Folk music returns to Mellor Brook

BOO HEWERDINE & YVONNE LYON
Things Found in Books

Sunday 6th July   7.30  (doors 7.00)

Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine’s new album Things Found in Books is an album of songs written in response to a notice board in Culzean Castle’s second-hand bookshop littered with things that have dropped out of books.

Letters, notes, photographs, old receipts, postcards, fragments of people’s lives which has been lovingly collected and kept on a board on the wall amongst the bookshelves.

Boo and Yvonne have formed an inimitable songwriting partnership weaving these ephemeral stories with their own, creating an album full of nostalgia and beauty, hope and longing.  Boo Hewerdine is an acclaimed award-winning English singer- songwriter now living and working in Glasgow. Eddi Reader enjoyed international success with the hit single Patience of Angels (written by Boo) in 1995. Some of you will remember him from 2006 on his last visit here when he and Tola Custy accompanied Heidi Talbot.

Yvonne Lyon is among the UK’s brightest and best singer songwriters. Her most recent album Growing Wild is her tenth solo studio album release. Yvonne consistently combines poignant lyrics with strong, creative melodies demonstrating a voice that can be both fragile and intense. She has guested on live sessions with Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 and recently completed a master’s degree in Songwriting and Performance from the University of West Scotland.

www.yvonnelyonmusic.com

tickets @ £15 will be available online from Ticketsource (or phone Janet 07377 788716)

unreserved seating

there will be a licensed bar stocking a draught ale, red and white wine by the glass or bottle and a selection of soft drinks

What a night! What elements go into good song-writing? Hummable melody, interesting lyric, just the right balance of predictability and the unexpected? Certainly all these attributes were demonstrated by the collaborators on this masterful collection of songs making up the album “Things Found in Books”. The first 50 minutes were taken up in showcasing this album released in March this year. “Salvador Dali and Me”, “Navy Cut”, “Paul McCartney in 1970” were stand-out pieces for me. Yvonne Lyon has a Gog-given voice for popular song: expressive, melodic and full of heart-felt emotion without ever becoming over-egged. She led the instrumentation for much of the material with a lilting piano accompaniment. Boo Hewerdine is surely an under-valued guitar player: he adorned Yvonne’s colourful piano with fills, runs and rhythmic strum patterns. His has a commanding bass sonority in his voice and is equally at home taking the lead as he is harmonising to Yyonne’s sweet effusions. No wonder he is a regular in Eddi Reader’s band.

After the break the duo came back with their “greatest hits”. Well, I was familiar with Boo’s “Patience of Angels” recorded by Eddi Reader in 1994. There was huge enthusiasm in the room culminating in a standing ovation (encouraged by Boo’s reference to all artist’s innate craving for adulation) and the duo adjourned to the entrance hall to sign albums and mementos.

Shamrock Promotions is pleased to announce that Boo Hewerdine will be appearing solo at Mellor Brook on Wednesday 24th September. Tickets are £17 from ticketsource