The Hellfire Club. Sun in The Sky. Strength In Numbers Records

Posted on by

Been a while since we’ve heard anything from Glasgow’s Hellfire Club. However they’ve a new single which is launched today with an acoustic set from the band at The Rio Cafe, Partick tonight at 7pm. Sun In The Sky was produced by Johnny Smillie, guitarist with Thrum and will be available digitally from the usual outlets. As you can hear below it’s a fine jangled slice of Americana with a fiddle laced chorus that fairly drives the song along. Apparently a taster for their upcoming album, Songs For Fallen Stars, it certainly livened up our Friday morning especially the guitar lead towards the end which fades out all too soon.

The Hellfire Club Facebook page

Strength in Numbers Records

Best of 2014

Posted on by

albums

There’s a lot or pros and cons when it comes to listing end of year best ofs or favourites. Two years ago Blabber’n’Smoke eventually plumbed for the pros outweighing the cons so this is the third time we’ve presented what, when it comes down to it, is an arbitrary choice of remembered listen. Albums that have stood the test of (a relatively short) time, the ones we’ve returned to or recommended to others in the pub. Above all it’s been fun to look back, read the reviews and see if they still stand. So with this in mind the following are the official Blabber’n’Smoke 2014 picks, in alphabetical order.

Blue Rose Code. Ballads Of Peckham Rye
Birds Of Chicago. Live From Space
Fire Mountain. All Dies Down
Bradford lee Folk and The Bluegrass Playboys. Somewhere Far Away
Cahalen Morrison & Eli West. I’ll Swing My Hammer With Both My Hands
Jim Keaveny. Out Of Time
Parker Millsap. Parker Millsap
Michael Rank & Stag. Deadstock
Sturgill Simpson. Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
John Southworth. Niagara

Random honourable mentions go to

Lucinda Williams Down Where the Spirit Meets The Bone,
The Johnny Cash Native American album reboot, Look Again To The Wind,
Danny and The Champions Of The World’s Live Champs!
Dan Michealson & The Coastguards Distance
Cale Tyson’s EP, High On Lonesome,
Luke Tuchsherer’s debut You Get So Alone at Times It makes Sense,
Petunia’s Inside Of You,
Ags Connolly How about Now,
Chris Cacavas & Edward Abbiati. Me And The Devil along with Abbiati’s band Lowlands who delivered the excellent Love Etc.,
Zoe Muth. World Of Strangers,
Hank Wangford & The Lost Cowboys. Save Me The Waltz .
Grant Peeples and the Peeples Rebublic. Punishing The Myth.
Simone Felice. Strangers.
Bronwynne Brent. Stardust.
Sylvie Simmons. Sylvie (allowing an honorary mention here for Howe Gelb who produced).
The War On Drugs. Lost In The Dream.
Lynne Hanson. River Of Sand.
Gal Holiday & The Honky Tonk Revue. Last To Leave.
And finally John Murry’s EP, Califorlonia which is brilliant and hopefully just an appetiser for his follow up to the majestic Graceless Age.

Digging through the archives it’s been noticeable that there’s been a fine contribution this year from Scottish acts who dip into or draw from an Americana well to a greater or lesser extent. While Blue Rose Code’s Ballads Of Peckam Rye features above the following are all stellar contributions to the local scene.

Dropkick. Homeward
Dumb Instrument. The Silent Beard (with the Scottish song of the year, Suffering from Scottishness).
John Hinshelwood. Lowering The Tone.
The David Latto Band. Here Today, Ghost Tomorrow EP
Norrie McCulloch. Old Lovers Junkyard
The New Madrids. Through the Heart of Town.
Red Pine Timber Company. Different Lonesome
The Rulers Of The Root. Porky Dreams
Ten Gallon Bratz. Tales From The Long Shadows

Although his album, Little Glass Box came out in 2012, Fraser Anderson is a major find of the year while another local lad, Daniel Meade unleashes his Nashville recorded Keep Right Away in January. Hopefully folk will have long enough memories to recall this when it comes to compiling the 2015 lists. In the meantime it can be first on the New Year shopping list.

Sam Baker

Posted on by

A reminder that legendary Texan Singer Songwriter Sam Baker is appearing in Glasgow next week as part of a UK tour that kicks off at London Dingwalls on Monday 10th November. Sam Baker’s introduction to songwriting and live performance began as a method of coming to terms with a tragic, life-changing moment. Aged 32, taking a train ride through Peru, a bomb exploded in the carriage causing catastrophic damage and killing seven people, including a German boy and his parents who were sitting close by. Having survived, but left with both physical and psychological scars, Baker set out determined to relearn the guitar and rebuild his memory and speech. He attributes his minimalist storytelling techniques and lyrical elegance to this life changing event; his reflection on life and appreciation of each day a clear theme throughout his work.
“Life is a gift. I went through a lot of bitterness- a lot of anger. But those things are toxic. Gratitude for what remains is more helpful than resentment for what was lost”

Catching the attention of BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris with his first album ‘Mercy’ back in 2004, Baker followed up with ‘Pretty World’ in 2007 and completed the set with ‘Cotton’ in 2009; now referring to this as ‘The Mercy Trilogy.’ The trilogy maps his path of recovery combined with the overwhelming theme that ‘everyone is at the mercy of another one’s dream’. With the support of pledges from fans across the world, Baker returned in 2013 with a new album ‘Say Grace’,supported by an incredibly successful UK tour.

