Singer brings her talents to Perth for festival slot

Scots songstress Eddi Reader has been immersed in music all her days.

And all manner of genres, ranging from country to jazz, rock to folk, have provided inspiration along the way.

The three times Brit award winner, who headlines the eagerly awaited Craigie Hill Music Festival with her band on August 26, remains in awe of the power music possesses to shape our lives and file away memories which can lie dormant for years.

The passing of country legend Glen Campbell this week took Eddi back to the days when she was clocking up the miles trying to balance a musical career with parental responsibilities.

“When I was a young mother, a single parent and the kids were in the back of the car I used to slip Glen Campbell’s Greatest Hits on to the car cassette player to drive from London back to Scotland,” she recalled.

“It would be 3am and I’d be trying try to get as far up the road as possible before they woke up.

“I’d be singing along to ‘Honey Come Back’ and it would have me in tears every time.

“When I put it on in the daytime the kids would be going crazy. I would stop doing whatever I was doing and the tears would flow because it was such an affecting tune. The way he sung it was my favourite.

“The boys actually banned me from playing it when they were growing up because they didn’t like to see their mummy cry.

“Songs and I are old buddies. They have accompanied me throughout my life. I love music in all its forms.

“Music is a fast access to getting to the heart of a human being, softening and making it feel it belongs.

“That’s what I try to do when I am imparting a song to an audience.”

Eddi is no stranger to Perth audiences, having headlined the Concert Hall on several