Music, Folk

Feist

8 May 2008

One of the founding members of Canadian supergroup Broken Social Scene and former flatmate of Peaches, Leslie Fiest is now best known for that video ‘1234’ as featured so ubiquitously in the iPod advert. However this takes nothing away from the simple…

Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

8 May 2008

FOLK Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Fri 9 May; ABC, Glasgow, Sat 10 May It’s a decidedly domestic vibe at chateau Unthank when Rachel comes to the phone. ‘I’ve just been doing a bit of gardening and I had to go into town to pick up a new cello case,’ she…

Session A9 - Bottlenecks and Arm-Breakers

8 May 2008

FOLK (RAJ Records) Session A9 are not the only four-fiddle ‘supergroup’ on the Scottish folk scene, but like both Blazin’ Fiddles and Fiddlers’ Bid, they have evolved their own distinctive approach to the format. That sense of individuality is down to…

Capercaillie - Roses and Tears

24 Apr 2008

FOLK (Vertical Records) Capercaillie have done very nicely with their particular fusion of traditional music with more contemporary influences, and it is hardly likely that they are going to suddenly throw all that aside in pursuit of some radical new…

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at Devil Dirt

24 Apr 2008

COUNTRY/FOLK/BLUES (V2) Campbell and Lanegan’s Mercury-nominated debut was a one-trick pony, but it was a pretty cool trick. Campbell’s wispy whimper and Lanegan’s bourbon-soaked growl blended refreshingly over some old school folk and blues, but it…

Karine Polwart

10 Apr 2008

FOLK Eastgate Theatre, Peebles, Fri 11 Apr; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Sun 13 Apr; Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline, Wed 16 Apr; Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Thu 17 Apr; Tollbooth, Stirling, Fri 18 Apr The life of a self-employed musician can be complicated at the…

Heidi Talbot - In Love and Light

10 Apr 2008

FOLK (Navigator Records) It seems folk singers just ain’t content with being plain old folk singers these days. Admittedly, the boundaries between folk and the singer-songwriter game have long been fairly blurred anyway, but more and more of the…

Kathryn Williams & Neill MacColl

10 Apr 2008

COUNTRY FOLK Classic Grand, Glasgow, Wed 26 Mar You can hear the smile in Kathryn Williams voice, an almost effortless, laconic talent that soars high, floats and then falls down to a blusey bellow. Williams sings about the simple but ineffable…

Next stop, the Universal

10 Apr 2008

Scots musicians mark their homecoming from Tartan Week with a show Glasgow musicians Louise Cairns, Keith Warwick and Simone Welsh have announced they will follow up their appearance at New York’s Tartan Week with a show in London before heading up…

Box Club - Box Club

27 Mar 2008

FOLK (BoxClubRecords) The accordion is an instrument that still has an image problem in some quarters. Box Club are out to counter that perception by presenting the venerable instrument in much more contemporary trappings, including a slick visual…

Lau and The Ainslie/Henderson Trio: Reinventing the Reel

27 Mar 2008

FOLK Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Thu 27 Mar; Tolbooth, Stirling, Fri 28 Mar; CCA, Glasgow, Thu 3 Apr ‘The band started about two-and-a-half years ago,’ says master fiddler Aidan O’Rourke. ‘Martin (Green), Kris (Drever) and I were hanging around…

Laura McGhee

27 Mar 2008

New Scottish singer-songwriter sensation who has already cut her chops providing vocals for Runrig and counts Tom Waits, Jim Lauderdale and Shane McGowan among her fans. Here she performs the Scottish premiere of her own ‘Arbroath Suite’, which traces…

Ceilidh Culture

13 Mar 2008

FOLK Various venues, Edinburgh, Fri 21 Mar–Sun 12 Apr Ceilidh Culture, Edinburgh’s spring fling of acoustic music and the traditional arts has this year moved from its council house, and is now being run by a team from the Usher Hall. Rather than…

Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson - Partners In Crime

13 Mar 2008

FOLK (Vertical Records) While many piping recordings are primarily of interest to the piping community, this disc follows the lead of Ross Ainslie’s late teacher, Gordon Duncan, in aiming at a more diverse audience. The players are two of the…

Southern Tenant Folk Union

13 Mar 2008

The proliferation of quality bluegrass acts in the UK is evidence that geography is not a barrier to divining the musical spirit of the Appalachian mountains. This London-based six-piece have just released their second album Revivals, Rituals and Union…

Various - What the Folk Volume 2

13 Mar 2008

FOLK (Butterfly Recordings) Following up Butterfly’s acoustic-only debut compilation of 2006, 15 funky folksters set about proving that it’s not just musty fiddling men and wizened warbling dames who can cut the folky mustard. At times, the jumpers…

Ceilidh Culture unveils substantial line-up for 2008 festival

28 Feb 2008

From country legends to Scottish folk’s newest stars to local veteran folk heroes, Ceilidh Culture, Edinburgh first major festival of the year has unveiled a wide-reaching programme of names form here and afar. The bill of music and story telling…

Aye: An Affirmation of Martyn Bennett

28 Feb 2008

Martyn Bennett changed the face of Scottish music, marrying the high octane waves of the 90s dance scene with jazz beats, classical strings and his native Gaelic traditions. Now, the life and work of the performer and composer are set to be celebrated…

Tegan and Sara

28 Feb 2008

FOLK QMU, Glasgow, Fri 29 Feb Poor Tegan and Sara. If it’s not their supposedly unfashionable asymmetrical haircuts (it’s the latest in Canadian coiffure), it’s the insipid curiosity with their private lives (they are twins and both lesbians) that…

Karine Polwart - This Earthly Spell

28 Feb 2008

FOLK (Hegri Music) Karine Polwart is already established as Scotland’s premier purveyor of progressive folk, and this consummate and lush album consolidates that position. A flip side to last year’s traditional collection Fairest Floo’er, this album…

Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

28 Feb 2008

FOLK POP (4AD) While it might be cruel to say that John Darnielle and his Mountain Goats might be trying for a kind of Sufjan Stevens vibe but end up a bit too Jasper Carrott for comfort, that’s still the overriding impression given by Heretic Pride.

Moving Hearts - Live in Dublin

28 Feb 2008

FOLK (RubyWorks) Reunions can often be disappointing affairs, but the occasional return to action of this mighty Irish band have been notable exceptions. This album was recorded on home ground last year, and if their pioneering fusion of folk with…

Devendra Banhart becomes virtual clothes horse

27 Feb 2008

Genius American alt-folk troubadour Devendra Banhart has never been backward in coming forward when it comes to parading his musical musings but now he’s showing even more than before by turning himself into a web fashionista with his own personal…

Catriona Macdonald - Over the Moon

14 Feb 2008

FOLK (Peerie Angel) This is fiddler Catriona Macdonald’s first solo release since 2000, and allows us to hear her away from immediate juxtaposition with collaborators on the same instrument in her regular bands, Scotland’s Blazin’ Fiddles and String…

Various - Rough Trade Counter Culture 07

14 Feb 2008

EVERYTHING (Rough Trade) If anything can be gleaned from these expansive, annual compilations its this: try as you might you can’t keep up with all the fine new music around unless you actually run a record store. And while you might have…

Golden Virginia

31 Jan 2008

Beguiling singer and storyteller Devon Sproule’s songs are so evocative they could be used as adverts for her home town. Rachel Devine gets in a state If the Virginia tourist board ever needs an advertising jingle to sell their leafy state, they…

Blazin' Fiddles - Live

31 Jan 2008

(Blazin’ Fiddles) FOLK The Scottish fiddle supergroup are caught in full flight in this gig in Glenuig last summer, and in a way that has never quite been replicated in their studio recordings. Even the band feel they have not done themselves…

Colin MacIntyre

31 Jan 2008

POP Gone is the Mull Historical Society pseudonym and in its place is Colin MacIntyre, a couple of choirs and a veteran politician. After three critically acclaimed albums, MacIntyre is back with his latest, The Water, and a set at Celtic…

Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation’s Dark

31 Jan 2008

(New West) COUNTRY ROCK Any band with songs called ‘Daddy Needs a Drink’ and ‘You and Your Crystal Meth’ can’t be all bad, and so it proves, as Drive-By Truckers here provide a fantastically sprawling trawl through the Southern Gothic hinterland of…

Koshka World Gypsy & Jazz Band

31 Jan 2008

CELTIC CONNECTIONS This will be – literally as well as metaphorically – a big night for the Glasgow-based trio Koshka, and one that should make up for the disappointment of the late cancellation of the project last year, one of a number of events in…

Rags and Feathers and Eugene McGuinness

31 Jan 2008

ROCK FOLK ‘Heckle us if you like!’ was a brave challenge from Rags and Feathers frontman Tom Davis, especially as the band was apparently brought to life in this very venue only a few months previously. But there was nothing to find fault in during a…

Trilok Gurtu

31 Jan 2008

CELTIC CONNECTIONS Trilok Gurtu may have begun his musical life in a family thoroughly steeped in the strict disciplines and formal cohesion of Indian classical music, but his own career has taken him into some of the most diverse world-jazz fusions…

Celtic Connections

17 Jan 2008

Music isn’t what it used to be. This is something we have to be thankful for as the constant evolution, recycling and re-fashioning of music means there’s always someone out there trying to do things a bit differently. While there’s been much carping…

Celtic Connections - Mindy Smith

17 Jan 2008

Two albums in, Mindy Smith is solidifying her reputation as one of America’s most affecting songwriters. 2006’s Long Island Shores showed her gentle touch and growing prowess as a writer. Her ethereal vocal style at first brings to mind Joni Mitchell…

Potential Strangers

17 Jan 2008

FOLK Concrete Campfire@the Observatory, Glasgow, Sat 5 Jan Less a band than an ‘entity’, as they put it, Potential Strangers is essentially a fluid, five musicians-strong vehicle for the tunes of Harris-born singer-songwriter Dòl Eoin, an affable…

Steve Earle

4 Jan 2008

You’ll know where Steve Earle lives if you can picture the famous cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Just up that New York street where Dylan huddled against the snow with Suzie Rotolo in 1962 is the apartment Earle shares with his wife, the beautiful…

Opening Concert: Common Ground

4 Jan 2008

CELTIC CONNECTIONS Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Wed 16 Jan Celtic Connections will launch this year with what artistic consultant Donald Shaw likens to a giant session. Common Ground will be led on stage by John McCusker, and will feature a host of…

Adrian Crowley - Long Distance Swimmer

4 Jan 2008

FOLK (Tin Angel) Adrian Crowley hasn’t received the level of attention bestowed on fellow Dublin troubadour Fionn Regan, but his sonorous blend of folk and blues deserves its spotlight. The content and style of this fourth album perhaps don’t reach…

Aonghas Grant - The Hills of Glengarry

4 Jan 2008

FOLK (Shoogle Records) Left-handed fiddle maestro Aonghas Grant can’t be accused of saturating the market with recordings – this disc is his first since the 1977, and that album was his only previous effort. Nonetheless, he has built a…

Catriona McKay - Starfish

4 Jan 2008

FOLK (Glimster Records) Fresh from her triumph in winning the Instrumentalist of the Year award at the Scots Trad Music Awards in early December, harpist Catriona McKay’s debut solo album confirms her high standing among those in the harp world know.

Flook and friends

4 Jan 2008

Determined to give punters what they want without appealing to anyone’s vanity, Celtic Connections brings back acts the punters demand which means the musicians feel compelled to find new ways to challenge themselves and their audiences. One shining…

Islands

4 Jan 2008

CELTIC CONNECTIONS Strathclyde Suite, Glasgow, Thu 17 Jan The irony of this Celtic Connections presentation of Luke Daniels and Donald Grant’s Islands is that Grant will not be there to take part. The Highland-born violinist has a very active…

Calum Martin - The Megantic Outlaw: A Gaelic Legend

29 Nov 2007

FOLK The Megantic Outlaw: A Gaelic Legend (Ridge Records) Calum Martin is better known for leading the Lewis Gaelic Psalm Singers these days, but this CD goes back to 1983, when the original version of his Gaelic-rock opus was issued. The songs were…

