It's not often that Exeter is graced with the presence of artists that have done so much to help us to carve musical paths throughout our lives, tonight was no exception, we were to be treated to an evening with the one and only Kristin Hersh.

For anyone out there who have never heard of Kristin Hersh (shame on you), she's an American singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1980s as the leader of the alternative rock group Throwing Muses before launching a solo career emphasizing her acoustic guitar. In 2003, she formed the hardcore punk-influenced power trio 50 Foot Wave.

We pick up on things in the auditorium of the Exeter Phoenix venue some 13 years later after the release of her latest album ‘Wyatt at the Coyote Palace’.

As a fan for many years it was great to hear a story or two followed by a familiar song and really appreciate and understand the meaning behind the lyrics.  A chance meeting with an old lady on a bus lead to ‘Gazebo Tree’ from 1998’s Strange Angels. A performance of ‘Your Ghost’ from her first solo album 'Hips and Makers' was very well received as was ‘Your Dirty Answer’ from Sunny Border Blue.

The show was an all seated affair and although I would have been happy to stand, it just wasn't one of those gigs, it was more an intimate evening in Kristin Hersh's front room, watching her, guitar or book in hand, treating us to readings from her travels over the years and mixed in with several tracks from the new album 'Wayatt at the Coyote Palace' which carries on in the same vein as her previous work.

She is an incredible guitarist creating a superb sound as a solo performer with her distinctive ‘throaty’ voice. The crowd left the room satisfied with her latest offering and eager for more in the near future.

Review by Shaun Rogers

Photography by Rhodri Cooper

For more photographs from the show, please click HERE