Zoee at King Tut’s 3rd March Review (in Support of Elles Bailey)

On the March 3rd I went along to watch the very talented Elles Bailey at the famous King Tut’s in Glasgow where I witnessed a support artist called Adriana who was enchanting.

Following her was a band lead by a young Australian girl called Zoee. I was captivated to say the least.

I felt that the Australian musicians that make up this 3 piece band, really brought a great sound to the Scottish and UK country music scene on this excellent evening, while enhancing Elles Bailey beautifully.

What made this band unique for me, was the clever lyrical journey and the originality of the songs which seemed to stem from real experience’s.

All the songs are written and sung by Singer/songwriter/guitarist Zoee.

She is accompanied by her Dad (Dundee) on lead guitar and Bass, with some great little licks, not too much, but enough that kept everything balanced.

On the Cajon ( box drum) is Zoee’s brother (Zedd), who keeps the beat and does an equally great job of being on point. You would be hard pushed to get a better rhythm out of a full kit.

The whole Zoee sound, truly works as a 3 piece. Sometimes musicians can get carried away with lots of different sounds, you can have too much where instruments struggle to be heard and it just creates a wall of noise, especially in smaller venues.

The angelic aged voice of someone that apparently has been on the music scene for decades came from this young 20 something female, in the spotlight, with the guitar. The song structure, the storytelling in her songs, to the little flicks and riffs on guitar, coupled with the drum beat which had everyone swaying and leaving a wanting to hear every word.

Crowd participation was evident to see.
Nothing more so than with ‘Take me Away’, it received a great reaction. The crowd was clapping and pockets of dancing groups were erupting every where from the start to the finish of their set.

Each song, it seemed was strategically placed to the building up of the pace as the songs seemed to be taking me on this journey of storytelling.

This band is something special, and I believe we haven’t seen this kind of grounded (musical quality), in the music scene for quite a while.

You couldn’t help but subconsciously tap and sway as you got enchanted and carried away on a wave of emotional musicality, driven by the journey of Zoee and her band.

The set of original songs was built up to the finale and she finished with one of the best renditions of the cover of 9 to 5 that I have heard.

I’m sure a certain Miss Parton, would be proud to know that this young Australian put so much energy and pride into her epic country song.

We have heard of household names of famous international musical families such as The Jackson 5, The Osmonds, and The Nolan Sisters. We now have “Zoee” it would seem, representing Australia and now Scotland and the UK too….

I believe that she and her family band, are about to hit the country music scene by storm.

Allan Rutherford
(Professional photographer and videographer)