The Parsonage

Choral folk country blues

29 Nov 2007

Choirs are not cool, right? Wrong. Glasgow 50-strong vocal ensemble The Parsonage have played at festivals including Indian Summer and Connect, contributed to Echo and the Bunnymen’s forthcoming new album and recorded an EP for release on Optimo’s…

Fiddle 2007

15 Nov 2007

FOLK Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, Fri 16–Sun 18 Nov Asked to name a famous fiddler, most people think of the mysterious character in Fiddler on the Roof, the archetypal lone folk musician, or failing that the lass from The Corrs. Musically, it’s a…

Fraser Anderson

15 Nov 2007

FOLK Coming Up for Air (Monochrome) Born in Edinburgh and now based in Paris, Fraser Anderson is a hidden talent. Certainly in an era when you can’t turn round for a new, major label-signed singer-songwriter busking on every street corner, his…

Gordon Duncan - album review

Jazz

1 Nov 2007

Admirers of the late piper will spot the echo of his debut album Just For Seumas in this collection of previously unissued cuts, broadcast sessions and limited release rarities. Gordon did not live to complete a fourth studio album for Greentrax, but…

Old Blind Dogs

18 Oct 2007

FOLK Four on the Floor (Vertical Records) Old Blind Dogs celebrated their 15th anniversary with a concert in Findhorn in April that featured the current quartet with several former members, including singers Ian F Benzie and Jim Malcolm. The…

Dàimh

20 Sep 2007

FOLK Crossing Point (Greentrax) The addition of Lewis-born Gaelic singer Calum Alex MacMillan to their well-established instrumental line-up has added a new dimension to the music of Dàimh, a band with roots in the West Highlands, but a personnel that…

Feist

20 Sep 2007

FOLK POP Oran Mor, Glasgow, Wed 26 Oct If Leslie Feist has done one thing in her varied career that deserves to make her a star, it’s the day she spent shooting the video to her recent, mesmerisingly cheerful single ‘1234’. Google it or find it on…

Hitlist - The best rock, pop, jazz & folk

20 Sep 2007

• Dean Owens and the Whisky Hearts This masterful Edinburgh songwriter kicks of ten days of shows in Darvel with a full-blooded, full-band show of his beguiling Americana. Darvel Music Festival, Darvel Town Hall, near Kilmarnock, Wed 26 Sep. (Folk…

Jose Gonzalez

20 Sep 2007

FOLK In Our Nature (Peacefrog) For most people, Swedish-Argentine troubadour Gonzalez will always be known for his song ‘Heartbeats’ soundtracking that Sony Bravia ad with the bouncy balls in San Francisco, and that’s his main problem. What makes…

Linda Thompson

20 Sep 2007

FOLK Versatile Heart (Rounder/Universal) Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Martin and Eliza Carthy and a Johnsonless Antony combine to further the leisurely comeback of the wonderful veteran folkie after 2002’s Fashionably Late. But this is not an album…

The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Mountain Choir

20 Sep 2007

Naming albums is tricky business – you’re going to have to live with it for eternity, so when TAMGC (as they shall be know here for space reasons) named their album Fighting and Onions you just kind of knew they were a bit special. With a sound that is…

Exposure - Rachel Unthank & the Winterset

6 Sep 2007

The all-girl folk quartet, famous for singing in their gorgeous Geordie accents, are back with The Bairns, the follow-up to 2005’s Cruel Sister, which received a hearty thumbs up from folk purists and mainstream radio alike. How do you follow up a…

Karine Polwart on Thank You For the Music

6 Sep 2007

When choosing eight Scottish songwriters to profile, the BBC Radio Scotland series Thank You For the Music wisely eschewed yer flashier, more tabloid-friendly Tunstalls and Fratellis, focussing instead on low-profile, home-grown indie and folk heroes…

King Creosote

6 Sep 2007

FOLK POP His prodigious output thas been celebrated no end in the past but Kenny Anderson has now been ingested into the musical machine in earnest now but has lost none of his wayward spirit. Sure, this could be argued as his most conventional…