The Glasgow show is Wednesday 12th November 2014 at Webster’s Theatre, promoted by The Fallen Angels Club. Blabber’n’Smoke’s review of Say Grace is https://paulkerr.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/sam-baker-say-grace/. Tour dates are here

Referendum Blues

Posted on by

Seems to me that the UK is like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. England Ireland and Wales were all getting along but needed some oomph. So Scotland was invited to add some bite and fire. Although the others had flashes of brilliance it was Scotland who revved up the engine. Spectacularly successful at first, world dominion, empire and all, Scotland began to chafe against the others, aware it had so much more to offer. So, eat a peach Better Together. We might be heading for the ditch but it’s much more interesting there.

The Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival 2014

Posted on by

The Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival for 2014 was formally launched yesterday at a reception in Glasgow’s City Chambers. Now in its eighth year, the festival has been one of the more prominent features of the progressive stance Scotland has taken on the issue of mental health over the past decade along with the anti stigma campaign, See Me and the Scottish Recovery Network

SMHAFF has always incorporated musical events and has been well supported throughout its lifetime by many Scottish musicians who have been generous in the offering of their services. It was notable that yesterday’s event was attended by Duglas T. Stewart of the BMX Bandits who has been unstinting in his support over the years along with Lauren Mayberry of Chvrches who again has long been a supporter of mental health causes. Glasgow singer/songwriter Shambles Miller enlivened the proceedings with a few of his astute perceptions including a fine song called Worriers, a clarion call for those who experience anxiety.

Running from 1st to 19th October the festival has events throughout Scotland with film screenings, theatre, art, poetry and photography all featured. In addition, there are workshops, discussion groups and cabaret, over 300 events in all. Of note, Glasgow will have an Olive Grove Records Showcase in the Glad Cafe on the south side featuring Randolph’s Leap while Withered Hand will play his new album at Paisley Arts Centre.

SMHAFF website

You can download the festival programme here

Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival 2014 from SMHAFF on Vimeo.

You can hear Shambles Miller’s song Worriers at the end of this video.

The Bills. Yes Please.

Posted on by

Yes Please has been available for a while but it’s getting a push on the back of The Bills‘ current UK tour which takes in several Scottish dates starting next week. A Canadian export, The Bills are Juno winning artists in their homeland but have a fairly low profile overseas and it appears that Yes Please is their first album in almost eight years.

So what to expect? Simplest comparison I can make at present is with Brighton’s Mountain Firework Company who travel along similar lines. There’s a fine thrust to many of the songs with fiddle and mandolin well to the fore as singer Chris Frye drives the songs forward. The opener Hallowed Hall is a fine example while Not the End and The Plant Song sound like they could be audience pleasers while Shining Face is a powerful piece with a surging fiddle and accordion led accompaniment.

There’s a wide range of influences on show here and plenty of space for the band to show off their instrumental prowess with five instrumentals on the album. While at heart they’re a folk rock band they take in swing jazz (covering a Django Reinhardt tune, Love’s Melody), tango (Scotch Bonnet), Eastern influences (Gale In My Sail), bluegrass (Blackberry Ivy and Broom) and there’s an undoubted Celtic influence in the fiddle tune After Music.

An eclectic bunch then but the playing here is exemplary and their shows will offer a rare opportunity to see them live. Dates below.

Wed May 28: The Met, Bury
Thurs May 29: St Andrew’s Church, Grinton, Swaledale (Reeth Memorial Hall / Swaledale Festival joint promotion)
Fri May 30: The Ropery Hall, Barton upon Humber
Sat May 31: Selby Town Hall
Sun June 1: Brookfield Village Hall
Tues June 3: The Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline
Wed June 4: Eastgate Theatre, Peebles
Thurs June 5: The Sage, Gateshead
Fri June 6: The Brewery, Kendal
Sat June 7: Gate to Southwell Festival, Notts

Seth Lakeman

Posted on by

Getting into a folky mood after cuing up some albums tonight (Liege & Leif and the Albion Band’s Rise Up Like the Sun if you ask) so it was nice to recieve this video of Seth Lakeman performing his new single Last Rider from his latest album Word of Mouth. It’s a cracking driving performance. Seth will be playing at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 6 June as part of BBC Radio 2’s D-Day 70 Years On Concert where he will perform a song with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Sons Of Bill. The Gears E.P. Blue Rose Records

Posted on by

Sons Of Bill from Charlottesville, Virginia made a bit of a splash back in 2012 with their third release, Sirens. Produced by Cracker’s David Lowery it showed the band growing into their skin as worthy successors to the likes of Son Volt and the Drive By Truckers. In the midst of recording the follow-up, this time produced by Ken Coomer (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco) they’re taking a break to swing through a lengthy European tour which includes several UK dates including two in Scotland where they will be supported by their new Blue Rose label mates, our very own Wynntown Marshals.

Obviously it’s useful to have some new product on hand when you’re sloshing through six countries (Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, and Scotland!, five if you’re a no voter!) so the Sons and Blue Rose have delivered a seven song E.P. to accompany the tour. Only available via the Blue Rose website or at their gigs The Gears EP offers a sneak preview of three songs from the forthcoming album (to be called Love & Logic) along with acoustic versions of two songs from Sirens and two live cuts.

Of the three new songs Brand New Paradigm finds the band swerving from the sound of Sirens with the vocal harmonies more polished and a mild nod to classic Mercury Rev. It’s a sumptuous confection of sound with chiming guitars and soaring vocals. Road To Canaan is primarily acoustic with finger picked guitar and a female singer duetting with James Wilson. Mallets softly propel the song with occasional percussive flurries adding dramatic effect while atmospheric guitar gimmickry evokes the wintry road from Nebraska, a beautiful song. Bad Dancer however rips it up in fine fashion as the guitars slash and burn and Wilson celebrates the cool kids who hang apart, who don’t dance but know what’s hip as they slouch in corners at parties.

The acoustic version (with steel guitar) of Santa Anna Winds (the opening song from Sirens) strips away the rock trappings and allows the song’s nihilism to ring clear and is much improved for that while Radio Can’t Rewind is another stripped down version of a song from Sirens which in this version is a heart-warming Dobro infused doldrum and again it unveils a greater heart than the previously issued version. As for the live cuts, Turn It Up was the centrepiece of Sirens and here it translates into a fine example of turbo charged country rock with guitars centre stage while the cover of Neil Young’s Unknown Legend adds a bit of fire in the engine room compared to Shakey’s version.

The EP is a great introduction to the band and it might be prudent if you wish to see them (and given the likelihood that Marshalls fans will pack the venues) to book tickets now. Sons of Bill and The Wynntown Marshals appear at Stereo, Glasgow on Sunday 9th March and then the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh on Monday 10th March. The other dates are on their website . If you need any further evidence of the live power of Sons of Bill there’s a free download only live album available here.

website

Blue Rose Records online store

Folk v Computer games

Posted on by

You might remember Will Varley who was reviewed on Blabber’n’Smoke last September. One of his songs, Weddings and Wars, was a potted history of mankind and the troubles he’s got into through his belief systems. Anyway Varley has engineered a great video for the song which is made to resemble an early computer game. so sit back and enjoy this.

Celtic Connections – Fraser Anderson.

Posted on by

Fraser Anderson appears to be a well kept secret. A Scottish songwriter who decamped to rural France several years ago he’s appearing with Wilson, Swarbrick, Gaughan & Ellis at Oran Mor on the 23rd January. His most recent album, Little Glass Box came out in 2012 and it’s a very fine, warm and woody wisp of an album. It’s perhaps lazy to describe it as sounding a little bit like John Martyn circa Grace and Danger but there are definite similarities in the vocal style. Anderson doesn’t have the mumble and stumble that Martyn occasionally employed and his voice definitely is not as gruff. However his sweetly strained falsetto does recall some of Martyn’s work. Add to this the always excellent Danny Thompson on bass (and he sounds great here) along with Max Middleton’s Rhodes piano and some flugelhorn from time to time and we have a musical landscape that Martyn also inhabited.

Perhaps too much comparison there so it’s important to say that Anderson is no mere copyist. He runs the gamut from pastoral folk to noirish jazz on the album while the title song is a curious hybrid of banjo frolics and tooting trumpet as he almost scats with a Scottish burr. Listening to this I was reminded of Paulo Nutini but without Nutini’s wearisome vocal mannerisms. The album opens strongly with Rag and Bones where Anderson’s guitar picking is enveloped by Thompson’s supple bass as the song unfolds at a sedate pace. Never Know recalls another lost soul, Nick Drake. It doesn’t sound like Drake per se but the mood and arrangement recall his melancholic style. It’s a restrained piece with some excellent interplay between guitar, keyboards and bass. Warhorse maintains this level of playing but slows the pace to a crawl, perfect late night listening here. This laid back midnight feel persists throughout for the most part although the aforementioned title song might be the time to get up and stretch for a moment or two. Anderson ends the album with an understated flourish. Run These Lines is a fragile and tender love song with bare accompaniment which shows that Anderson can captivate without the accoutrements which adorn the other songs. He backs this up with two unlisted songs that close the album. One is a showcase for his guitar playing and vocal acrobatics while the final piece is a minor beauty with wistful violin winding around his voice and guitar. I reckon if you’re heading to Oran Mor next Wednesday be sure to get there on time to catch him.

website