Old Blind Dogs’ Wherever Yet May Be

imageWhen I was a wee lad I was always made to eat my vegetables at dinnertime. So, I developed a habit of eating the things I disliked most on my dinner plate first — so as to leave the best till last. Strange how later on in life I really got like the taste of the vegetables I thought I hated! There must be a name for this syndrome? What has this got to do with Old Blind Dogs? Well nothing really except that it came to my notice, that every time the boss man mails me some CDs for review, I would always write about the worst ones in the pile first, leaving the best till last — for a treat.

And what a treat! Old Blind Dogs have for a long time been one of my favourite bands. They found a niche in the market and stayed with it. This album is no exception. I am sure all their fans will enjoy it as they continue to fuse Celtic Scottish traditional and contemporary music and songs into an almost folk rock style. However, I did wonder the first time I put the album on. As it starts with a slow moody air ‘St Kilda’ but this just sets a back cloth for the second track, ‘Lough Erne’s Shore’, an Irish song. From there on it visits music and songs from both sides of the Atlantic, but still served up in true inimitable Blind Dogs style. The album takes its title, Wherever You May Be, from a line in the chorus of ‘Scotland Yet’ a great song by the late Davy Steele.

The band on this album is Ali Hutton: pipes, whistles, and acoustic guitar; Aaron Jones: bouzouki, guitar and lead vocals; Jonny Hardie: fiddle, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and lead vocals; Fraser Stone: drums, percussion and vocals. Guest musicians are Rick Taylor: trombone and backing vocals; Nigel Hitchcock: soprano and tenor saxophones; Nathon Jones: resonator guitar; Angus Lyon: Fender Rhodes. The album is nicely presented in a cardboard sleeve with professional themed photos, complete with a song notes booklet.

Really nice album, of a standard of which we have come to expect from the band. Buy it and enjoy.

The Old Blind Dogs website is worth visiting.

(Compass Records, 2010)

 

Peter Massey

Born in 1945, Peter Massey, Senior Writer, is now living in the city of Chester, England with his wife Sandra. Now medically retired he worked for 35 years in the shoe business. He has been a semi-professional musician and singer performing mainly traditional / contemporary folk songs for over 38 years as part of the duo (and sometimes trio) 'The Marrowbones'. His musical interest started at the age of 14 with Rock 'n' Roll and by the time his seventeenth birthday came along he was already playing rock 'n' roll and R&B in and around the local dance venues and clubs such as the Cavern in Liverpool. Thankfully he was saved from the evils of rock 'n' roll when he discovered real music and folk clubs. His collection of recordings houses over 3500 folk songs alone. Other interests and hobbies include Computers and Amateur Radio (he has a class A G4 call sign) His latest project is 'The Little Room Studio' dedicated to making 'live' recordings of folk artists and producing their work on to CD using a portable digital recording studio. To date he has written and composed over 12 folk songs and co-wrote with Gordon Morris another 10 that have been recorded on CD. The song writing has continued and they have another 10 songs in the pipeline not yet recorded to CD. Favourite music / bands at the moment are Steeleye Span, The Battlefield Band, Little Johnny England and Fairport Convention, (in that order), and much admires the work of Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson, Roy Bailey, Vin Garbutt, and Bob Fox, to name but a few! You can visit the crummy Web site here and read about The Marrowbones and how to get your free songbook.

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