RAB Noakes, one of Scotland’s finest living singer/songwriters, is set to release a decade-spanning CD, Welcome To Anniversaryville.
The record is a collection of songs, mostly penned by Noakes, and is the result of a 2017 Celtic Connections concert that saw the singer celebrate both 50 years in the music business and turning 70.
That concert, its songs and its players form the backbone of this record, with the gathered ensemble heading for the studio in the days after that Fruitmarket gig.
The songs span nearly 50 years of songwriting from Together Forever (1969) to It All Joins Up (in the end) (2017).
They form a sequence which contains interpretations of songs from a diverse range of sources from Scots traditional to Scots Gaelic to Al Jolson to Doris Troy to Pee Wee King to Marijohn Wilkin.
“It’s all too easy for artists to believe their latest is their best work. It’s seldom true and, in any case, it takes time for that to be proved,” says Noakes. “In this case, though, for me, it may well be true.
“The quality of the contributions from all involved, the attitude and sound achieved alongside the subject matters of the songs and their provenance does seem to add up to something. I always strive to make a record only I can make. I leave it to you to put that to the test”.
Welcome To Anniversaryville is released on July 13
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