FATEA Magazine

Of These Lands - Reviewed by FATEA MAGAZINE

“Gravel-voiced Scottish singer songwriter John Alexander is back with his second album, Of These Lands. His first album, Rain For Sale, was perfectly described as Dustbowl Blues with a Glasgow Kick, which was also the name of his 2012 show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. To Of These Lands is certainly in the same vein, full of soulful ambience and great storytelling.

The opening track is a good introduction to Alexander’s brand of blues and soul. Meet Me Where The River Flows has Jim McDermott on drums and Nicholas Blythe on bass, but it’s clear that this Alexander’s song, with his rasping lyrics and strong guitar work shining through. As well as McDermott and Blythe, additional musicians include Iona McDonald, Paul Tasker and Kevin McGuire, and they complement Alexander perfectly. McDonald’s backing vocals in particular crop up on occasions throughout the album, starting with A Little Daylight, and she really adds another dimension to these songs.

The two highlights of the album both feature in the first half. Used To Be A Friend Of Mine is a wonderful track, highly reminiscent of Nick Drake at times. It’s such a simple song, with Alexander unaccompanied, but it has a gentle eloquence to it that really makes it stand out. It is followed by Hold On which has an achingly gorgeous chorus, aided again by McDonald along with McDermott and Blythe.

While these are the strongest tracks, the rest of the album still has moments of real quality. Seven Cold Curses is poetic with an Americana touch, and Hallowed Ground is low key but full of atmosphere with slide guitar work from Tasker that at times feels almost like a second vocal. Overall this is a great listen, and one that will surely be revisited again and again, revealing itself more fully with every play.

Adam Jenkins”
— http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/reviews/JohnAlexander/

Blues Matters

JOHN ALEXANDER
@The Acoustic Music Centre, Edinburgh 24/08/2012
The Edinburgh Fringe is not renowned for its music shows, but beyond the daunting number of comedians, there are some high quality music events. While an excursion to an unknown comic may give you the blues, there were no such concerns about the standard of performance at the Acoustic Music Centre in St Brides Church with a lineup of intimate, but well attended shows including Dick Gaughan, Preston Reed and Mike Whellans. It was John Alexander that I had come to see, with a show subtitled "Dustbowl Blues with a Glasgow Kick". A solo performer and song teller, I was struck from the opening 'Saints & Sinners" by both his soulful but gritty vocals, and the honesty of his delivery. The bluesy 'Still Got a Long Way Home' was upbeat, while a topical 'It's Dangerous' featured some particularly intricate acoustic guitar playing. The performance allowed the audience to hold onto every word Alexander uttered, and this came over strongly on the atmospheric 'Going Gone'. A diverse set saw Alexander switch from 'Apologies To Woody', with its country blues flavour, to the Celtic influence of 'Bridge Of Kings'. The boundaries between these genres are vague. This was a point made by Alexander before 'Gallows Pole', a song of Scottish/Irish decent, which became a regular theme in American folklore. With a rich imagery within his lyrics to songs such as ‘This Side Or The Other’ and a likeable dry wit, Alexander is an engaging and talented performer well worthy of your exploration. Duncan Beattie

Evening Times

Glasgow singer follows summit gig with Fringe show

People have been playing the blues around the world for a long time but a gig at the top of an African mountain followed by a packed venue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe must be a first.

But Glasgow blues singer John Alexander is about to do just that.

Having returned from a charity trek up Jebel Toubkal in Morocco, he is gearing up for two gigs at the capital’s annual arts festival.

Raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, John played a specially written song at the 13,700ft mountain summit after carrying his guitar on his back.

He said: “The guide taking us up saw me carrying the guitar from the start.

“He was looking at me as if I was crazy when he realised I was planning on taking it all the way to the top. But the performance went down well, so I think the music was appreciated.”

John, a keen hillwalker, made the trip with friend Daniel McCafferty and told how it came about.

“I go hillwalking with friends and somebody said they wanted to something a bit different, a bigger trip rather than one in Scotland.

“Because the Morocco trip was something a bit different we felt we had an opportunity to raise some money for a cause.

“A few people had family that had a lot of help from Macmillan and while Daniel and I have no direct contact with the charity we decided it was really good cause.”

Used to the mist, midges and cold of Scotland’s mountains, the heat of Morocco – “a cool 42°C” said John – could have been a hindrance, but he persevered.

“I passed up the opportunity to have a mule carry my guitar because I decided that just was not in the spirit of the event,” he said.

“I also felt sure I would be spurred on by my fundraising promise to Macmillan Cancer Support to carry the guitar to the top.”

Having reached the top, John and Daniel celebrated with some Irn-Bru.

“Spot the Glaswegians,” John said with a laugh. “It was warm and fizzed up, but still tasted good.”

With the sun out and his thirst quenched, John sat and played a few songs before sitting back to listen to fellow musician Andy Robbie, of Glasgow band The 4/5s.

John said: “Once I got my breath back I played Call Me A Doctor’, the song I had penned for the trip.

“I then savoured the views as Andy took a turn on the guitar with a few tunes.”

John and Daniel have so far raised £1600 for Macmillan Cancer Support from the two-day trek but hope to get some more donations.

John is now back down in more familiar territory as has prepares for two nights at the Edinburgh Fringe.

He played the Fringe last year with two sell-out shows after receiving critical acclaim for his album, Rain For Sale.

The Fringe shows will be followed by a short tour in the Highlands before returning to Glasgow for the Americana Festival in October.

