Alasdair Roberts

We are delighted to announce the official launch of the CD/LP Urstan by Mairi Morrison and Alasdair Roberts. This will take place at the CCA in Glasgow at 8pm on 25th February 2012 and tickets can be found here. The evening before the launch, on 24th February, Alasdair will be doing solo Scots bàrdachd at The Arches, Glasgow as part of the excellent Margins Festival. Also on the bill are Withered Hand and Roddy Woomble & Sorren MacLean. Lots of great stuff is happening at Margins Festival, so be sure to check it out if you are in Glasgow.

Mairi Morrison comes from Bragar on the Isle of Lewis, one of the furthermost parts of the Scottish Gàidhealtachd – indeed, almost as far west as one can go in Scotland before reaching North America. Of all the Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland, Lewis is culturally one of the richest of all; Mairi now lives in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, but she carries the Lewis tradition in her heart and her voice.

Ceol ‘s Craic, a Glasgow-based club devoted to promoting Gaelic arts in the city, brought Mairi and Alasdair together to make Urstan, which takes its title from a Lewis-specific word for a celebration held at the birth of a new child. A dram of whisky, basically. The album features Stevie Jones (bass), Alastair Caplin (fiddle) and Alex Neilson (drums) and special guest appearances from such Glasgow music scene luminaries as Michael John McCarthy (Zoey Van Goey), David McGuinness (Concerto Caledonia), Ross MacRae and Richard Merchant (Second Hand Marching Band/Horns of Plenty), Peter Nicholson (The One Ensemble), Mike Hastings (Trembling Bells) and Gaelic song and piobiareachd authority Allan MacDonald.

The album will be released by Drag City Records in March 2012.

PERTINENT LINKS:

Margins Festival
Urstan album launch: tickets.

Alasdair Roberts will play a solo gig at The Lexington, London on Sunday 12th February. His set will include songs from 15 years ago as well as songs from last month. It will also feature songs from about 200 years ago. Tickets are available here and a website for the club is over here.

Some Alasdair appearances in Glasgow in January:

25th: Singing with Naomi Bedford at Mitchell Theatre, then later that night:
25th: Byrne’s Nicht, The Old Hairdresser’s (including Alasdair playing a Robert Burns song; with Norman Blake and Donny O’Rourke)
27th: Singing at RM Hubbert’s album launch, Stereo
28th: Alistair Hulett tribute concert, St Andrew’s in the Square: Alasdair Roberts, Ben Reynolds, Shane Connolly, Rafe Fitzpatrick (and special guests)

Then February 12th in London at the Lexington for Electroacoustic Club – Roberts solo!

Happy New Year!

Preparations are underway for touring in support of the Urstan record with Lewis-born Gaelic singer Mairi Morrison in May and June. Watch this space for more information.

In December, Alasdair, Rafe Fitzpatrick, Stevie Jones, Robin Robertson and Tom Crossley went into Chamber Studios, Edinburgh to record the songs about the archipelago of St Kilda which Alasdair has been co-writing with Robin. Now the songs have been taken elsewhere for overdubs to happen, including some contributions from very special guests. This work-in-progress should be finished at some point this year and will somehow be made available to the music-consuming public before too long.

Alasdair Roberts solo dates in England this month – please check the Live page for more information.

Alasdair has a few appearances in Glasgow during the Celtic Connections festival period in Glasgow in January 2012, some connected with the festival and some not.

On 25th January, Burns Night, he’ll be appearing with Naomi Bedford at the Mitchell Theatre. Naomi’s recent album Tales from the Weeping Willow, recorded by Gerry Diver in London, features some vocal and guitar contributions from Alasdair and a host of other collaborators. Later that evening he’ll be appearing at The Old Hairdresser for a Byrne’s Supper which will celebrate the life and work of Talking Heads’ David Byrne as well as of the fellow who must be Scotland’s most celebrated poet, Robert Burns.

On 27th January he’ll be joining RM Hubbert for the launch of his new album Thirteen Lost and Found, recorded by Alex Kapranos in the Scottish Borders. The album features many collaborators including Alasdair on a vocal its closing track.

Then on 28th January, Alasdair will be joined by Shane Connolly, Rafe Fitzpatrick and Ben Reynolds to play at a tribute concert to Alistair Hulett at St Andrew’s in the Square.

Alasdair is collaborating with the Glasgow-based Swiss artist Nicolas Party on a book relating to his song The Ruby in the Hawthorn. This will see the light of day in 2012.

In December, Alasdair and friends are going into the studio to record some music upon which they’ve been working in collaboration with poet and fellow Scotsman Robin Robertson – it’s a song cycle based upon the archipelago of St Kilda. These tracks may or may not be released.

March 2012 will see the release of the Urstan album on CD/LP through the Drag City label. Urstan is a collaboration between Alasdair Roberts and Mairi Morrison, a Glasgow-based Gaelic singer from the Isle of Lewis. Recorded at Diving Bell Lounge, Glasgow in January 2011, It features twelve tracks (a mixture of Gaelic and Scots/English songs) and a host of fine musicians, including Allan MacDonald, Stevie Jones, Alex Neilson, Alastair Caplin, Michael John McCarthy, Ross MacRae, Richard Merchant… and more.

Finally, a reminder – Alasdair solo gigs will take place in England in December.

Alasdair is one of the many collaborators on the new LP by RM Hubbert, Thirteen Lost and Found, which will be released on Chemikal Underground Records in January 2012.

Whaur The Pig Gaed On The Spree: Scottish Recordings by Alan Lomax 1951-’57 is a new LP release compiled by Alasdair Roberts from some 25 hours’ worth of Alan Lomax’s field recordings in Scotland. It is available now on Twos & Fews/Drag City and can be purchased here at Proper Music Distribution. The Too Long In This Condition LP/CD by Alasdair Roberts & Friends can also be purchased there.

A split 7″ by Alasdair Roberts/Karine Polwart and Drew Wright, released in conjunction with Whaur the Pig Gaed On The Spree, is available now. It features new versions of two of Scotland’s greatest muckle sangs – ‘Captain Wedderburn’s Courtship’ and ‘The Dowie Dens o’ Yarrow.’

December solo tourdates on the way…

WHO BUT I KNOWS THE SECRET OF THE UNHEWN DOLMEN?

We’d like to draw your attention to screenings of raw footage from Alan Lomax’s American Patchwork television series, presented by a US representative of the Alan Lomax Archive. These can be seen in Edinburgh on 8th, Newcastle Star and Shadow on 11th and Glasgow CCA on 12th November. The Newcastle gig will feature a small live performance by Alasdair Roberts.

Alasdair will also be doing a wee solo tour in England in December. Please keep an eye on this site for these and all other upcoming dates.