Archive for the ‘Gig Guide’ Category

Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express

plus Kris Gruen

Wednesday 7th June 2023

Saint Lukes Glasgow

Tickets £24 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Book Online

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating/standing

Since his neo-psychedelic Green On Red 80s days, Chuck Prophet has been turning out country, folk, blues, and Brill Building classicism. His last visit to European and UK shores with the Mission Express was way back in 2017, before the pandemic and before Chuck getting and finally beating cancer that floored him for much of this year. Chuck is back and better than ever with his Mission Express for his first European shows in six years.

The cult Californian musician finally returns to promote ‘The Land That Time Forgot’, his latest album out via Yep Roc Records which saw his best reviews to date with a UNCUT Album of the Month in addition he will have an exclusive tour album available at all shows. Priced out of recording in his beloved hometown, San Francisco, Prophet found himself re-energised in Upstate NY, just a few miles from the Vermont border, and made a record that he describes as “just as much a 21st-century exorcism as it is Americana.” The songs inhabit a world where the protagonists might be on the run from the truant officer, a handsy boss or the Immigration Service. These are love songs that turn political on a dime, infused with personal connections. Especially some of the more social material grows out of Chuck’s evolution after an upbringing in a Republican Party household. In his singular way, the album charts the slow-collapse of the party: from ‘Honest Abe Lincoln’s’ funeral train. through a childhood in Richard Nixon’s hometown, all the way to the playful mockery of the disc’s closer, about the clown who currently eats cheeseburgers in the Oval Office.

Written mostly with long-time co-conspirator klipschutz, this LP steps out of Chuck’s comfort zone (“two guitars, bass, and drums”). After nailing three tracks in S.F. with Grammy-winning alchemist Matt Winegar, Prophet confesses, “We hit a wall. Schedules. Money. Towed vehicles: a thousand large to get one van out of lockup.” So, he went out on tour, a solo tour, to raise some much-needed funds. Driving through the Catskills he ended up dropping into Kenny Siegal’s Old Soul Studios to finish the record, with some great company too: “At Old Soul, musicians drop in, sometimes complete blind dates. We did everything live. The drummer gigs with Kevin Morby. The bass player, out of some jazz scene. Piano player, an honorary Bad Seed. A mish-mash of personalities and styles. Turns out you can make a lot of noise with acoustic instruments, if there are enough of them.”

‘The Land That Time Forgot’ has deep roots, from the Southern Delta to the discos of Munich. There’s a kind of folkish inevitability to it – “there’s lots of acoustic instruments, on top of each other and side by side” – but as much as folk music is the soil all music grows from, it never hurts to have a boiler room. As such, there’s always a rhythm section shuffling under your feet. Take ‘Marathon’, for example: “It’s all Krautrock bass and Everly Brothers acoustics. I threw all my rockabilly, space-age, Roxy Music tricks in there.” Throughout, Chuck finds himself on his finest-form. Not just in terms of the multifaceted songwriting – with more surprising reference points than you count on two hands – but also his exemplary, typically out-there storytelling, too. And a not-inconsiderable presence on vocals by the inimitable Stephanie Finch.

The Kris Drever Band (no support)

Sunday 18th June 2023

Cottiers Theatre Glasgow

Tickets £18 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Book Online

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

One of Scotland’s finest and most acclaimed songwriters Kris Drever will tour with his own band (for the first time outside of his work with Lau) in 2023, and to coincide Reveal Records will issue an expansive career spanning compilation album of Kris’ work to date. The new compilation album will also feature some exclusive new songs written and recorded for the band project.

Since the release of his acclaimed 2020 album “Where The World Is Thin” Kris has been busy collaborating in the studio and playing major shows with Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart, Sekou Keita and Jackie Morris for their Lost Spell Songs project (Thirty Tigers, 2021), won yet another BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Original Song, won Album of The Year at the Scots Trad Music Award 2021, duetted with Aoife O’Donovan and toured with Lau and Rachel Baiman.

About the forthcoming tour Kris says,

‘Collaboration has always been at the heart of my enjoyment of music. I love the freedom of heading out on my own; I love the challenge of trying to realise full arrangements with just a guitar and a vocal but, for me, nothing comes close to building those invisible cathedrals with my comrades. The excitement of real musical dialogue is overwhelming: the knowledge that something is happening in front of me that can’t ever be exactly replicated is fascinating and frankly, even after 30 years as a musician, miraculous.