Any plans to play a regular mountain-top slot?

“I might try somewhere else,” he replied.

“I had a crazy idea to play on top of Ben Nevis, but I have already done one a few feet higher. Kilimanjaro might be next, it’s a bit colder.”

  • John Alexander, Dustbowl Blues With A Glasgow Kick, Back Room of the Acoustic Music Centre, St Bride’s Centre, Orwell Terrace, Edinburgh. August 12 and 19, doors 8pm, £8 (£6 concessions).
  • To make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support visit www.justgiving.com/aintnomountain



Scotsman

Resurrection shuffle

AN EARLY and deserving contender for the 2010 Best Fringe PR Stunt Award is Glasgow bluesman John Alexander, who recently scaled the highest mountain in Morocco's Atlas range with his guitar strapped to his back to belt out his newly penned song Call me a Doctor.

There's a Youtube clip, of course, showing Alexander sitting on the 13,700ft summit of Mount Toubkal performing a twangy-and-lonesome number, mostly in this case about how he's nearly dying of exhaustion: "Well I should be, full of coffee, but I feel, like I'm dead."

Even at altitude and in the Moroccan summer heat, with temperatures of 44C, Alexander proves his worth in a strong performance. The jaunt, dubbed the Ain't No Mountain Charity Challenge, was to raise funds for MacMillan Cancer Support. After playing to sell-out crowds at the Fringe last year, he's back with "Dustbowl Blues with a Glasgow Kick," in two performances at the Acoustic Music Centre in St Brides on 12 and 19 August.

Blogcritics

"Dustbowl Blues with a Glasgow kick” says the promo material that arrived with John Alexander’s latest album Rain For Sale. It's a perfect description because despite this unlikely geographic conflict he has conjured up a CD that has gone a long way to restoring my faith in genuine grass roots music.

There's no fancy over production where the band only meet on the 'net, this is, in the words of another notable Glaswegian, Alex Harvey, “Gamblin Bar Room Blues.” Real down to earth, down at heel, genuinely heartfelt blues.

Once you delve a little deeper you can see that John Alexander’s journey took a few twists and turns that clearly made an impression on his musical development. Trained as a classical guitarist in his native Scotland he soon found himself succumbing to the lure of the blues.

Travelling to the southern hemisphere he set up home in New Zealand, Christchurch on the South Island to be precise. It was while he was there that he released his debut album Waiting For Now. It was a rustic mix of blues, folk, and country blues that had clearly soaked up a lot of what he had heard on his travels down under and also during a trip across America.

After he had moved back to Glasgow he set about working the circuit. He has recently opened for Newton Faulkner gaining many accolades along the way. His music radiates an earthy, gritty reality with deep thinking lyrics during which his observations on life are set expertly aside his cool guitar picking style.


Rain For Sale continues along that road radiating powerful sonic images of life’s highs and lows in a mistily, wistful journey underpinned by his determination to survive.

The album opens with the “yellow moon and hound dogs” of the gently sloping slide guitar of “Making Waves”. The dark, bleak “Skin” sets the intensity that the majestic “Silver & Blue”, available as a single, continues. This is a song of passionate beauty that is expertly picked out.

 “Carry Me Home” is the world weary voice of a guy who has been kicked about by life but with the ability to put those lessons into words.There is a sense of heartfelt pain on tracks such as the superb “Going Gone”. This is a song dangerously loaded with enough melancholy to leave you contemplating those episodes in your life that you really wished hadn’t happened.

He doesn’t let you off the hook with the dark clouds that hover in and around “Let Me Die”. “Bridge Of Kings” and “Rakaia” arrive as Americana country styled ballads that make the whole geography of it all totally meaningless.

Meanwhile, “Sway” underlines his song writing ability in a warm glow of waltzing late night reflection. “Nowhere To Go” and the lovely “Saints & Sinners” sit together effortlessly and gently lead the way for the country blues of the closing track “Early Rise”.

With top drawer lyrics, quality song-writing, superb guitar playing and genuine vocals Rain For Sale hits all the targets several times over. Recommended.

www.blogcritics.org

Maverick

So scintillating that it sounds at times you could be forgiven for losing yourself completely

Originally from Glasgow, John upped sticks and left for sunnier climbs in Christchurch, New Zealand where he found himself living for a substantial period. Whilst there, he played an untold number of gigs which increased his experience of performing live. This being his third album, his large legion of fans will surely be delighted as well as those who have yet to hear his work.

With a faster beat than some on this twelve-track release, Carry Me Home includes some rambling picking which I’m sure every country fan appreciates and wouldn’t be out of place if played on a 1970s Dire Straits album. By the first few moments of Rakaia you seem to understand what John is all about;

Picking superiority. What seems like both an acoustic guitar and banjo, the instrumental work is certainly not wasted as they are the perfect accompaniment to John’s unmistakably croaky yet by all means enticing vocals. This track is that fine it should be recorded by either an East Nashville resident or one of the Austin-based bands as it certainly deserves to be heard by as many people as possible. A quite groovy tune it is, Nowhere To Go has both blues elements about it but has the advantage of keeping true to its country and Americana roots by revving the awesome button all the way up to eleven; a toe-tapper, crowd pleaser of a song it sure is.

As John spent quite a large amount of his life earning himself a substantial number of fans in New Zealand, I’m confident that if he relocated to the land of our American cousins further and even great success would be heading his way.

Russell Hills

Maverick Nov 09

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