Review - Michael Tuffery

GSMC Online Music Club – Saturday 16th January 2021

Tonight’s GSMC Online Music Club performance features Michael Tuffery who is a singer and song writer who is well known on the local music scene in Berkshire performing solo, is a member of two Folk bands RyeWolf and WolfNote as well as featuring in a number of projects.

Dressed in a suit with a bow tie and a green screen backdrop of the Royal Albert Hall you can tell that Michael has put a lot of detail into this set which opens with the Christy Moore song ‘Continental Ceilidh’ and consists of mainly covers but not the sort of songs that you would normally hear such as Paul Carrick’s ‘Eyes of Blues’ , Dire Straits ‘ So Far Away’ and Glen Campbell’s ‘Wichita Lineman’ all of which suit Michael’s distinctive silky smooth vocals.

As good as these covers are it is Michael’s original songs that really stand out such as ‘Molly Again’ which was inspired by his time as an ambulance driver, ‘Closer to You’ was co-written by fellow folk musician Rik Knight. ‘It’s in Your Laugh’ is song dedicated to his wife who joined him for this alongside a video backdrop of roller coaster ride full of teddy bears, sometimes you can’t make these things up! My own personal favourite of his original songs is ‘Westward Winds’ with a great chorus and lyrics, many well known song writer would be proud to have written this.

The set finishes with Phil Collins ‘In the Air Tonight’ followed by an encore which consisted of ‘Cousin Jack’ by Show of Hands which he really makes his own. This was a great set by one of the most under rated performers around.

You can find out more about Michael Tuffery by visiting his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/miketufferymusic