Online review by Friday Night BoysMELANCHOLIC English songwriter Nick Drake released three albums in the early 1970s,
to critical acclaim, but little commercial success.
He died, aged 26, of an accidental overdose at his Warwickshire home in Tanworth-in-Arden in 1974, a depressed and isolated figure.
Like the tragic Romantic poet John Keats, Drake's fame has been wholly posthumous, and a growing army of fans and acolytes keep his musical flame alive.
Way To Blue was curated by Drake's producer Joe Boyd and featured not only a fine string section, but some of the best interpreters of the tragic singer's music.
Highlights included a rousing Poor Boy, with Teddy Thompson on lead vocals, a stunning Time Has Told Me by Krystle Warren and the wonderfully blue-eyed soul voice of Scritti Politti front man Green Gartside on Fruit Tree, arguably Drake's greatest song.
With the added ingredient of legendary bassist Danny Thompson - who played on Drake's albums - the whole show was a moving, meticulous homage to a great English songwriter.
The only downside - and almost essentially Drake-like in its melancholy - was that the main hall at The Sage was only half-full.