"Rootin' About"
The Woolgatherers describe their cd Long Way to Indigo as "like a favourite old cardigan, the sort with holes in the elbow". Recorded at Imp Hut Studios, York in 2007, the cd is essentially a onetake recording (with some additional tweaking) which highlights the quality of the musicianship. Below is a review of the album from the June 2008 issue of Talk magazine. ‘Superb' was the comment of reviewer Barry Hampshire in Scarborough Evening News. A review is also imminent in Sound on Sound.
Talk Magazine review:
Their name may suggest they're the Woolpack's house band on Emmerdale, but you're more likely to find these musicians in Scarborough watering hole Indigo Alley.
It's a haunt of singer songwriter Phil Hooley and his six piece band pays homage to Indigo on the title track; it's heart warming, genuinely affecting stuff and typical of the relaxed semi acoustic nature of the album. Another Day is a sincere opener, complimented by the pretty violin of Richard Thwaites who also adds tasteful harmonica on the Radio 2 friendly The Till.
Hooley has surrounded himself with musicians who gel and compliment his songs perfectly. There's a warmth and groove going on here; the jazzy Try takes you back to the '30s while Dave Kemp's accordion on Blue Day sees us sipping an expresso in a Montmartre street café. It's not life changing stuff, Hooley' voice is perhaps closer to Mark Knopfler's than Sinatra's but it's foot tapping material and the versatile Dave Kemp even manages to squeeze in some cheeky soprano sax on One More.
Catch them live if you can, you'll be singing these songs long before closing time and after: "Here's to this barstool, here's to that door, and if I don't make it home tonight, I might as well have one more".
David Wright