Gig review: The Rockingbirds - Broadcast, Glasgow

Eighteen years after asking the question Whatever Happened To The Rockingbirds? on their valedictory second album, the reformed Camden cowboys have dusted off those embroidered shirts and answered that query most compellingly with their latest release, The Return of The Rockingbirds.

The Rockingbirds - Broadcast, glasgow

* * * *

They remain a band out of time, yet completely locked into a tradition, delivering a consummate set of country rock originals, infused with the spirit of Gram Parsons and, thanks to chief Rockingbird Alan Tyler’s characterful baritone, Lee Hazlewood.

Like all great country songwriters, Tyler assiduously mines the twin inspirations of women and alcohol for his lyrical vignettes and melodic gems, which were then 
fleshed out with uplifting harmonies and arrangements which could turn any heartbreak tune – Love Has Gone And Made A Mess of Me being just one example – into a sympathetic celebration.

Brand New Plan showcased the exquisite pedal steel playing of Patrick Arbuthnot, who waited until the audience were entranced by this warmest and most comforting of sounds before unveiling a quite remarkable pedal keytar affair on one of their rockier numbers.

The freshly minted Till Something Better Comes Along already sounded like a country rock standard, as familiar as old favourites such as the whimsical Gradually Learning, Jonathan, Jonathan, which namechecks Jonathan Richman and Gram Parsons, and Everybody Lives With Us, with its fine George Harrison-style licks from guitarist Andy Hackett, all hanging in cult posterity as if fondly remembered from some jukebox session long ago.