Letham Nights

Saturday 5th October 8pm, Letham Village Hall

Back by popular demand! Jez Hellard wowed the Letham Nights faithful a year ago supporting Canadian outfit Picture the Ocean

We loved his amazing virtuoso moothie playing, intricate guitar picking and beautiful storytelling songs. This time he is on tour with Canadian fellow-troubador, Scott Cook. This rambling duo will bring you an evening of roots, folk and blues that will ease your troubles, warm your cockles and fill your spirit. Get your tickets here!

Jez Hellard

A singer of potent songs, stunning harmonica player, guitarist and producer, Jez Hellard thrives on music of all stripes. His band, The Djukella Orchestra, play traditional and contemporary folk music, from jigs and reels to tango, rhumba, funk and reggae. From original and traditional songs to rare gems from some of the world`s greatest, if lesser known song-writers; often fellow troubadors who Jez has met in many years on the road.

Since 2005, Jez has played over 700 gigs; from Vancouver to Istanbul, New York to Taipei. He`s performed at festivals including Glastonbury and Secret Garden Party in the UK, North Country Fair and Sasquatch Gathering in Canada, Macedonia`s Pivoland and Taiwan`s Migration Music Festival, and venues ranging from London`s Jazz Cafe to theatres, pubs, clubs, tunnels and street corners around the world.

Whether he`s improvising over Gypsy rhythms, stomping out fiddle tunes on the harmonica, singing a rebel ballad, or dropping fresh beats on a variety of drums, his infectious energy, skill and passion for music has gained him fans far and wide.  As a harmonica player, he`s renowned as an adept improviser in most styles of music and loves to be put on the spot, either on stage or in the studio.

Scott Cook

Edmonton, Alberta’s own prairie balladeer Scott Cook is a tirelessly traveling songwriter who brings honesty, humour, years of roads and a deep love of humanity to his songwriting and storytelling. His straight-talking tunes weave together folk, roots, blues, country and soul influences, whether stripped down to fingerpicked acoustic guitar, banjo, ukulele, and foot percussion, backed by his 5-piece electric band The Long Weekends, or in the company of his acoustic trio the Second Chances. He has been making a full-time living at music since 2007, traveling the continent while living out of his van.  With kindred spirit Jez, he is currently touring in support of his fourth solo album, One More Time Around, which Canada’s premier roots music magazine Penguin Eggs calls “as much a manifesto as a musical work,” teeming with “wry observations and hopeful life lessons.” Letham Nights, we think you are going to love him!

Don’t forget that the Clap and Tipple bar will be on hand to quench your thirst and soothe your tastebuds together with the Doorstep Bakery and their mobile pizza oven.  Mmmm, pizza!

Letham Nights – The Best Small Gigs In The World!

It was on 17th August 1896 gold was discovered in Rabbit Creek in the Klondike by George Carmack and Skookum Jim.  Well coincidence or what but exactly 117 years later, another rich vein of gold was uncovered at the 31st Letham Nights in the Kingdom of Fife.  How we keeping on digging up these musical nuggets is hard to say, but hot on the heels of Miss Quincy and the Showdown, we were served up another transatlantic feast with Thom Gill aka THOMAS and Robin Dann aka Bernice as the entre and Devon Sproule as main course.

But first our appetites were whetted by fledgling Dundee outfit Blood Indians, winners of our young local talent competition.   Joanne Forbes & Rowan Wright, two young singer songwriters,  have emerged out of the Gardyne Youth Music Initiative at Dundee College and look to have a very promising career ahead. Are they going to be Tayside’s  answer to First Aid Kit? Whilst their haunting harmonies were evocative of the Swedish sisters, there was a bit more attitude and melancholia emanating from their repertoire. Aged just 17, Blood Indians displayed the confidence and precociousness of musicians who know where they are going.  If you have any sense, catch them on the way and enjoy the ride.

Now enter the stage Robin Dann and Thom Gill, performing first as THOMAS and then as Bernice.  These were new names to us but in the space of 45 minutes their music and voices have become old friends.  The mood was set with an enchanting  cover of Lenny Breau’s New York City  which gave us a taste of the range and colour of Robin’s voice and waves of unnatural harmonies drifting from Thom’s guitar. Whimsical, languid ethereal with echoes of Joni Mitchell or even Nico came to mind, but with a sound jazz-based undercurrent running through the songs.  We sat back and relaxed as the duo’s exquisite vocals took us on a journey where we couldn’t guess what was round the next corner.  The set was all too short.  If you decide to mine this musical geological seam, you wont find fool’s gold but a colourful, crystalline multi-facetted jewel.  So keep on digging!

