Alasdair Roberts

Alasdair Roberts & Friends - Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 3 May 2013

Less a conventional folk gig than a subversive ceilidh organised by some cracked millenarian cult

Alasdair Roberts is hopping around the stage, picking out a jaunty Scottish dance tune on guitar. Huddled around him are fiddler Rafe Fitzpatrick and electric guitarist Ben Reynolds, while double-bassist Stevie Jones flanks them all, rocking and swaying…

The newly-christened Tradfest presents 'feast of culture in the Festival city'

Traditional and folk artists taking part include Karine Polwart, Alasdair Roberts and Shooglenifty

Tradfest is a new 12 day festival bringing dance, crafts, folk drama and environmental celebrations to venues across Edinburgh. The first under this particular name, the festival is organised by the Scottish Storytelling Centre on behalf of Traditional…

Music strand at 2013 Glasgow Film Festival - programme highlights

Music/film hybrid programme features Jane Birkin, Dark Star and Whatever Gets You Through the Night

GFF 2013 can barely wait to expose its music and film strand delights, with the hotly-anticipated Jane Birkin’s Songs of Serge providing a pre-festival pulse-quickener. A rare and intimate live performance by Serge Gainsbourg’s former muse will see her…

Alasdair Roberts & Friends - A Wonder Working Stone

Diverse source material reworked into complex and idiosyncratic originals

(Drag City) Those who (wrongly) have Alasdair Roberts down as a dour purveyor of funereal dirges might be surprised to hear the Trossachs troubadour launching into Scottish country-dance romp, ‘The Bluebell Polka’, complete with parping horns and a…

The Ghost Box Hallowe'en playlist

We asked Jim Jupp from Ghost Box records to pick out his essential blood-soaked tracks

For me a Hallowe’en playlist is as much about an autumnal atmosphere as it is about the supernatural. It’s my favourite time of year, poised as it is between two seasons and two worlds. In trying to think about different aspects of horror, the…

Music Language Festival 2012 - a weekend of music, art and partying in Glasgow

Alasdair Roberts, Richard Youngs, Happy Particles and Conquering Animal Sound

Music Language sees Scotland’s finest DIY promoters Cry Parrot and Tracer Trails team up once more for a giddy weekend of underground music, art and partying. Keen not to repeat themselves, the organisers have opted for a completely fresh line-up…

RM Hubbert, Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 27 Jan

The launch RM Hubbert's second album, 13 Lost and Found, is both a celebratory and elegiac affair. A punk and post-rock veteran, Hubbert turned to the classical guitar as a way of dealing with bereavement and depression. To perform his latest album with…

RM Hubbert launches album Thirteen Lost & Found with friends

Aidan Moffat, Alex Kapranos and more to join in at Stereo show

RM Hubbert’s debut album First & Last was more than just an instrumental record by a talented Glaswegian guitarist. Far from a commercial stepping-stone, the record was rather the result of Hubbert’s attempts to document a tumultuous three-year period…

Archive Trails - Artists making new work from old photos and songs from Scotland's past

Scottish folk ballads reworked via song, video and puppetry

After months of delving through old photos and songs, three performers aim to bring to life Scotland’s long-lost folk ballads through experimental vocals, video and glove puppets. Rachel Devine reports

Music Is The Music Language

Festival of the experimental and esoteric

Music Is The Music Language, a two day festival organised by DIY promoters Cry Parrot and Tracer Trails, is testament to the vibrancy of Scotland’s underground music scene. ‘Underground music is strongest and most exciting where and when the values…

Fruit Tree Foundation - First Edition

Astounding group collaboration from some of Scotland's finest

(Chemikal Underground) If you’re looking for proof that Scotland’s musical voices are far-reaching and brilliant, then we cordially direct you to First Edition. It’s a stellar, cohesive collaboration from Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison, The…

Polar Bear, The Vaselines and Alasdair Roberts set for Doune the Rabbit Hole

Music festival in leafy grounds of a Perthshire country house

Situated in the leafy grounds of a Perthshire country house, Doune The Rabbit Hole is a magical, family-friendly affair, inspired by Lewis Carroll and the early free festivals. Ursine jazzers Polar Bear headline on Friday, with The Vaselines and the…

