Gig review: The Coal Porters, Woodend Bowling and Lawn Tennis Club, Glasgow

FORMED in LA in 1989 by ex-Long Ryders front man Sid Griffin, the Coal Porters relocated to London early in their career, and enjoyed reasonable success as a country-rock outfit on the UK indie scene, before Griffin recast them as an acoustic bluegrass outfit around 1998.

Since then, they’ve been a quietly idiosyncratic presence on the folk/Americana circuit, with a steady following in Scotland, where they bridge the legacy of US-influenced, early-1990s acts like the Humpff Family, Swamp Trash and the Critter Hill Varmints with the current vast flowering of American roots revivalists.

In the latter context, it must be said, their performance here – part of an interesting occasional gig series in the Jordanhill venue’s welcoming members’ bar – suffered somewhat in comparison with today’s progressive bluegrass firebrands, in terms of both inventiveness and technical calibre, but nonetheless exerted considerable charm. The five-piece line-up – Griffin on mandolin, also sharing the lead-vocal microphone with fiddler Carly Frey and guitarist Neil Robert Herd; John Breese on banjo and Tali Trow on double bass – created a mellow, resonant sound punctuated with some fine soloing, overlaid by sweetly arrayed harmonies. The set-list combined traditional fare, such as the classic murder ballad Pretty Polly, with such deftly quirky Griffin originals as You Only Miss Her When She’s Gone and the odd unexpected cover, including an effectively stripped-back, wistful version of Bowie’s Heroes.

Rating: ***