Nathan Bell + Scott Ashworth. Glasgow Americana Festival, The Glad Café, Glasgow. 5th October 2025.

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If you’ve ever wondered what a real life “hard core troubadour” looked and sounded like then I’d recommend a trip to a Nathan Bell show. After a shot at fame in the 80s, Bell only returned to recording after a 30 year hiatus, working and raising a family. When his job went belly up a decade or so ago he picked up his guitar again and has since released a series of albums which sink their teeth into the American jugular.

Bell first appeared in Glasgow back in 2017, playing at Celtic Connections. Since then he’s returned numerous times and, while he has become a popular attraction throughout the UK gig circuit, he seems to have developed a special relationship with the city and its audiences. I expect a lot of places might want to claim a “special relationship” but Bell knows his Glasgow lore, its myths and legends and its football lore. That said, he’s incredibly well informed about UK culture overall (the good and the bad), so much so I reckon he should just move on over here.

Anyhow, Bell’s latest appearance here was on the last day of the Glasgow Americana Festival, the annual festival organised by The Fallen Angels club, at a sold out appearance at The Glad Café on the south side. With a new album to promote (Demokracy Blues, a coruscating take on the current state of the union) Bell forsake the electric blues of the disc, appearing solo but still able to deliver his message. In case that sounds somewhat forbidding, Bell was on top form, able to summon fear and fury at times but leavening this with his hugely entertaining stories and asides. He leaned heavily on recent songs from Demokracy Blues and its predecessor, Red, White And American Blues (It Couldn’t Happen Here) while also delivering some favourites from the back catalogue. There was folk, blues and much more in here.

He opened with the wide vista of Black Crow Blue, a song from his first album from 2011, essentially setting out his credentials with his perfect finger picking, his wailsome harmonica and honest American voice, a true troubadour indeed. It was then on to the new album for a song which pitched itself against the recent crop of so called Americana bands who think that wearing old dungarees and shucking on corn qualifies them, bands who might call themselves something such as Amish Mystics. Here he skewers them. From the album Red, White And American Blues (It Couldn’t Happen Here) there was a devastating delivery of American Blues, its closing refrain of “Burn Baby Burn” reminding us of  the hosts of Americans who brought down Nixon – the power of resistance. From the same album Bell dived into the legend of one of his heroes, Lightin’ Hopkins on a great delivery of Retread Cadillac while there was more acoustic blues on the lively New Cocaine Blues. The latest album leans heavily on electric Chicago blues but he easily managed to deliver a stripped down acoustic delivery of Downhearted And Blue which carried as much emotional heft. There were a couple of new songs played and some from the past with Bell declaring “this is my most requested song” before playing a spellbinding I Don’t Do This For Love, I Do This For Love.

As the set end loomed into sight Bell sang the closing number from the new album, You Say Nothing. It’s a stomping blues number, somewhat akin to John Lee Hooker in an evil mood and Bell stomped the notes from his guitar while wailing the title refrain, an electrifying performance.  The crowd raved and Bell gave us another couple of songs in lieu of an encore, no point in walking off and back on again really. First off was his instrumental, Hot Tub Shark (finally available on disc folks), really an excuse for Bell to show off his guitar skills and if you want to know why he called it that then you need to go see him live although we can say that after playing it he likened it to the silly tunes which accompanied the late comedian Benny Hill’s skits. Another example of Bell’s encyclopaedic knowledge of UK pop culture. The last song brought everyone back to earth as Bell sang A Lucky Man, part travelogue, part farewell to lost family, friends and even pets. It’s a humbling experience to hear such a song played live and in such a perfect fashion as happened here and the audience responded with fulsome applause. As we said at the beginning, Bell is a true troubadour who can pull at your heartstrings one moment and have you creased with laughter the next. We need to treasure artists like this.

The support act was a local singer songwriter Scott Ashworth who set the scene with a short set of impressive songs. Like Bell, Ashworth delves into blues and folk and The Devil Don’t Deserve Me, his take on the Robert Johnson crossroads legend, was an early highlight. The Ghost, from Ashworth’s album Ghosts And Broken Men is a spooky meditation on the musician’s lot of lonely travels and travails. Ashworth regularly releases singles for charitable causes and played his latest, Little Did I Know, sales of which will benefit dementia charities. He ended with a song, The Letter, he had written for Combat Stress (a charity to support military veterans’ mental health). With its John Prine like storyline it was a fine end to a fine little set.

Chip Taylor. Little Brothers. Train Wreck Records

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Where do you start with Chip Taylor? Well. First off he’s one of the headliners at this week’s Glasgow Americana Festival playing Friday at the Classic Grand. Simple, go get a ticket. After that it gets weird. On one level Taylor is connected, star wise, Hollywood firmament stuff, his brother is Jon Voight, his niece Angelina Jolie, he should be larging it up in Malibu. More pertinently he’s the guy who wrote the sublime Angel Of The Morning and the classic garage punk perennial Wild Thing, yes, that Wild Thing, covered by The Troggs, Hendrix et al. In fact, he was a regular one man Brill Building back in the sixties and early seventies churning out hit songs for numerous artists. Then he packed it all in and became a professional gambler (told you this was weird) only returning to music in the late nineties. A series of albums recorded with Carrie Rodriguez were classic dusty Americana while Chip himself rolled out his discs including the immense triple CD The Little Prayers Trilogy. Across these discs Taylor delivers his songs and spoken words like a sage Walter Brennan addressing you by a campfire. Words of wisdom suffused with a humanity which is occasionally tempered by an anger at the ways of the world. The albums are a comfort and a delight and this latest release is no different.

Addressing the plight of refugees, documenting a dream about his brothers (Jon and volcanologist Barry) and offering up a self-help mantra of sorts Taylor softly spins his wisdom across the album. The songs are laid back, guitarist John Platania (renowned for his days in Van Morrison’s Caledonia Soul Orchestra) and keyboardist Goran Grini delicately supporting the slim melodies. The album opens with Taylor delivering a narrative about his brother Barry and his granddaughter driving to a golf tournament for kids then driving back. A simple tale but one invested with a sense of dignity and pride as Taylor’s homespun voice delivers the story before coming to the conclusion that, “we all need some great rides home.” Similarly a dream about Taylor and his brothers in a taxi spins into a meditation on their relationship, their shared Yonkers background and their occasional differences on the title song. As Time Goes By, dedicated to his wife, is an affecting love song that acknowledges the passage of time and the deepening bond that develops, a wonderful song.

Over the course of his albums Taylor has displayed his wry sense of humour and also his deep love of humanity and both are well displayed here. Enlighten Yourself has Taylor delivering a lecture of sorts with an occasional mantra (which is reprised at the end of the album). Sounding almost like Mr. Magoo as he stumbles through his guide to becoming enlightened he highlights the absurdity of many gurus while pointing out the simplicity of just being yourself and enjoying the simple things in life.  Refugee Children is prefaced by Taylor setting the scene as he recalls a tour in Sweden and coming across a group of refugees. The song again is simple, painting a picture of the children fishing in a brook but Taylor makes his point midway as he reads from the Human Rights Convention relating to the status of refugees. Simple but effective.

As we mentioned up above Chip Taylor is appearing this Friday as part of the Glasgow Americana festival. It’s his first appearance in Glasgow for 15 years and a rare opportunity to see one of the legends of American music.

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Unfortunately none of the videos from the album are available here in the UK but just this week Taylor released this new song he has recorded with Carrie Rodriguez.