Gig review: Folk Weekender, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

THE second night of the Usher Hall’s Folk Weekender mini-festival featured a diverse triple bill of Scottish acts, opening with singer/guitarist Ewan Robertson, best known as a member of Breabach, but performing some recent additions to his solo repertoire, accompanied here by bandmate Megan Henderson on fiddle and piano and Ewan MacPherson on 12-string guitar and mandolin.

In a set of mostly contemporary ballads, Chris Wood’s The Cottager’s Reply – written in response to London weekenders pricing out locals in the Cotswolds – struck a ready chord in a Scottish context, and Dave Sudbury’s touching The King of Rome similarly highlighted Robertson’s vivid interpretative empathy.

Folk-rock seven-piece Skerryvore raised the volume with a mix of jigs’n’reels and self-penned Celtic anthems, with some of the former recalling West Coast dance-band roots, and the latter at times inclining towards US-style adult-oriented rock, complete with mid-Atlantic accent. Their approach does sound somewhat dated and one-dimensional, but they command a loyal following, and successfully coaxed many of the audience onto the dancefloor. They weren’t helped, though, by a sound mix that tended to swamp the bagpipes, fiddle and accordion with bass and drums.

The same problem dogged a Shetland’s Rock Salt & Nails, in which the vibrant acoustic guitar was frequently inaudible. But their catchy ensemble energy and vocalist Paul Johnston’s determined gusto won out overall.

Rating: ***