Martin Simpson

6 Sep 2007

FOLK Like Christy Moore, Martin Simpson has an unconventional and idiosyncratic voice that is not technically great, but knocks spots of most of the competition in expressiveness and know-how. He has the priceless ability to make any song he sings…

Peatbog Faeries

What Men Deserve to Lose

16 Aug 2007

FOLK The title of the Skye-based band’s fifth album is a reference to the fairy lore of the island, but there is nothing ethereal or otherwordly about their high-impact delivery. If the full effect of their storming Celtic dance music is best felt…

Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

16 Aug 2007

The notion of abandoning the mid-Atlantic accent when singing may have finally permeated Scottish indie-land, but for the folk world making use of your own regional voice is a given. So to hear Rachel Unthank make the Geordie accent sound quite so…

The Wailin’ Jennys

16 Aug 2007

The line-up for St Brides this year is as diverse as ever, drawing performers from all corners and this time it's Canada’s midwest. The area is a fertile ground for earthy music with a foot in the past and one in the future and these three female…

Tunng

Good Arrows

16 Aug 2007

FOLK POP Citing influences from Icelandic prog rock to choral music and film soundtracks, Tunng’s third album is a musical playground of varied sounds. Stand-out track ‘Bullets’ is a simple catchy pop number. ‘Hands’ and ‘King’ are gently beautiful…

Tom Russell & Michael Martin

9 Aug 2007

Folk singers of any depth and quality should be the real historians of a nation, capturing the essence of a people through their own distilled musical methods. The work of a man like Tom Russell should be looked up and devoured in libraries by eager…

Various

Putumayo presents Americana

1 Aug 2007

The Putumayo label normally specialises in championing hitherto unsung musical styles from the far flung corners of the globe, collecting them and presenting them in lush, skillfully annotated packages.

Joni Mitchell signed by Starbucks

27 Jul 2007

Starbucks has secured a deal to distribute singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell’s new album through its outlets worldwide. The move follows a similar deal with Paul McCartney, which helped shift 447,000 copies of his new album Memory Almost Full after its…

Hitlist - The best rock, pop, jazz & folk

17 Jul 2007

• A Band Called Quinn, Maxi Geil! and Playcolt Glasgow’s very own up and coming indie kids Quinn are joined by Brooklyn’s finest arch-camp art-rockers Maxi Geil and Playcolt, who are playing in Scotland for the first time. Classic Grand, Glasgow, Tue 24…

Megson

Records

16 Jul 2007

FOLK MEGSON Smoke of Home (EDJ Records) Megson are the duo of Stu Hanna and Debbie Palmer. They hail originally from Teesside, and have been picking up a fair bit of favourable notice on the acoustic folk/roots circuit over the past couple…

Martin Simpson

Album

16 Jul 2007

FOLK MARTIN SIMPSON Prodigal Son (Topic) Simpson may be an enthusiast - he includes notes on his guitar tunings - but he is no purist. His enquiring ears have kept him at the interesting edge of the folk scene since he was a genuine…

*Hitlist

3 Jul 2007

• T in the Park 80,000 folks have over 100 reasons on stage to get down this weekend, from Arctic Monkeys to Wu-Tang Clan (pictured) and all in between. See full running order . Balado, Fri 6-Sun 8 Jul. (Rock & Pop) • The Skids After Green Day and…

Bela and Iain Archer

3 Jul 2007

INDIE FOLK Glasgow-based Icelandic singer/songwriter Bela’s debut album Ticket for a Train didn’t enjoy anything like the response its fantastically warm, woozy folk pop merited upon release a year ago. Watching him pick away contently at an acoustic…

Records - Thoumire & Milligan

3 Jul 2007

FOLK Folk meets jazz and cuts a very acceptable deal in the music of concertina player Simon Thoumire and pianist David Milligan. The pair bring a diverse range of stylistic options to their music. The combination of instruments is an unusual but…

Aly Bain & Ale Möller

Album

18 Jun 2007

FOLK Mention the words Aly Bain and duo in the same sentence, and the inevitable association that springs to mind is with Phil Cunningham. The fiddle maestro’s duo with Swedish mandola player Ale Möller is of more recent vintage, and is not yet as…

