Eleven years old this year Southern Fried continues to occupy its position as the best Americana and roots music festival in Scotland and perhaps the best of its kind in the UK (although there are three contenders who might challenge that assumption). The festival doesn’t rest on its laurels however and this year saw its headline shows expanded to include the Thursday night while there was the welcome return of the renovated Perth Theatre to the roster of venues as it hosted ticketed and free events. What doesn’t change however is the mixture of world famous acts, the cream of international and UK roots music and a generous helping of more local musicians all adding up to four days of joyous music concentrated within the centre of one of Scotland’s most beautiful cities. Continue reading “Southern Fried Festival, Perth, Scotland, 26-29th July 2018”
Didn’t we just have a 3 disc Graham Nash retrospective? Well, no – sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but the ‘Reflections‘ Box Set was nine years ago. True, this release adds only one new finished track to what’s available on ‘Reflections‘ – ‘Myself at Last‘ from the recent solo album ‘This Path Tonight‘, although completists will no doubt want the new mixes of ‘I used to be a King‘ and ‘Better Days‘. The fifteen studio finished tracks range from the earliest Crosby Stills & Nash days, through Nash solo albums and a couple of essential Crosby/Nash recordings. 
We leave you for the bank holiday weekend dear reader with news that Rhino is releasing a new retrospective of Graham Nash’s work on June 29th in advance of his UK tour dates in July. ‘Over The Years…’ features 30 tracks over a two-CD set and on digital download and streaming services. A 15 track, double-LP version featuring an etching on ‘Side Four’ will be released on August 31st. The anthology has been curated by Nash and longtime associate Joel Bernstein and includes extensive credits and liner notes. “It does my heart good to present my songs this way. I hope that listeners will enjoy hearing the demos of my songs – how my demos of ‘Our House,’ ‘Teach Your Children,’ and others turned into the records that have endured ‘Over The Years,’ how I started writing them, and how they became the now familiar recordings when they were released,” said Nash. 
The “I think we can call him legendary” Graham Nash has announced a series of dates over the summer in the UK, promising “performances of his many well-known songs along with anecdotes and tales from throughout his storied career”. He will be joined on stage by guitarist and vocalist Shane Fontayne, longtime collaborator and producer of his most recent album, ‘This Path Tonight’ and former CSN keyboardist and vocalist Todd Caldwell, and together, the trio will perform songs from his days in the Hollies, his years with Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young) and from his solo recordings.