And so to Devon Sproule. Thank you Letham Nights for bringing us such a gem – Jools Holland knew a good thing when he saw it back in 2008 and if you were not there you missed another treasure!

Despite cutting a slight, almost elfin-like figure, Devon has a huge and hypnotic presence on stage with a guitar in her hand.  She just seemed so relaxed and at home on the Letham stage where she was joined by Robin and Thom together with Matt Rheeston of Batsch on drums, Kenny Wilson of Glasgow’s Two Wings on bass.  With what we came to recognise as her very particular attention to human detail, Devon opened with a stunning rendition of Mary Margaret O’Hara’s Body’s in Trouble, a surprise response to a pre-gig request from the Letham Nights team.  Few could carry off a cover of O’Hara’s unique sound but Devon did it – and with spades of pathos and emotion. We were then treated to a preview of some of her newest material soon to appear on the forthcoming album co-written with Michael O’Neill such as the infectious You Can’t Help It.  ‘I am so afraid you going to hate this song’ she told us, before playing The Fan, with an honesty so typical of her totally  individual songwriting style – but she need not have worried as the Letham response grew in warmth and affection as the evening unwound.  She interspersed new songs with a couple of covers including ‘Runs In The Family’ by the Roches, where Devon and Robin harmonised so naturally, it seemed as if they had been singing together all their lives.  Devon says in ‘Colours’  – ‘I have worked so hard just to get this far’.  Well Devon, it was worth all our collective efforts to get you to Letham Nights for a night of such unaffected beauty.  Of course the audience demanded an encore in which Devon gave us some old  favourites – Listen to This, Virginia Block and just to keep the geological theme going, ‘Keep Your Silver Shined’.  So Klondike eat your heart out – there was more gold in them thar Letham Hall that night than in all the Yukon. So if you have any sense you will ‘rush’ to hear Devon and her friends when they play at the Glad Cafe in Glasgow and the Tolbooth Stirling in October.

And a big thank you to Rich and Euan from Tin Angel Records for helping us to make a dream come true!

Review by Ron Montgomery

The tickets had been sold months in advance. The waiting was almost over for a Letham Nights summer extravaganza that promised to be one of the nights of the year. And it didn’t disappoint. Two amazing acts, pizza, drinkies and fine society combining to create an evening of entertainment that none who were there will ever forget.

It doesn’t matter how you spell it there’s a whole lotta fun in those little O’s. We’re no strangers to trans-atlantic shenanigans here at Letham Nights and Taylor and John are no strangers to our fair isle either this being their fifth time on Scottish soil. And it was a very pleasant hit of hi-jinx that these boys brought to our humble hall on Saturday night. Hauling themselves all the way from Dallas, Texas, The O’s have travelled light on this tour, foregoing their usual rhythm section in place of a two-footed engine room with a kick-drum and kick-tambourine providing ample drive for Taylor’s guitar and John’s banjo. The O’s have a nice line in repartee and seem to love playing together which endears even before you hear them sing and play. And boy, can they sing and play? Sweet harmonies, tight guitar runs and virtuosic banjo picking (and rock n roll banjo solos – yes, you read that right) brought songs such as ‘Lady Icarus’ and ‘Outlaw’ (which could be a trad Scottish number with the addition of a fiddle) soaring into the Fife night air. O, O, O, it’s magic!

Anorak corner: The steel guitar contraption that John plays is a Lowebro, built by Mike Lowe from Rockwall, Texas. So there you go.

It’s no exaggeration to say we have never had a more eagerly awaited performance at Letham Nights than Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward & Fisher’s slot at LN30. Tickets had sold out shortly after the turn of the year and there was not a spare seat in the house. If any held doubts that such hotly anticipated fare could only disappoint then no such doubts existed after they took the stage and launched into a set that would soon be Letham Nights folklore. AMWWF are, simply, an embarrassment of riches. Some bands have one great vocalist; they have five. Some have one or two great instrumentalists; they can play a dozen instruments between them and you wouldn’t know they weren’t specialist in each. Their mixture of styles might prove too eclectic in lesser hands but they hop and skip between folk, glam rock and hip hop (and perhaps even calypso merging into klezmer at one point – or am I being silly?) without ever losing their essence (their Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward & Fisherness?). Their range of voices and incredible musical abilities puts me in mind of The Band and I can’t think of much higher praise than that. Needless to say the dancefloor (moshpit?) was ten deep and dangerous. It might have seemed a good idea by the band to do the encore before they left the stage but there was no danger of them being let go without a fight. To their credit, they found the energy from somewhere to get back on stage and leave us with a playfully shambolic and perfectly judged version of Sally Brown which got everyone in fine spirits for the journey home.