Records - Lau

21 May 2007

FOLK This debut CD from Lau, a trio made up of fiddler Aidan O’Rourke, accordionist Martin Green and guitarist Kris Drever, is an accurate reflection of the kind of music that had been emerging in their impressive (if occasional) live work since they…

Julie Fowlis

Album

7 May 2007

FOLK Ever since she won the prestigious New Horizon award for 2006 at the BBC Folk Awards, Julie Fowlis has been landed with the unenviable expectation that she might succeed in taking Gaelic singing to a wider audience than it currently reaches…

Elliott Smith

Records

26 Apr 2007

FOLK/ROCK Music from beyond the grave is always kind of spooky, especially when it is from an artist whose demise life was cut short like Smith’s. This is even more so given the bare nature of his songs, often little more than a couple of guitar…

Rory Campbell

Records

26 Apr 2007

FOLK Barra-born Rory Campbell is best known for his work in bands like Deaf Shepherd and Old Blind Dogs. His latest project features Jonny Hardie (a band-mate in Old Blind Dogs) on guitar and drummer Donald Hay, and offers strong and expressive…

Willy Mason

Records

26 Apr 2007

FOLK POP Wee Willy Mason launches his second tasty platter, with a voice that still sounds way beyond his tender early 20s. This new set of songs makes his acclaimed debut, Where the Humans Eat, seem like a slab of raw meat, with lush production…

*Hitlist

Hitlist

9 Apr 2007

Mark Eitzel The erstwhile American Music Club lynchpin wears his heart on his sleeve and can write a love song that would break your heart clean open on one listen. Not a dry seat in the house guaranteed. Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Thu 19 Apr.

Records - Lauren MacColl

Lauren MacColl

9 Apr 2007

FOLK Fiddler Lauren MacColl first came to wider notice when she won the BBC2 Young Folk Award in 2004. She is highly accomplished technically, but also has a genuine feel for the expressive nuances of the music, a quality entirely evident in this…

Records - Thee Moths

Thee Moths

27 Mar 2007

GLITCHY FOLK There’s a joyous impatience in the music Thee Moths make. Whether it’s on clipped, sweet acoustic jingles or powdery, brittle electronic cut ups or general strung out oddness is infectious. The songs swim into one another and the overall…

Records - Wolfstone

Wolfstone

27 Mar 2007

FOLK Fiddler Duncan Chisholm sees Wolfstone as a Highland rock band who happen to play fiddles and pipes, and the musical mix here bears out that emphasis. This new set on their own Once Bitten label (if you see that name as reflecting earlier harsh…

5 Reasons To Go See

Jackie Leven

13 Mar 2007

1 He’s an underground legend The 56-year-old singer songwriter from Fife has spent a lifetime on the periphery of various music scenes and genres, but has influenced generations. His 1971 debut, Control, is considered a psychedelic folk classic and his…

Records - The Midden

The Midden

13 Mar 2007

FOLK Considering the recent leaps forward in folk music made by the likes of Karine Polwart and Seth Lakeman, it simply isn’t enough these days to be a proficient traditional band with a few decent tunes. Scottish fivesome The Midden suffer by such…

North Cregg - album review

North Cregg

27 Feb 2007

FOLK (Greentrax) The Irish band’s second release on Greentrax offers a characteristic mix of lively, infectious tunes and wistful songs, the latter courtesy of another new young singer and fiddle player off the Irish production line, Claire-Anne…

Kris Drever - album review

KRIS DREVER

13 Feb 2007

FOLK (Reveal Records) Folk music is not the usual field of activity for this label, but they were so impressed with singer and guitarist Kris Drever playing live that they snapped him up to record this debut album. It has been eagerly anticipated…

Eddi Reader - album review

Eddi Reader

29 Jan 2007

FOLK After her triumphant homecoming with the best-selling Sings the Songs of Robert Burns, this new collection finds one of Scotland’s best voices continuing to mine the traditional vein in the company of folk heroes like John McCusker, Phil…