For the last few years, I’ve been working with a really special group of musicians, mostly in the studio – although we have made it out into the light very occasionally to perform.

It’s time now, though, to share these wonderful people and the experiences they create with as wide an audience as possible, because they’re fabulous.

Louis Abbott is a multi-instrumentalist (drums, guitars, keys) and vocalist who is best known for his work as the front man of Scottish Indie collective Admiral Fallow; Euan Burton is my long time co-producer (studio adult) and absolutely stellar double bassist; and Rachel Lightbody is a highly prized Jazz singer who also excels in her work as a backing vocal artist.

Having gotten together increasingly frequently in recent times for various TV and online performances, we’ve worked up a broad variety of my own material. We’ve found a route into songs from across my back catalogue, and in many cases opened them up in ways that I could never have figured out on my own. The upshot of all this is that it’s time to take this fresh sound and retrospective collection on the road.’

21st June 2023: Hoth Brothers

Posted: May 30, 2014 in Gig Guide

Hoth Brothers (no support)

Wednesday 21st June 2023

The Glad Cafe Glasgow

Tickets £12.50 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Book Online

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

In association with Brookfield Knights

From the moment this hot American band released their outstanding Workin’ and Dreamin’ album over here, it seemed like everyone was talking about them. They took a pot shot at Trump and that caused a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. Reviewers – unanimous with their praise and enthusiasm – sparked the wave of excited interest. Writing at Folk Radio UK, respected critic Paul Kerr said: “It’s not that often that an album from an unknown quantity totally blindsides you, forcing you to listen, once, twice, thrice and more, all the better to wallow in its excellence.”

At AmericanaUK, Jeremy Searle said the band played “excellent Gospel-infused roots of Americana,” while Songlines magazine called them “appealingly gritty.”

Hoth Brothers have a strong heartbeat and depth of character, taking inspiration from the old days to deliver their modern take on the world and those who shape it. Together, they have whooped up powerfully-charged material that lifts the spirits like tumbleweeds in a dust devil, creating a whirlwind of timeless roots music and salt-cured New Mexicana.

23rd June 2023: Tom Russell

Posted: May 30, 2014 in Gig Guide

Tom Russell (no support)

Friday 23rd June 2023

Saint Lukes Glasgow

Tickets £22 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151
and Ticketweb

Book Online

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Tom Russell’s songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Doug Sahm, Nanci Griffith, k.d. lang, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Dave Alvin, Iris DeMent, Dave Van Ronk, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Joe Ely, Tom Paxton, Ian Tyson, and Joe Ely, among many others.
Tom Russell graduated from the University of California with a Master’s degree in Criminology and taught Sociology in Nigeria during the Biafran War.

Mythical America explored by brilliant Americana songwriter…Russell is a riveting storyteller.
Peter Watts, UNCUT

Singer songwriter, painter, essayist – Tom Russell has recorded thirty five highly acclaimed records, & published five books – including a book on his art and a book of his songs. Tom Russell songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Doug Sahm, Nanci Griffith, K.D. Lang, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Ian Tyson, Iris Dement, Joe Ely, and a hundred others. Tom Russell graduated from The University of California with a Master’s Degree in Criminology. He was recently awarded the 2015 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music journalism & has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman TV show five times.

Laura Cantrell plus Doug Levitt

Wednesday 28th June 2023

Saint Lukes Glasgow

Tickets £22 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Book Online

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

Country singer Laura Cantrell has balanced different aspects of her music life over the course of a 20-plus years career, whether as a recording artist, radio host, writer, or working parent of a high-school aged musician. Well-known as a recording artist with a devoted following in the US and UK, and as the host of “Dark Horse Radio,” a program devoted to George Harrison on SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel, or as a performer curating “States of Country,” her monthly live series exploring regional diversity in country music, Cantrell has expressed her passion for country music through various platforms. This June she returns with “Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions,” an album of original music celebrating her first 20 years of striking this balance. “Just Like A Rose” is a buoyant collection showcasing Cantrell’s songcraft, sense of history, and conviction as a modern woman singing country music. 