Once again The Doorstep Bakery kept everyone fed with the finest horsebox dispensed pizza anywhere and special thanks go to Brad Eggleston of Barking Mad and family for handling the Clap & Tipple Bar.

Letham Nights – The Best Small Gigs In The World!

Showcase your talent at Letham Nights #31

On Saturday 17th August 2013 we are proud to present the amazing Devon Sproule as our headline act at Letham Nights.  This will be yet another momentous occasion for us and we feel very privileged that an artist of such outstanding quality will be performing for us.

What’s more, we want to share the moment with our local young musicians by offering them the opportunity to open the show on the night.  So here is the deal:

We are looking for a high quality, young, confident act to open the show with a set of 20-30 minutes at least partly made up of your own material.

If you are interested in this opportunity to showcase your talent at our highly-regarded venue in North East Fife, then all you need to do is send us a sound clip or online link to your music (e.g. Soundcloud, Reverbnation, Bandcamp) together with 50 words (max) on why you should be selected.

In return you will receive a fee to cover your expenses and get the chance to share the stage with one of the most talented musicians to emerge on the folk/roots scene in recent years.

Devon Sproule – Canadian-born, lives in Virginia US – burst onto the UK scene in 2008 with stellar performances on Later with Jools Holland and at the Cambridge Folk Festival.  She has had rave reviews in the music and mainstream press including this from Rolling Stone:

“Perhaps the sweetest and most honest folk-pop album recorded this year. Sproule’s vocal and lyrical beauty is unmatched.”

Listen here

Seriously, this is too good a chance to miss!

Selection criteria

Applicants must:

1. Live within a 25 mile radius of Letham Village Hall
2. Be under 18
3. Perform for 20-30 minutes including at least one original song
4. Provide a sound clip or online link to your music
5. Say in 50 words why you should be selected to open Letham Nights #31

All submissions should be made to mike@lethamnights.org by Friday 19th July

Devon Sproule – yes, you heard that correctly!  Devon Sproule!!!

On Saturday 17th August we are proud to announce that top Canadian folk artist, Devon Sproule will be playing Letham Nights. If you have any sense you will buy yourself a ticket now!

Tickets are now on sale

Having spotted Devon on Jools in 2008 we fell in love with her music but didn’t even consider that we might be able to get her to come and play Letham Nights.  And yet… Following a tour of the UK last year when she played in Dundee and Kirkcaldy, we just popped the question: ‘Devon, would you come and play for us’ and whaddaya know, her response was ‘why, yes of course!’.  For a beautiful preview of what you are in for have a listen to this clip from the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2008:

For more information about Devon go to her blog

Playing with Devon on the night will be fellow artist, Thomas whose delicate playing and vocal style can be viewed in this clip:

Don’t forget that the Clap and Tipple bar will be on hand to quench your thirst and soothe your tastebuds together with the Doorstep Bakery and their mobile pizza oven.  Mmmm, pizza!

Letham Nights – The Best Small Gigs In The World!

Nearly 5 Years!

After nearly 5 years of bringing high quality local (and not so local) music to our wee village hall in Letham and being constantly amazed at just how high the quality is and what an amazing atmosphere we have generated, we are now asking ourselves the question – can it possibly get any better?  Of course it can…!

Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward and Fisher AND The O’s – It’s a sell out…!

On June 8th we are thrilled to see the return of Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward and Fisher for a show that sold out in 2 weeks in January.  There is no doubt that this extraordinary collective of multi-instrumentalists are going places.  This beautiful clip is from an unplugged set they recorded in a church in Falkland of songs from their soon-to-be-released new album and if you haven’t got a ticket for Letham Nights #30 they are back in Falkland on July 6th.  Strong advice – get in quick!

They will be joined by stunning Dallas duo, the O’s, whose infectious, foot-stomping feelgood vibe will make you grin like a chimp.

Don’t forget that the Clap and Tipple bar will be on hand to quench your thirst and soothe your tastebuds together with the Doorstep Bakery and their mobile pizza oven.  Mmmm, pizza!

Letham Nights – The Best Small Gigs In The World!

In ancient Chaldean Numerology the number 29 signifies uncertainty, unexpected danger and deception by the opposite sex and the 29th Letham Nights musical extravaganza definitely lived up to the premonitions of this Babylonian metaphysical art!

First on stage was the David Latto Band, making a welcome return to Letham, and with their gentle harmonies and well crafted songs, they lulled the packed hall into a false sense of security as to what was to unfold in the second half of the night with Miss Quincy & the Showdown. But more of that anon.

