O’Hooley and Tidow at Old Woollen was an intimate performance of very personal songs.
The last time I saw Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow in 2019, Heidi and been pregnant and Gentleman Jack was about to hit our screens. A lot has happened since then. Gentleman Jack has aired two series, their tune becoming more prominent, and the whole world experienced Covid and lockdown. O’Hooley and Tidow now have a son, Flynn, and both have received an autism diagnosis.
All the songs played were original compositions. The duo released their latest album, Cloudheads, in April 2023. Many of the songs relate to their experiences over the last few years, their love of the Pennines and respect for strong women.
The song that perhaps touched me most was Mathew and Ted. This personal song is a reflection on local walks during lockdown. As their son Flynn begins his first steps, they are privileged to see the final steps of Ted, the Alsatian rescue dog who had walked past their house every day with his owner, Mathew. A quiet but deep contemplation on the nature of love.
Their life in the Colne Valley has always influenced their work and lockdown only made this stronger. It was not surprising that they were commissioned by South Pennines Park to write a song about the area. Lyrics from Chimneys, Moors and Me were even temporarily painted on walls in towns in the area.
The song calls upon all kinds of small cultural references – Black Dyke brass, drystone walls and mushy peas, to name a few. Their love and familiarity for the ‘Brutal beauty of mills and hills’ is undeniable. Apparently, the organisation was not immediately thrilled by the offering. Like many of their songs, it probably grew on them with repeat listening.
The refrain open of ‘Our places don’t fit the bill’ is part of a theme of not fitting in on this album; most notably expressed in the title track, Cloudheads, an exploration of their experience of autism as women. They talk the audience through how watching The Bridge started them thinking first about Heidi’s struggles with social interaction and led to a diagnosis for both.
O’Hooley and Tidow always explain their songs to the audience, why they wrote them and how they went about it, but they never tell us what to think. Once I knew they were on the spectrum I could see that this might relate to autism. It is a skill to be able to explain your process without the expectation of praise or emotional feedback, and one that audiences appreciate.
Cloudheads is an important song. There is a growing awareness of how autism presents differently in females. For too long it has been seen as a male condition. The song documents sensory, ‘Too loud, too bright just not quite right’, and processing issues ‘Everyone talking in rhythms and rhymes, I need more time’. It will speak to women with autism and their families and friends. Hopefully, their joint diagnosis will help them make more sense of the world around them. As they say ‘we are on another planet together’.
Another theme of the set was a celebration of strong women. This is very fitting, as the first part of the afternoon had been a conversation with Peggy Seeger, a woman who challenged male bias in folk music and encouraged girls to dream with ‘I’m Gonna Be an Engineer’. Seeger talked about learning about the strength of women at Greenham Common and occasionally broke into song, showing the strength of her voice despite her 88 years.
Anne Lister, as Gentleman Jack, was always present as a strong force but the pair also sang about Beryl Burton in the simply titled Beryl. The song reflected their interest in local history and women who achieve against the odds. It built upon the rhythm of the Yorkshire accent and the wheels of the cycle. I hope this was appreciated by Seeger, who had spoken about how she had been part of a movement to get people to sing in their own voices and not imitate the American or English folk tradition.
The Ballad Of Anne And Ann was the last song in the set. On the album, the part of Anne Lister is sung by Suranne Jones, allowing the duo to develop the character of Ann Walker. O ‘Hooley and Tidow’s partnership seems complete in many ways so it as fitting that they wanted to shine a light on another partnership rather than focus on Anne Lister.
Gentleman Jack had her day in the encore. The song was recorded in 2012 on The Fragile album, long before Sally Wainwright started writing her drama. The now well-known song provided plenty of opportunity for audience participation and an uplifting way to close the performance.
Cover image: Belinda O’Hooley (left) and Heidi Tidow. Photography by Debbie Rolls.
