What, exactly, is a Celtic Connection? For the uninitiated, some of the acts gracing Glasgow’s stages this year – while no less worthy or entertaining – would confound even the most liberal definition of what is Scottish. There’s the usual smattering of Americana and of course some homegrown talent which is fairly removed from folk music.
Nick Drake, it must be said, lacks a connection to the country more than most. On paper, however, Way To Blue does look like, at the very least, an intriguing show.
Some prior research reveals that rather than a specially-commissioned show for this dark Glasgow winter night, this is a touring ensemble which has already premiered the show in Birmingham last year. And, given that a dozen or so musicians take up position on the Concert Hall’s stage, perhaps a one-off would be a wasteful exercise.
Plus, the ‘celebrities’ paying tribute to one of the UK’s most revered, yet unsuccessful, songwriters, are not a collection that is likely to come together by chance.
Take the strangely familiar chap who strides onstage, in matching shirt and guitar, and after informing us that it was 39 years since ‘Chirpy Cheep Cheep Cheep’ hit number 1 in the charts (perhaps our Celtic Connection?), launches into another song written at that time – Nick Drake’s ‘Parasite’. Like Drake, he’s not the most technically precise vocalist on the bill, but lends a great deal to the song with some sustained guitar – quite John Martyn in essence, which is apt as that Anglo-Scot singer shared a bassist – Danny Thompson – with Nick Drake. Indeed, at the back on double bass and keeping out of the way, that has to be Thompson?
That opening act, by the way, was Robin Hitchcock, more of him later – in fact, every one of the eight singers on the bill will do one song each in the first half, mostly coming and going without a by your leave and leaving a good chunk of the crowd mystified. Stuart Murdoch, maybe the best-known and certainly the most obvious Drake tribute-player, says hello and predicts a great night before delivering a version of ‘Time of No Return’ which sees his accent become even more Scottish than usual, perhaps a handy way of differentiating his voice from that of the evening’s ‘subject’.
In no particular order we hear from Teddy Thompson, Scott Matthews, a bearded but wearing-very-well Green Gartside, Irish folkie Lisa Hannigan, a nervous Vashti Bunyan, and a show-stopping performance from perhaps the least well-known act on the bill, Krystle Warren – whose version of ‘Time Has Told Me’ starts at subterranean levels but the singer’s multi-octave range staggers all present. And mention is due too for band guitarist Neill MacColl’s who steps stage front for a true, but individual version of ‘Northern Sky ‘.
Almost as if the formalities are over, Drake’s producer Joe Boyd appears to introduce the band – which includes an excellent pianist in Zoe Rahman – and explain a little about the event. And if the connection to Scotland is restricted to Teddy Thompson having a Scottish granny, the Nick Drake links are strong. Even Kate St John, the multi-talented musical arranger/conductor, was a member of Dream Academy, whose sole hit ‘Life In A Northern Town’ was a tribute to Drake. We also discover that the string arrangements she’s conducting tonight are those produced by the late Robert Kirby – Drake’s original arranger.
The second half kicks off with the logical conclusion of Boyd’s mini-documentary, as Vashti Bunyan performs a song written by Molly Drake (Nick’s mother) and this is one of the little personal touches that raises the event above a common-or-garden tribute show.
Despite the slightly maudlin air both from the circumstances of paying tribute of someone who died so young, and the nature of Drake’s songs themselves, there is an uplifting air to much of the proceedings. None more so than some of the duets put together by the ‘cast’ – it’s a joy to hear the likes of Hannigan, Thompson and Gartside, three massively contrasting voices, working together in (literally) such sweet harmony. Equally, Hannigan herself delivers a lively harmonium-driven version of ‘Black Eyed Dog’.
With all this collaboration it’s inevitable that an encore will involve all the singers together, and, after they wait on a star-studded subs bench while Hitchcock performs his own ‘I Saw Nick Drake’, they regroup for ‘Voice From the Mountain’ whose fulsome arrangement recalls the work of David Byrne at his most creative. That of course would be an ever more tenuous Celtic Connection, so instead, let’s enjoy this show for what it is – a lovingly-crafted tribute show that delivers exactly what it promises.