@doricloon
Interesting looking TV documentary on Shetland's Thomas Fraser to be screened on BBC2 Friday 19 December 2008 at 22:00.
Radio Times describes programme as follows -
Documentary about Thomas Fraser. When he died in 1978, he was remembered only as a shy fisherman crofter. Thirty years later, he was hailed as the most important figure in the history of British country music and honoured in Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame. No mean achievement for a man who never even played live in Shetland's capital Lerwick. His friends, family and admirers tell his unlikely story.
Fit like,
For what it's worth here is my selection of the best of 2008 music releases.
1. Blair Douglas - Stay Strong
2. Ry Cooder - I Flathead
3. Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
4. Emmylou Harris - All I Intended To Be
5. Geraint Watkins - In A Bad Mood
6. Dan Penn - Junkyard Junkie
7; Dr John - City That Care Forgot
8. Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun
9. Freddie White - Stormy Lullaby
10. John Spillane - My Dark Rosaleen
11. Fiona Mackenzie - Elevate
12. Ron Sexsmith - Exit Strategy of the Soul
13. Rodney Crowell - Sex and Gasoline
14. Thomas Fraser - That Far Away Land
15. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
16. Michael Marra - Numbers (Noranside Songwriters Project)
17. Sonny Landreth - From The Reach
18. The Wilders - Someone's Got To Pay
19. Bat McGrath - Communicate
20. Bryan Gear - Kebister Head
They have all brought me enormous listening pleasure and I can recommend them all to you.
Doricloon
Roddy Woomble releases his long awaited second album’ The Impossible Song & Other Songs’ on March 21st. Recorded at his local arts centre, An Tobar in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, ‘The Impossible Song & Other Songs’ follows his acclaimed solo debut ‘My Secret Is My Silence’ (2006).
Roddy began writing & demoing the songs that appear on ‘The Impossible Song & Other Songs’ at An Tobar with local guitarist and singer Sorren MacLean in January 2010. Then in the summer of 2010, Dublin bassist Gavin Fox (a member of Idlewild from 2003-2005) and Glaswegian drummer and singer Gregor Donaldson (from the band Sparrow & The Workshop) arrived in Mull and with Sorren & Roddy, the four piece recorded the bulk of the album.
As Roddy explains, “The nature of An Tobar, being a working centre for the arts on the island including a gallery, café and performance space meant that there were always interesting people around and musicians coming to the venue to play concerts. We made the most of this. Gordon MacLean, An Tobar’s artistic director and the album’s engineer, would set up a few microphones after a performer’s sound check, or even after their gig, let them hear the song a few times and then record a contribution”
As a result the album includes a magical mix of musical contributions from jazz pianist Chick Lyall, saxophonist Rob Hall, fiddler Aidian O’Rourke (Lau), accordion legend Phil Cunningham and famed Dundonian songwriter Michael Marra.
A multi -faceted singer and songwriter, Roddy has a broad palate of styles & influences and so the album moves from folk rock (Work Like You Can); to country (New Frontier); to upbeat horn-led pop (Roll Along); to indie rock (Leaving Without Gold); to the dark, jazzy ‘Between The Old Moon’, all held together by his soft Scottish baritone and thoughtful, often mysterious lyrics.
Lyrically the album touches on themes that have often cropped up in Roddy’s work - the troubled alliance between Nature and Man, the onset of modernization and the end of old ways, what it means and what is worth giving up in order to achieve it.
Roddy says of his lyrics, “Song lyrics have a unique ability to blend magical elements into a realistic setting. It’s not a requirement to me that they make sense - the music can give them their meaning. Books I go back to again and again - Lewis Grassic Gibbon ‘Sunset Song’, Knut Hamsun ‘Growth Of The Soil’, Halldor Laxness ‘Independent People’. Stories that manage to be both epic in scale and yet intimate in their humanity, the way that any good song can be. I think this is as strong a collection of songs that I’ve ever put my name to and I’m proud that I managed to write and record them in such a collaborative and resourceful way. The record, in many ways, is a scrapbook of six months at An Tobar, with me in the centre”
Roddy spent fifteen years releasing albums and touring worldwide with Idlewild and the band are now on hiatus. He is fast gaining a reputation as a solo artist in his own right and as part of the trio ‘Drever, McCusker & Woomble’ (with guitarist Kris Drever and multi-instrumentalist John McCusker) having released their acclaimed album ‘Before The Ruin’ in 2008.
Fit like,
Michael's legedary hometown festive gig dates have just been announced. The dates are Sunday 28 December and Monday 29 December. The venue is Fat Sam's, scene of last year's triumphant gigs. The band will include various members of The Hazey Janes along with surprise guests. Last year guests were Kevin Murray, Christopher Marra, Gregor Philp and Steve Ketley.
(See my review of the 2007 gig on an earlier blog)
Advance ticket info at -
Fit like,
An event to rival Dr John's trip to Blairgowrie to perform at The Gig when the other New Orleans legend, Allen Toussaint coming to Aberdeen to play The Lemon Tree. 18 November 2009 is the date and tickets are on sale Monday 21 September 2009. Must get a poster for the launderette wall!
http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/prod-productions_details.asp?pid=2293&venueid=285
Who'd believed it!
From Hi Arts, the northern arts newsletter -
http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-hianewo00.RefLocID-hiacg5005.Lang-EN.htm
For those of you who like me are not of a nocturnal disposition might have missed Michael Marra's appearance in STV's " High Times" fear not as you can view it here at
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1610699553/bctid1699225535
Enjoy