As soon as the Fife based duo stepped on to the stage we were swept across the Atlantic on the bourbon-flavoured airs from this acoustic duo. I was reaching for my corn-cob pipe and rocking on my porch to their country/bluegrass ballads and tales of lonely nights, unrequited love and hard luck. David Latto and Gavin Brady are conclusive evidence that Fife is a seed bed of high quality music and that songwriting skills are not just the preserve of King Creosote or James Yorkston.  Their sparse, rustic and dark lyrics and tunes such as ‘Black Horse’ and ‘Wronged’ could have come straight from the quill of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. The boys mixed songs from their recently released debut album with new ones like the lively ‘Running Out of Road’ and the slower ‘Every Now and Then’ with those signature spine-tingling harmonies.  Yes, this Fife duo are well worth crossing the country to hear and you should catch ‘em if you can.

So on to the second half – remember that number – danger and deception? Well it’s on stage now. Picture Delilah with a guitar and you’ve met Miss Quincy – with a red rose tattoo on one shoulder girl and bagful of attitude on the other. Shari Rae was riding shotgun with her double bass and a head of hair that even Samson would have been proud of.  And like Samson and Delilah they brought the house down on our heads when they launched into ‘Dirty Sunday’ to open the set. Guitar licks interspersing a song of latent, lush menace, and you know you’ve met a girl that your ‘mamma wont approve’ – but I sure do!  This is a serious talent – going from blues to rockabilly to folk to country. This is an entertainer – in every sense of the word – who sure ‘aint foolin’, transforming the stage to a frontier honky-tonk with Miss Quincy out there in front, telling stories with wit, repartee and style.  Is this Canada’s answer to Imelda May or a latter day Susi Quattro? I don’t think so. This is something more and in 10 years time we can say: WE WERE THERE when Miss Quincy played for us in Letham.

Miss Quincy is one sassy, accomplished songwriter with a great turn of phrase which she punctuates with guitar riffs of real attitude and a voice that is multi-layered, from the honey of a Norah Jones in ‘Going Down’ to raw seduction in ‘I Want Some Sugar In My Bowl’.  The power of Missy Q vocals was ably enhanced by Shari’s harmonisations and the tight rhythms of Joy on the drums who brought a sense of discipline to the proceedings.  They had the ‘whole room hot’ as they sang ‘Silent Movie.’ The evening came to an apt conclusion with a rendition of that Cole Porter classic ‘My Heart Belongs to Daddy’ that a certain Miss Monroe would herself have been proud.

Canada has given us Joni Mitchell, KD Lang, Feist and Alanis Morisette.  Well, to that roll of honour we add another worthy name –  Miss Q – Letham Nights’ heart belongs to you!!

And if you missed out on the night we strongly recommend you buy her albums here

Review by Ron Montgomery

THE DAVID LATTO BAND AND MISS QUINCY

Spring is in the air and the sap is rising.  Time for a showdown… time to get down to Letham Nights for another night of great, great music… and maybe some dancing …and some pizza…

Tickets available here

This time we bring you…

Miss Quincy & The Showdown – a smokin’ hot all-girl trio all the way from Canada, featuring electric guitar, upright bass, and drums. We heard about Miss Quincy a few years back; been trying to get a date fixed ever since.  And finally we managed! Channeling The Runaways, The Black Keys, and Big Mama Thornton, Miss Quincy doesn’t fit the classic girl singer/songwriter mould and The Showdown isn’t your average all-girl band. You won’t find them singing pretty pages out of their diaries.  Instead you’ll find them starting a party everywhere they play by getting down and rocking out with raunchy roots & blues and straight up rock n’ roll.

Like The Devil Does, Miss Quincy’s second full length album is a moody collection of songs filled with dirty guitar licks, sweet gospel harmonies, swampy grooves, and stories of old time deal breakers. Miss Quincy and producer, Canadian roots & blues legend Tim Williams, set out to create an album with the gritty sound of tube amps, a tight rhythm section, and a band playing live-off-the-floor.

Good musicians playing good music, it’s the oldest trick in the book!

Find Miss Quincy on Facebook

And we are not finished there!  Opening for Miss Quincy and the Showdown, we present Letham Nights favourites….

The David Latto Band – our own dynamic duo comprised of experienced songwriters David Latto and Gavin Brady, returning with songs from their latest wonderful and highly acclaimed album. Drawing their influences from a diverse range of artists and songwriters- their largely acoustic sound taps into the vastness of the American country music tradition whilst paying respect to their Scottish roots. David and Gavin have produced a masterpiece here from cover art and production values to the sheer beauty and simplicity of the songs which channel an aching, heartbreaking Scottish Americana vibe like no other.

So are you ready for a showdown?

Tickets available here

And of course, now that the evenings are lighter and the weather improving, the Doorstep Bakery will be back on hand with their mobile pizza oven in a horsebox… and maybe other tasty bready snacks…