a music blog
In celebration of her new album ‘Tennessee Lightning’ the gorgeous Ashley Monroe returned to play Glasgow, sharing the billing with her friend Fancy Hagood for the evening. With Scotland basking in the late summer sun the talented pairing brought a little Southern charm and positive healing light to the St Luke’s stage.
Continue reading “Live Review: Ashley Monroe & Fancy Hagood @ St Luke’s, Glasgow 25/08/25”
What better way to spend a cold Sunday evening than with a joyful variety show of songs celebrating British icons. Roaming Roots Revue featured a stellar cast of artists all singing their favourite songs both ‘cult and classic’, joined by the orchestra from the nearby Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Continue reading “Live Review: Roaming Roots Revue @ Celtic Connections 26/01/25”
This week Karine Polwart shared a cover version of Madison Cunningham’s ‘Life According to Raechel’ and encouraged her followers to go see the young musician live at this Celtic Connections show.
Before the gig itself began, I spotted no less than three well-known Scottish musicians taking their seats in the stalls.
Later the excellent support act Louis Abbott would ask if there were any musicians in the audience and it seemed like more than half the crowd raised their hand (incidentally Louis confessed he had already bought a ticket for the gig before he was added as support).
So it seems then that Madison Cunningham is your favourite musician’s favourite musician.
Continue reading “Live Review: Madison Cunningham @ Celtic Connections 17/01/25 “
After releasing ‘Saint Cloud’ during the pandemic, Katie Crutchfield’s life changed. She found a new audience within the Americana scene, while also maintaining her core fans from her earlier indie rock records. Success in the genre led to the Plains collaboration with Jess Williamson and even working with Wynnona Judd, further underscoring her dedication to explore her Southern roots and influences.
Katie and her brilliant band (who included Spencer Tweedy on drums) came to Glasgow for the first time in many years, fresh from releasing the new album Tiger’s Blood. She performed that album in full, relishing in the opportunity to play these songs to a sold out audience.
Continue reading “Live Review: Waxahatchee & Anna St. Louis @QMU Glasgow 30/07/24”
They say you’ve truly made it when your audience starts dressing like you. On a sunny Friday night in Glasgow, there was a sea of cowboy boots, stetsons, denim, fringe and, of course, flares as far as the eye could see. Hillbilly hippies were everywhere, such is the influence of Lainey Wilson, country music’s rising superstar.
Continue reading “Live Review: Lainey Wilson @ Glasgow O2 Academy 19/04/24”
After an unfortunately timed illness led to some of this tour being cancelled, Iris DeMent admitted to the Glasgow crowd that she was probably ‘happier to see you than you to are to see me.’ What followed was an evening of hopeful songs that powerfully cut through the political despair of our times.
Continue reading “Live Review: Iris DeMent & Ana Egge @ Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 31/10/23”
At the same time the Chicks arrived to play Glasgow, the city was also celebrating iconic artist Banksy opening his first solo exhibition in over a decade at the Gallery of Modern Art. In one of the exhibits he writes about how he only began painting graffiti after suffering a horrific break-up, humorously concluding: ‘It felt like I had finally found a practical application for art: revenge.’
From their iconic feminist murder anthem ‘Goodbye Earl’, to the defiant ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’ right through to the recent post-divorce protest album Gaslighter the Chicks’ best songs offer a similarly potent mix of rage-fuelled personal revenge and political anger.
Continue reading “Live Review: The Chicks & Maren Morris Live @ OVO Hydro, Glasgow 28/06/23”
Last year Emily Scott Robinson, Alisa Amador and duo Violet Bell released an E.P. called ‘Built on Bones’ written for a production of Macbeth. In the songs they sang from the perspective of Shakespeare’s three witches and Lady Macbeth herself, in an attempt to reclaim and reframe the narrative of these women’s stories.
Taking to the Celtic Connections stage was a natural fit then for these artists – where better to sing the songs inspired by the Scottish play? The hallowed surrounding of the Mackintosh Church, only added to the beauty of the evening’s entertainment.
Continue reading “Live Review – Emily Scott Robinson with Violet Bell and Alisa Amador @ Celtic Connections 28/01/23”
‘I can still sing,’ Lucinda Williams said on stage during her show on Monday night, a defiant reminder that despite a stroke she still has her voice. As a singer and lyricist she’s always turned the broken and fragile parts of her life into songs, and they felt even more vital and powerful after all she’s been through to get back on tour again.
Continue reading “Live Review: Lucinda Williams @ Celtic Connections 23/01/2023”
Highway Queens 