“Just Like A Rose” features songs Cantrell wrote in Nashville with acclaimed cowriters Gary Burr, Fred Wilhelm, and Mark Winchester, and with longtime collaborator and guitarist Mark Spencer, as well as tunes written by Amy Rigby and Joe Flood, artists Cantrell knew from the roots music scene in New York in the 1990s. The material spans Cantrell’s most recent songwriting and songs she’s been humming to herself since before she’d had her own band or played her own shows. “It is interesting maturing into your musical worldview, you still have songs that hit you like you’re a teenager with your first crush, and others that reflect more experience and nuance, or frustration with tough realities, and then those you just love purely as music – there’s a bit of it all on this album.” 

Kirsten Adamson (band) plus support

Thursday 29th June 2023

The Glad Cafe Glasgow

Tickets £14 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Book Online

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

Singer/songwriter Kirsten Adamson summons the same heart-stopping purity as Sandy Denny, by way of Emmylou Harris and Kate Bush. Transcendence runs in the family. Her father was Stuart Adamson (Skids, Big Country) and her mother Alexandra, a champion Highland dancer. 

With summers spent soaking up the atmosphere in Nashville with her dad and a string of leading roles in musical theatre back in the UK, the teenage Adamson’s course was set. She sang backing vocals on Big Country’s last album Driving to Damascus at age 13. By 2010, she was forging her own career as a vocalist and keyboard player for indie-folkers Aberfeldy. She fronted country rockers The Gillyflowers and more recently shone as half of alt-country duo The Marriage, and then on a self-titled solo debut. The austere beauty of her voice has been a constant motif. 

In a reflective mood, she’s now gearing up to release a new solo LP, Landing Place, launching at Scotland’s prestigious Celtic Connections and will be back in Glasgow at The Glad Cafe in June with her full band line up. 

Annie Keating Band

Thursday 7th September 2023

The Glad Cafe Glasgow

Tickets £16 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Book Online

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

Annie Keating writes and sings like a woman who knows deep down that heartache is the price of hope, and she can make us believe – in that way that only the best artists can – that all of it is worth the cost. 

Over the years, she’s been compared with great artists ranging from Lucinda Williams to John Prine but now, in 2023, Keating has found a UK band that takes her talent to a whole new level through undeniably great live shows that deliver unbridled, raucous joy and an infectious sound. 

Keating has brought together some of the UK’s finest players for this tour, including Scott Warman, Joe Coombs and Jamie Dawson. 

The Annie Keating Band had its brilliant debut run in April of 2022, meeting audiences with a tremendous sound, energy, connectivity, talent and joy.  

Scott Warman inspires on both the double and electric bass (depending on the song he moves effortlessly between the two) as well as tasty backing vocals). His experience shines through (he has toured the UK, Europe and USA with many international acts over the years and appeared on legendary broadcaster Bob Harris’s recent charity release of Stand By Me alongside the likes of Mark Knopfler and Rosanne Cash. 

Then there’s rising star Joe Coombs on guitars. He’s a well-known talent on the Americana scene, playing electric, acoustic and slide guitar internationally with a wide variety of artists including Grammy nominated songwriter Yola on her Walk Through Fire tour, Jaime Wyatt, Laura Evans, Robert Vincent, Sam Morrow and Lynne Hanson. 

Last but certainly not least, the Annie Keating band features rocker Jamie Dawson on drums; he’s also a regular player on the Americana scene (a member of the Dreaming Spires and Steady Habits bands) as well as playing and recording with artists like Speedbuggy USA,

“Keating is building the reputation her talent deserves.”~ The Telegraph

An Evening of Songs & Words with Dan Stuart

Sunday 10th September 2023

The Glad Cafe Glasgow

Tickets £15 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Book Online

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

Photo credit- Brian Smith

Dan Stuart aka Marlowe Billings is set to return to Europe for his first shows since 2018 featuring songs from across his solo and Green on Red catalogue and a very brief reading from his third and latest novel Marlowe’s Revenge along with stories of his time with Green on Red.  Green on Red will be releasing the first volume of their back catalogue this Sept featuring the years of 1980-1984.