Shooglenifty - album review

Shooglenifty

29 Jan 2007

FOLK Shooglenifty have been around long enough to defuse the element of surprise in their musical fusions, a process hastened by the pervasive genre-expanding influence they have exerted over the years. If it no longer packs the sheer novelty it once…

Cascade

Strathclyde Suite, Glasgow, Thu 1 Feb

15 Jan 2007

CELTIC CONNECTIONS Cascade is a new project featuring a number of familiar names from a diverse range of musical backgrounds. The five-piece first got together at the London Jazz Festival in November, and this will be their debut in Scotland. The…

L'Occidentale Dr Fanfare

Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Tue 30 Jan

15 Jan 2007

CELTIC CONNECTIONS First, a credo. ‘We have arrived at the time of Fusion. The era of conventional folk music had to travel through the social and cultural storms of the 20th century in order to emerge fully in the 21st. Some medievalists claim that…

Lori Watson - album review

Lori Watson

15 Jan 2007

FOLK Borders fiddler Lori Watson has been tipped as a name to watch for a wee while now, and her debut CD bears out that perception in fine style. She is accompanied by accordionist Fiona Young and two guitarists, Innes Watson (her brother) and Barry…

Seth Lakeman

15 Jan 2007

Celtic Connections have secured one of the leading lights in the modern English roots scene, Seth Lakeman, as support for Scottish singer/songwriter Karine Polwart. Bringing a new dynamic and rawness to his intimate performances, Lakeman specialises in…

Shooglenifty

15 Jan 2007

Edinburgh’s folk fusionists Shooglenifty are one of the many exceptional acts making up this year’s Celtic Connections programme. The groundbreaking celtic dance band will be joined by Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq Gillis, one of the leaders in…

Barbarossa - album review

Barbarossa

3 Jan 2007

FOLK It must be fun down the Fence Collective way with all those pseudonyms being hidden behind. And so following in the footsteps of the label’s mentor King Creosote (Kenny Anderson) here we have James Mathe aka Red Beard (‘barbarossa’ in Italian)…

Adem

Look@Libraries: Clarkston Community Library, Sat 2

20 Dec 2006

FOLK IMPROVISATION Otherwordly London folkist Adem doesn’t just write and perform music, but rather has a full-blown relationship with it. Fitting then that he should have been talked into turning his hand to Look@Libraries cause - that of promoting…

Celtic Connections

Various venues, Glasgow, Wed 17 Jan-Sun 4 Feb

20 Dec 2006

CELTIC AND BEYOND Glasgow’s massive Celtic Connections festival comes in with the New Year and a new man at the helm. Musician, producer, radio presenter and now CC’s artistic director, Donald Shaw (pictured) admits, ‘It’s been a nightmare - but…

Vashti Bunyan

Cold comfort

20 Dec 2006

The story behind Vashti Bunyan’s 1970 album Just Another Diamond Day has become legendary. Vashti made her first bid for stardom guided by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Her wisp of a voice and tall, elegant beauty suggested she could be an…

Adrian Crowley, Doogie Paul and Rob St John

Tracer Trails @ Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 9 N

6 Dec 2006

FOLK A rare Edinburgh appearance from Irish singer songwriter Adrian Crowley always promised to be special, particularly in combination with an even rarer (if slightly chilly) choice of venue and a pair of fine local supports. Rob St John was…

Junction Pool - album review

Junction Pool

27 Nov 2006

FOLK This young Borders ensemble was inspired by the example of The Unusual Suspects, and their own attempt at creating a folk big band packs plenty of energy and punch. The 13-strong ensemble of young musicians is led by pianist Harris Playfair, and…

Partick Folk Festival

27 Nov 2006

Turn right at the bottom of Byres Road, past the Lismore Bar and you’re nearly at the Annexe - the hub of Partick’s annual little gem of a folk festival. From jazzy bagpipes to ancient song tradition, in concert and workshop. there’s music for all, and…

Be Good Tanyas, The

The Be Good Tanyas

11 Nov 2006

Bluegrass, folk and country from all girl trio The Be Good Tanyas. Trish Klein, Frazey Ford and Samantha Parton play heart-breaking Americana and traditional alt.country standards, imbued with humanity and cracked gothic ambience straight from the…