Lanarkshire lad walks the line

WITH his thick Lanarkshire burr and his habit of covering old Frankie Miller hits, Johnny Reid would be an unlikely star in the global home of country music.

• Man in plaid: Johnny Reid on stage.

But the singer, who credits his Scottish upbringing with forging his "blue-collar" songwriting style, is being tipped as the new country sensation in the United States.

The 36-year-old vocalist, who was born and raised in Lanark, has been signed up by Dolly Parton's agent as he seeks to break the biggest music market in the world. Newly signed to EMI, his first US album, Introducing Johnny Reid, is due for release in March.

The New York Post has pinpointed Reid as "one to watch" in 2011, and described his style as "a smooth mix of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger and Rod Stewart".

Although he emigrated to Canada with his family as a 15-year-old, Reid believes his early years in Lanarkshire, with its rich coal-mining heritage, were the spark for his blend of country and soul. Now based in Nashville, Tennessee, he credits the work ethic of his father and grandfather for inspiring the "moral standpoint" and "hard-working, blue-collar aspect" of his songs.

Reid's celebrity in Canada has already seen him perform before the Queen and win a host of prestigious country music awards.

But with his strong Scots accent, and an official fan club by the name of the Tartan Army, Reid is not the most obvious exponent of a genre associated with Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, a fact he himself has acknowledged.

"There was a lot of naysayers when I first started," he recalled. "How was a guy who was born in Scotland going to relate to country fans?

"But a lot of coal mines are in Lanark, so I grew up with a lot of hard-working men, so I know what hard work is. I've watched my uncles and my father and my grandfather and everybody work hard, so I think that's what gives me the moral standpoint."

Stewart Fenwick, a country music DJ for Celtic Music Radio, who has promoted Reid on his show, said the singer always has "his roots on show".

"He's huge in Canada. His latest album went straight to number one in the pop charts and he's recorded several television specials," he said.

"But he's still very staunchly Scottish. As well as the name of his fan club, he hasn't lost his accent at all. There's a couple of the songs where he's singing, 'Gaun yersel' in the middle, and there's bagpipes in a lot of the music. With his new album, there's a big soul influence coming through. If he taps into that market in the US, the world's his oyster."

Brigitte Strachan, who runs Country Music & Dance Scotland magazine, agreed: "It's fantastic to have someone from Scotland doing so well in north America."

Robert Ross, a country music aficionado and former booker for the Creetown Country Music Festival, added: "I think Scottish country fans are over the moon, as it shows that it's not only Americans that can do it well. We've got a hell of a lot of good country singers in this country."

Whatever measure of fame awaits him in the US, Reid has in no way been an overnight success. After playing in a series of high school bands, the young Reid sent away several of his own songs to the publishing division of Dreamworks Records, and was offered the position of staff writer.

Relocating to Nashville, the opportunity soon turned sour after the label closed. Yet Reid stuck it out, picking up sporadic work and recording demos of his own compositions.

Eventually, an A&R executive at Universal noticed Reid's potential. The singer seized the chance, taking out a bank loan to finance his debut album, recording it in one day before licensing it to the label.

That album, Born To Roll, was released in 2005, and went platinum in Canada. His subsequent releases, produced by Grammy award-winning Brent Maher, have gone multi-platinum, and Reid even performed on Ottawa's Parliament Hill before the Queen last summer. His new New York-based agent, Steve Martin, who also represents Parton and Pink Floyd star David Gilmour, believes the Scots-Canadian has what it takes to win over US audiences.

"Johnny's huge in Canada," he said. "He's from Scotland and lives in Nashville, but he is virtually unknown in the US. I'm looking forward to taking him from scratch to who knows where?"

Ian Ralfini, the senior vice-president of EMI, also has faith that his company can replicate Reid's Canadian triumphs in the US. "Our job is to put him in front of a new audience, you can leave the rest to Johnny Reid," he said. "There isn't anybody doing what he is doing today and we are totally committed to him."

While the mission to promote Reid in the US is under way, it remains to be seen if he will tour in his homeland, where EMI will release his album in spring.

Fenwick, a member of the Country Music Association, believes the artist would go down a treat with his compatriots. "I'd love to see him play in Scotland," he added. "I've always had a dream that he'd go down really well."

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