Optimo and Alasdair Roberts highlights of Glasgow's West End festival

The French Wives and Fence Collective also on bill

1. Fence Collective There are dozens of good musical reasons to take yourself to the West End Festival this June. How about Fife’s favourite indie-folk collective for starters? The line-up’s a secret until the day, but the name ‘Fence’ is all the badge…

Doune The Rabbit Hole music festival 2011

Polar Bear, The Vaselines and Zoey Van Goey set for rural Scottish festival

The family-friendly festival, Doune The Rabbit Hole makes a welcome return next month with a plethora of live music including The Vaselines, Zoey Van Goey and recently-headliners announced, Polar Bear. Situated at Old Newton, near Doune in Stirling…

Giant Sand songwriter Howe Gelb lines up for Celtic Connections date

Mapping alternative routes between seemingly disparate worlds of music is a longstanding aim of Celtic Connections. It’s a vision shared by Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb, who for some 25 years has been a pathfinder and visionary, resulting in one of the most…

Music Like a Vitamin - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Sat 2 Oct 2010

Rod Jones, Emma Pollock, Jenny Reeve and Karine Polwart

For their Music Like A Vitamin event, Idlewild’s Rod Jones and The Delgados’ Emma Pollock have enlisted a Scottish musical dream team to create a fundraising album. Coinciding with the annual Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, The Fruit…

The List: 25 Years - A night at the Arches, Glasgow featuring Errors, King Creosote and Come on Gang!

Event celebrates 25th anniversary of The List Magazine

After 25 years of writing about other people's events, we've decided to put on our own... and it's been worth the wait. We're taking over The Arches for one Friday night only, showcasing the best of Scottish culture, including many of favourite bands…

Fruit Tree Foundation launches new album tackling themes of mental health

Alasdair Roberts, James Yorkston, Scott Hutchison and others record album

Sons and Daughters. Frightened Rabbit. The Phantom Band. Norman Blake. Perhaps because it sets out to encourage discussion of problems nearly everyone has come into contact with at some point in their lives, the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film…

Autumn highlights: The best albums and gigs from Scottish bands

The Phantom Band, The Twilight Sad and Errors set for action

The Phantom Band Chemikal Underground’s finest, most eclectic and most likely signings of recent years return with the follow-up to last year’s debut Checkmate Savage. The Wants is released on Chemikal Underground, Mon 18 Oct. The Scottish…

Alasdair Roberts and Friends - Too Long in this Condition

Scottish guitarist re-animated murderous and bawdy Scottish ballads

(Navigator) The List can think of no other artist who has dished out props to their manicurist within the immortal confines of their sleeve-notes. But that’s what Glasgow-based folk bard Alasdair Roberts does on his excellent sixth album, Too Long in…

Pekko Kappi and Alasdair Roberts play Edinburgh's Roxy Art House

If you feel like your life has been lacking in folk/drone crossovers recently – and let’s be honest, we could all use a bit more of that - there’s a treat in store. Finnish improv artist Pekko Kappi plays the jouhikko (pictured), an archaic bowed…

Music festivals 2010: Festival profiles

Big or small, loud or quiet, dry or muddy – we love festivals whatever their size, sound or likelihood to leave you soaking wet. Over the next 20 pages we'll give you the lowdown on every major fest hitting Scotland this summer, and information on a few…

Alasdair Roberts

Glasgow-based folkster Alasdair Roberts will be taking to the road with his four-piece band for a night of trad folk and his own Americana. Mixing his own compositions with timeless Scottish folk and creepy twists on old forgotten classics. Stereo…

Sick Kids Sunday 2

It’s a bumper line-up with a definite wonky, folky, indie vibe as the GRV hosts this charity fundraiser. James Yorkston & Adrian Crowley take the headlining slot with their take on the songs of Daniel Johnson, with able backup from the likes of Broken…

Five reasons to see . . . Alasdair Roberts

1 He was discovered performing at a ceilidh by Will Oldham. An apocryphal tale, but the pair have worked with Songs:Ohia’s Jason Molina as Amalgamated Sons of Rest, and Oldham (aka Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy) produced Roberts’ ballad collection No Earthly Man…