Dan’s latest novel sees him returning to Tucson, Arizona in the ’90s to get clean and save a failing marriage. Staving off demons with countless rounds of golf, he stumbles into his hometown’s crime-ridden underbelly, where old friends and a brewing cartel war threaten his sobriety, his sanity, and his life.

Dan Stuart is a musician and author who was the leader of Green on Red, a band associated with both LA’s Paisley Underground of the 1980’s and the beginning of the so-called Americana movement. His “false memoir” The Deliverance of Marlowe Billings was published in 2014 to critical acclaim which was followed up with The Unfortunate Demise of Marlowe Billings in 2018. All three of his books all have albums by the same name with the last getting Americana album of the Month in UNCUT Magazine, Dan has released over 15 albums between Green on Red and his solo years. 

Dan’s solo acoustic shows will feature songs along with stories of the early days with Green on Red and throughout his solo years.

“Marlowe’s Revenge is sun-bleached desert noir at its finest. Violent, funny, weird, and 100% original. Count me a huge fan.” —Tod Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author of Gangsterland

“I want to thank the El Tiradito shrine that Marlowe Billings rides again. Dan Stuart was in one of my favorite bands, Green on Red, and now has created Marlowe Billings my favorite golf loving, ex-junkie, trouble-collecting miscreant. With Marlowe’s Revenge, Dan Stuart proves once again he keeps getting better and better.” —Willy Vlautin, award-winning author of The Motel Life and songwriter for The Delines and Richmond Fontaine

“With his latest literary effort, former Green on Red frontman Dan Stuart offers a pulp meditation of bad men doing bad things, the hopeless and hapless that surround them, and the cascading nature of addiction and regret. Marlowe’s Revenge is part murder mystery, part faded love story, part redemption tale (without much redemption). Beautiful, twisted, and real – this is high desert poetry about low people. As a memoirist and noirist, Stuart continues to be a goddamn revelation.” —Bob Mehr, New York Times bestselling author of Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements

The Remedy Club plus support

Thursday 14th September 2023

The Glad Cafe Glasgow

Tickets £14 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Book Online

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

The Remedy Club, an Americana/Rootsduo based in Wexford, Ireland comprising KJ McEvoy (brother of Eleanor McEvoy) and Aileen Mythen have been described as ‘Ireland’s best kept musical secret’ by HOTPRESS journalist Jackie Hayden who also described their music as “a marriage of folk and country with a hint of the blues with delicious harmonies and nimble guitar playing’’.  Their critically acclaimed album True Hand True Heart  has been gaining them a lot of new fans around the globe.

The album was recorded in Room and Board studios, Nashville and produced by 5 – time Grammy award winner Ray Kennedy (Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams).  It hosts an array of Nashville based stalwarts including Lex Price on bass (Neko Case, KD Lang), Lynn Williams on drums (The Wallflowers, Delbert McClinton) and multi-instrumentalist and Rodney Crowell’s go to musician, Rory Hoffman. The album has been receiving wonderful reviews across the board including being chosen as album of the week on RTE Radio One and HOTPRESS magazine including the album in their top 10 folk albums of 2020.

The Remedy Club have just completed their third album ‘Back To You’ to be released in the summer of ’23 and features an array of stalwarts including Aongus Ralston on bass (The Waterboys), Michael Buckley and Ronan Dooney on brass (Van Morrison) and Binzer Brennan on drums (The Frames).

Hannah Rarity (no support)

Wednesday 27th September 2023

Websters Theatre Glasgow

Tickets £16 from Websters Online, Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Book Online

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

Image credits: Elly Lucas

With vocals so pure and flawless yet soothingly emotional, it’s hard not to fall a little in love with the voice of Hannah Rarity.

(Folk Radio UK)

Award-winning singer, Hannah Rarity, has made a lasting impression since being warmly embraced by the folk world, winning BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year (2018) and recording and touring with top acts Blazin’ Fiddles, Rura, Niteworks and Cherish the Ladies. Both of her albums ‘Neath the Gloaming Star’ (2018) & ‘To Have You Near’ (2022) have been shortlisted for Album of the Year at the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards and in 2022, she was invited to work as co-musical director for the Opening Concert of Celtic Connections.

Performing a carefully chosen mix of traditional, contemporary and self-penned material, she earns comparisons to the likes of Eva Cassidy and Cara Dillon, whilst standing confidently in her own right. Equally at home in a number of genres, she is a sought-after collaborator, session vocalist and tutor.

