” a bit maybe, more coun­try I would have said — but she has a vig­or­ous deliv­ery, pays a mean gui­tar that sounds like it’s a bass (some musi­cian will know the tech­nical term for that) and looks like Piaf might have looked at her age if it wasn’t for the booze and the drugs and the other nas­ties.  Like most coun­try sing­ers, Katy’s dog hadn’t come home from the movies, which makes for a jolly even­ing of train wrecks, car smashes and mar­ital infi­del­ity.  The last num­ber in the second set though (before encores) was “The High­way­man”  (Phil Ochs out of Alfred Noyes).  It’s such a won­der­ful song, so full of evoc­at­ive images, a beau­ti­ful tune, and for me, lots of memor­ies of even­ings with friends at Uni­ver­sity — a few years ago now (over 30).  Katy sang it beautifully.