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.

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Rock & Reel

Q Magazine

Q Magazine Dec 2009