Celtic Connections review: FRETS - Norman Blake, Bernard Butler and James Grant, St Luke's, Glasgow

FRETS: Norman Blake, Bernard Butler & James Grant at St Luke's for Celtic Connections 2022 PIC: Gaelle Beri

FRETS: Norman Blake, Bernard Butler and James Grant, St Luke’s, Glasgow ****

James Grant is well aware of the prog rock associations in naming your temporary supergroup Blake/Butler/Grant (he also wryly favours a different ordering of the talent). The Love & Money frontman obliged with some intricate acoustic guitar work to accompany this otherwise very un-muso songwriters’ circle of mutual appreciation and natural comic rapport.

Teenage Fanclub frontman Norman Blake and onetime Suede guitarist Bernard Butler have known each other for 30 years. Their amiable partnering with Grant was the work of musician Douglas MacIntyre, who promotes the FRETS concert series in his home town of Strathaven. This Celtic Connections away fixture was sheer, easy pleasure, with each musician fronting one of their own songs in turn, with simpatico input from their co-players. Blake brought the melody, the harmony and the harmonica, Grant and Butler the exquisite decorative guitar chops and the enviable coiffures.

Butler’s previous Celtic Connections forays include both performing with and paying tribute to one of his guitar heroes, the late, great Bert Jansch, but what an unexpected pleasure to hear Butler singing on this occasion, revealing an easy rootsy style which transformed his David McAlmont hit collaboration Yes and Suede’s The Wild Ones in the process.

There were deeper cuts in the set, from Fanclub album tracks to Grant’s first band Friends Again and Butler’s forgotten solo forays, plus offbeat insights into the inspiration behind Fanclub favourite The Concept, before the trio found further common ground in an encore cover of Neil Young’s Cinnamon Girl.

Spellbinding support came from Glasgow-based vocalist Monica Queen, one of the city’s most singular voices, who twisted Orange Juice’s Dying Day into a sublime country ballad as well as showcasing some Tex Mex-flavoured frills in partnership with her wingmen, guitarist Johnny Smillie and bassist Rory McGregor.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription at https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions