Nestled in the Cotswold Hills, in the lovely town of Stroud is the most wonderful pub and music venue,  The Prince Albert and on a recent Sunday night, the place echoed to the story telling of Will Varley, the punters listened, they sung and they were moved by the atmosphere and pure emotion drifting from the stage.

Chloe Hawes opened the night with her unique brand of folk / punk. It was edgy, but at the same time you could feel the songs had a deeper meaning, and Chloe's voice, with a dry, emotion laden Americana feel brought the songs alive. The banter was fun, even when distracted by stream of dogs wandering around and Chloe even managed to get some audience participation on her song ‘Anything Once’. There was a bit of a Sean McGowan feel to her set and Chloe definitely picked up a few new fans in the packed out venue, me included, and I can't wait to see what's coming next......a punk album in her Harry Styles socks by all accounts. A lovely way to start the evening.

Unassumingly, Will Varley drifted onto the small stage to tune his guitars as the chatter continued, but as soon as he played the first notes of the opening song and the lights dimmed, a hush fell across the venue and the atmosphere turned almost spiritual as Will began singing his songs and telling his stories. The power of his voice, best illustrated in those subtle, quiet moments as much as the louder ones, resonated around the Prince Albert and the packed house was silent, in awe of the magic that was being made on stage.

Will started the set with a number of new songs, "...so you can't tell when I mess them up...." and these feel like his strongest material to date, light years from songs about talking cats and emails from dubious foreign shores. This self effacing humour, underplays the quality of the songwriting. Songs written for his children but laden with themes criss-crossing the challenges we all face in these crazy times. Varley's lyrics are magical. We even got an insight into the source of some of this material ..... the numerous rabbit holes you can disappear  down on YouTube late at night! I hope he clears his Internet history regularly.

Crowd favourites ‘Statues’, ‘Seize the Night’ and ‘Weddings and Wars’ saw the full house singing every word back at the stage while in the quieter moments, you could hear a pin drop. It made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I've seen Will in many venues, mostly larger places where he was the support act and while he filled those venues with his sound and music, in beautiful grassroot places like the Prince Albert, Will just seems to connect. It feels like he's home and the audience got to experience an artist holding nothing back.

Recently, Will released a live, band backed album 'Through the Lowlands', a fresh take on songs he recorded and toured over the years, this was Will back in his native domain, a small stage, a guitar and a crowd hanging on every word.

Will concluded the set with ‘King for a King’ and once again the crowd sang every word back at him. It was a sparkling performance, dripping with emotion. For 90 minutes, Will weaved his intricate tales, conjured up a  world of magical imagery, while still challenging what we are doing, where we are coming from and where we are going. It might feel  that the world is ending outside at times at the moment but tonight, in this joyous venue in Stroud, everything was alright.

Will Varley is a gem and a songwriter of rare talent. While his daughters may have wanted the Barbie house this year for Christmas, the beautiful songs he wrote for them instead will far outlive those plastic toys and be held close to their hearts and those of so many other people, forever.

Words and Pictures Glenn Morrisson