Hannah honed her craft at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, graduating in 2016 with a First Class BA (Hons) in Scottish Music. She has undertaken featured singer work as part of Brian O’Donovan & WGBH’s ‘A Celtic Christmas Sojourn’ in Boston (2018) and alongside the BBC SSO at Proms in the Park, as well as numerous UK television appearances (BBC Hogmanay 2015, 2017, 2020) and tours in her own right throughout Europe and the UK.

“Not only has she a wonderful voice, she has gravitas. When she sings, we are compelled to listen.”

(Irish Music Magazine)

Adam Holmes plus support

Friday 29th September 2023

Websters Theatre Glasgow

Tickets £16 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Book Online

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

Adam Holmes lyrics resonate like ancient folk songs. His melodies familiar and uplifting. Its not unusual to feel tears rise during his live shows which have the feel of a boozy church service.

Think James Bond meets Robert Burns. Classy and timeless.

New album, ‘Hope Park’ is the finest of his work to date. Featuring Scotland’s best musicians and a visual release with Scottish writers Ian Rankin, Irvine Welsh and Darren McGarvey. Adam cut his teeth in the world of folk music.

Taking a space at the end of the bar in legendary folk pub Sandy Bells at eight years old to soak up the music.

Age 15, The death of a close friend and a cascade into addiction.

He found his way out through the focus of rapping until a singer booked didn’t show, Adam stepped up and discovered his voice.
Leaving school and moving out the family home age 16 he worked construction.

On the very same day he was finally offered a Carpentry apprenticeship aged 19 he received a phone-call offering him a place in the semi finals of the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2009.

Lau plus special guests

Saturday 14th October 2023

The Queens Hall Edinburgh

Tickets various prices

Book Online

Auditorium opens 7.30pm, 8pm start

Lau return to their spiritual home at The Queen’s Hall Edinburgh, to present a very special evening with guests and friends.

This multi award winning trio of Kris Drever, Martin Green and Aidan O’Rourke have become nothing less than a Scottish institution, and their annual visit to The Queen’s Hall a landmark in the calendar. 

Full details of this special, one-off performance to be revealed later in the year, but buy your tickets now as this will sell fast. 

2nd November 2023: Sam Lewis

Posted: May 29, 2014 in Gig Guide

Sam Lewis- no support

Thursday 2nd November 2023

The Glad Cafe Glasgow

Tickets £16 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Book Online

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Venue layout- unreserved seating

Sam Lewis has collaborated with everyone from Leon Russell to The Wood Brothers. Chris Stapleton dubbed him “a modern Townes Van Zandt”. He’s often labeled with some form of the word ‘soulful’ (some have even compared his voice to molasses), Lewis’ style meets at a juncture of many different genres however he’s discovered what most musicians spend lifetimes working for; the place where feel-good music meets vital social commentary.

After spending a nomadic youth throughout the Southeast (USA), he began calling Nashville home in 2009. Since then he’s been joined on his journey by some of music’s most righteous and luminary figures. He has pressed the first few chapters in his career’s studio anthology with the release of his self-titled debut (2012), sophomore release Waiting On You (2015), third studio release Loversity (2018) and live-acoustic album Solo (2020). All have received critical acclaim and each session has grown with the legendary family for which he has adopted to curate and share his musical inner-vision with his listeners.

Findlay Napier plus support

Thursday 16th November 2023

The CCA Glasgow

Tickets £16 from Tickets Scotland 0141 204 5151 and Ticketweb

Doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

Book Online

Venue layout-limited unreserved seating

Photo credit- Elly Lucas

From the Main Stage of Cambridge Folk Festival with folk rock supergroup The Magpie Arc to an intimate acoustic show in the back room of a pub, 

Findlay Napier is widely regarded as one of the finest performers on the UK music scene. This fact was further highlighted when Napier was the first solo act ever to be nominated for Live Act of the Year at the Scot’s Trad Music awards in 2018.

Tirelessly creative he has been touring and releasing music since the early naughties. First with ground-breaking trad folk band Back of the Moon, then with Nu-Folk pioneers Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers and most recently as a solo act working under the guidance of legendary songwriter Boo Hewerdine.