The 2026 edition of Cross Traffic launched at Smoky Joe’s with a Songs & Stories evening hosted by Cheltenham duo Saint Senara and supported by Audio Junk Food.
The format was songs in the round with each of the five acts talking about a song and then performing it before the next act. The acts on the night were Cheltenham’s Saint Senara (Chloe Gorman & Andrew Bate), Stourport’s Chloe Mogg, Cinderford’s Jake & Kay of band Mirages, Stroud’s Amy Moore (solo) and Cheltenham’s Joe Green from band Death is a Girl.
Hosts Saint Senara ran this type of event in the first edition of Crosstown Traffic and wanted to run it again supported by Audio Junk Food.
After the evening’s introduction from Chloe & Andrew of Saint Senara their selection kicked off with ‘Praying Fields’ which is a song about the moors in Cornwall and was sung with great close harmonies.
Next up was Chloe Mogg playing solo on ‘The Best Thing’ and was about people she doesn’t like (a recurring theme) with its great grungy vocals.
Then Jake & Kay of the band Mirages took to the stage for the first time just as a duo with a love song that started from a riff from Kay which became a song that reminded about falling in love. It had great guitar interplay and great passionate vocals from Jake.
They were followed by country & folk singer Amy Moore playing solo with the song ‘The Devil I see’ which was about an ex-boyfriend and started with a phrase in her head which started off the song creation. Powerful country song with great passionate vocals.
The final performer in the round was Joe Green playing solo (rather than with his band Death Is A Girl) and started with ‘Tom Price Is a Changed Man’ with lots of lovely jazz chords.
Saint Senara then came back with a new song ‘Down Comes the Dark’ and was an afternoon idea to write a love song for the dark which is also a love song for a partner.
Chloe Mogg then gave us the title track from her 1st album ‘The Crazy One’ which is about an ex she hated and who called her the crazy one, with its punk/alternative style vocals.
The next one from Jake & Kay was ‘Best Around’ and was about self-confidence and being affected by it with mellow guitar sound and evocative vocals.
Amy Moore then changed her mind on her next song choice after listening to the other artists and played ‘These Scars’ which is a more vulnerable song and tough experiences.
Joe Green’s next song was ‘Dwight Yorke’ which was about being dumped and relationship break-up and came about after struggling for a riff before finding a funky jazz influenced one, with his high register singing style.
Now with Andrew on electric guitar Saint Senara returned with one of their fans favourites ‘Ophelia’ which was influenced by Chloe’s poetry who has a lot of love for Ophelia. This only took a few takes live in the studio to get the final version. Lovely close harmonies with evocative guitar.
Chloe Mogg then gave us ‘Thumper’ which was about struggling and if you can’t say anything nice. Powerful vocals and heavy guitar with some subtle interludes.
Then Jake & Kay gave us a song written in 2018 with ‘Exile’ based on a riff from Kay but this is a different version to the full band version. It is about wanting get away from social media and those other distractions.
The next was a special song for Amy released last year ‘Part of my Heart’ with an associated music video. The song was all about style of writing and places she could describe, a house she spent 15 years living in, with its lovely plaintive vocals.
Joe then gave us a song written several years ago ‘Cracked Face’ inspired by horrible people again with his great acoustic guitar playing and great rangy vocals.
Then after a break Saint Senara returned with ‘Easy For You to Say’ which is about music being hard with juggling with a day job and having to work at it (while washing the dishes!) and featured Andrew on steel guitar and great harmonies again.
Chloe Mogg next played a brand-new song ‘The Author’ which was a happy upbeat song with wild vocals and frantic guitar. Chloe also plugged the Stour Jam festival taking place in June in Stourport.
Jake & Kay’s next song ‘Pursuit’ was influenced by the Thomas Pynchon book ‘V’ and was about trying to get to the end goal in your head all about the journey with passionate vocals and intricate guitars.
Amy then played ‘Make Me Feel Better’ which will be her next single which is a sunshine song and also sad as well, with a heavier tempo, strong vocals and foot drum.
Joe then gave us ‘27’ which is the happiest song he has ever written but sounds sad with high register vocals and lovely guitar and pitch changes.
Saint Senara then started the final round with ‘Lost Lisa Marie’ but with a twist as Chloe normally sings the lead on this song and it’s in a different key. It’s a song about women done wrong and was originally performed in Cornwall in Cornish by Andrew (who is a Cornishman).
Cloe Mogg then gave us the song she and the band finish their gigs with ‘Better Off’ which is about a shitty person she was better without.
Jake & Jay’s last song was a sad song ‘House of Cards’ and is about being screwed over by someone.
To change the tone Amy’s next song ‘Spirits Rising’ was the happiest one she had written and she wanted a song about being through a long tunnel, but with the train going through the tunnel to a better place. It was picked up by BBC Introducing and was both a track of the week & year.
Joe finished with ‘Spectre’ and was the first song he wrote for band Death Is a Girl.
The evening finished with Chloe & Andrew from Saint Senara thanking the artists, soundman, supported Audio Junk Food and the audience for staying with them to the end of a great evening.