Sara Dennis & Steve Dagleish
"It was the start of a brand new era last Sunday, as BBC Tees Introducing presenter Bob Fischer hosted his very first gig night at the Waiting Room restaurant in Eaglescliffe. All the tables filled up early, in fact you might say that the new Matchbox Cabaret Sunday season kicked off with Bob's Full House.
The evening clicked into gear with a really interesting partnership behind the mics, Steve Dagleish and Sara Dennis.
A couple of weeks ago, I was ushered to a secret house gig in a music attic in Saltburn. Steve Dagleish, a London resident with lots of Teesside links, was launching his album 'Only Losers Write on Bridges' by playing and giving the back story for each song. It was a really special evening.
At the Waiting Room, Steve was combining with a wonderful local singer songwriter in Sara Dennis. Sara was drawing on material from her recent album release 'Driftwood'.
They began with a couple of songs from Steve's album, 'World of News' and '45 Minutes', before Sara took the lead on what has become an autobiographical song 'The Ballad of Swords and Shields'. Sara's song 'Emily Said' took us into the hidden world of American poet Emily Dickinson.
The blend between the two voices is a rich one and was soon augmented by the whole audience joyfully joining in the chorus to 'Only Losers Write on Bridges'. … "