JLively @ The Black Diamond 30/11/21

SL has such an amazing mix of talented people and through blogging I am lucky in that I get to experience the musical side of this diverse and eclectic talent pool. Today my musical journey took me to The Black Diamond where JLively was playing. The Black Diamond is a decadent venue owned by Jayson Winslet , Delaney Jenson and Joe5284. There's rich red wallpaper covering the walls and a gorgeous marble dance floor, and if you don't feel inclined to dance you can make yourself comfy at the large wooden bar or in one of the luxurious leather chairs and sofas surrounding the dance floor. It made me wish that I had taken the time to change out of my jeans and into a nice evening dress....sighs next time.

I have only heard snippets of JLively before and what I heard I liked a LOT, so tonight was going to be my first time seeing her full set and I was excited to see what the hour would bring. I was not disappointed.

Starting out with Dreams by Fleetwood Mac and following on with Don't Know Why by Norah Jones, a song that has special meaning to J as it was the first song she ever recorded to show her dad, I was soon under the lovely Ms Lively's spell as she has a voice that is something truly special. Its hard for me to describe what I think she sounds like as she is so very unique but if you have heard Olivia Rodrigo's Driver License song (a great song btw) and then throw a little Amy Winehouse into the mix that's what J sounds like to me. Its a voice that is husky, it is low and rather raw and gritty in an attractive way.

As she was singing Somewhere Only We Know by Keane I grabbed a songlist smiling when I saw the artist I was hoping to find on there. Sending J an IM I asked that she sing something by the late, great and very troubled Amy Winehouse, leaving the choice up to her. Happy to oblige but a little stumped for a while as she tried to recall what songs of Amy's she covered my smile was huge as J gave me a slow, smokey version of Rehab. Throughout this song I just closed my eyes and let myself be immersed in the music and J's voice.

Dancing On My Own by Callum Scott (and sadly yes I was) was so hauntingly beautiful that I may have developed a slight girl crush. Next came several originals which showed that not only can J sing but that she is a very talented songwriter and storyteller. These originals had boyfriend Samuel James (another amazing artist, see previous blog) commenting that J may have just been in the studio doing some recording. Is this true, well I guess that we will just have to wait and see, although at the time of writing this blog J may have dropped a few hints to me.

If you have never heard JLively sing before I strongly suggest that you do, for as I have previously said she is truly someone special and unique.

check out links below

https://soundcloud.com/jordanlively

https://www.youtube.com/c/JordanLively

Note : apologies for the pic of an empty venue but I was so caught up in the music I forgot to take some and had to go back.