Phil Odgers & John Kettle – The Temperance, Leamington – 31st July 2026

LEAMINGTON?

Leamington Spa might seem a quaint choice of location to launch a new album, but, on reflection, it is the entirely apt place to celebrate the life and times of one Philip David Ochs, 1940 – 1977. Ochs, a contemporary of Bob Dylan, at least in the tousle-haired protest years, was writer of songs that effectively deny the age they were written in, so prescient his warnings around the risks and realities of war, and the sparks that fly around the triggers thereto. Uncannily so. Which makes Leamington, home of the longstanding Leamington Peace Festival, all the more appropriate.

A TALE OF 2 PHILS (& A JOHN)

Phil Odgers we know well, the effervescent and ebullient frontman for The Men They Couldn’t Hang, himself a political commentator of no small measure. He has long been a fan of the late singer, who took his own life at the age of 35. Finding a sympathetic ear in John Kettle, of Merry Hell, and the Tansads before that, and needing, shall we say, a more nuanced instrumental foil to his potent vocal delivery, Kettle came on board, adding guitar, mandolin, banjo and bass. A first album, Far Rockaway, slipped out in 2023, missed by many, (although not by ATB’s John Barlass), and that may well have been that.

But Sonny, Ochs’ sister, became aware of the project, putting her support behind it. “Thanks for keeping the music alive”, she has said, and, now, both on the back of that and to coincide with the, frankly, alarming times we live in, now there has been a second volume, this time focussing largely on Ochs’ songs about war. entitled, like the song of that name, all irony intended, The War Is Over. The last day of August saw the official launch.

WARM WELCOMING VIBES

The Temperance is a lovely venue, a basement with black daubed walls, avoiding any sense of gloom by the sympathetic lighting and the warm welcoming vibes. Compact, let’s say, it is an ideal venue to showcase roots and acoustic music, and is popular with artists and punters alike. With an upstairs “bar”, a table in what, by day, is a café, a well stocked fridge offers most reasonable requirements to take downstairs. and no, the temperance is in name only, at least apropos beverages.

PITHY LYRICS, CLEARLY DELIVERED

Smack on 7.30 the show began, it also being filmed. Odgers was the MC for the evening, guiding us through vignettes of the singer’s life and career, recounting also the circumstances that led to this project. And it was acapella that he chose to start, with a heartfelt I’m Tired, a song where Ochs reflects on his ability to keep on keeping on, even from right at the beginning of his career. Introducing Kettle, most songs were then carried solely by the one guitar, Odgers only occasionally picking up a second.

A mix of songs from both albums followed, with When I’m Gone hanging mournfully in the air ahead The Thresher and Hungry And Cold. with that second song having the crowd already picking up on the refrain. I Ain’t Marching Anymore fitted perfectly the treatise that Ochs songs fit well to the zeitgeist of now, heads nodding aplenty at Odgers’ clear delivery of the pithy lyric. It struck me quite what a strong and powerful singer he is, away from the hurly burly of his day job.

The standard order of Temperance gigs followed, with a 20 minute interval, stretching as both performers nattered intently with their audience. A cock-up on the merch front meant there were only very few CDs available, and those gone fairly swiftly, but, amongst friends, it was made to feel that life’s little irritants were all part of the standard grist. Ochs would get it.

GALLINGLY EVOCATIVE

To kick off the second set, further historical background was gifted, both around Ochs and the project. Some of Ochs bittersweet love songs appeared in this second half, with Celia in a gallingly evocative version. Odgers also reprised his version of Flower Lady, originally with Sid Griffin, from his Ghosts Of Rockabilly 2021 album, it also appearing on the first of these two Kettle collabs. Midway came the “single”, The War Is Over, his voice soaring and searing equivalently, mining every last iota of savage despair from the song.

That was the blue touch paper for the blistering What Are you Fighting For, with Odgers kicking the song off to a frenzy of his own strumming. Many of these are songs I can hear and that would fit perfectly within his other band’s repertoire, and maybe they will, but he was able to confirm, later, that a paired set of new songs was well on the way. I hadn’t realised Ochs was the author of Bound For Glory, a song that celebrates Guthrie; would that someone could write a similar song for Ochs.

NO SHORTAGE OF POIGNANCY

Not really an encore venue, or, dare I say it, audience, we were then told which song was to be the encore, with an offer to play it next. Duly acceptable to all present, it was No More Songs that was deigned to close the show. As poignant a statement as any, and there are many in the Ochs songbook, it was terrific. But one is never enough, and, yes, of course, there was one more up the duo’s sleeve, and all were sent home happy with an abridged version of Joe Hill rattling around our lugs for at least the journey home.

This is a tremendous project and surely warrants a greater shout that it has so far had. Timing, I guess , is all, it seeming a shame the pair had not been primed for this year’s annual festival season, as this sort of show would be catnip for audiences, Sidmouth to Shrewsbury, and all points in between. Next year, maybe?

Here’s a song from last time around, to give a flavour, I’m Not Marching Anymore:

Phil Odgers: Website

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