Fifties singer known for her brilliant deadpan wit
Aberfeldy Festival returns for the ninth year this Friday and Saturday.
The annual town hall music nights have a reputation for bringing quirky, ‘under the radar’ bands, and attract music fans from all over Scotland to hang out in a relaxed atmosphere before turning to local B&Bs for shelter.
“We try to include bands that have made an impact on the music scene in Scotland in that year,” explained founder Ryan Hannigan. He prints the posters and tickets by hand.
“Aberfeldy Festival focuses on bands and music that are maybe under represented but still have had critical acclaim and play on radio stations like BBC Radio 6.”
Bands playing in Aberfeldy Town Hall from 7pm on Friday are Ryan’s own Star Wheel Press, Bryde, Spook School and Mutual Benefit.
Saturday’s acts are Perth’s Laurie Cameron, Ray Harris, Carla J Easton, Jamie Sutherland and Life Model.
Ian Rankin has helped to curate for a number of years.
Catering on November 2 and 3 promises festival goers great beer, whisky and food.
And at the Birks Cinema, there’s slam poetry during the day.
See www.aberfeldyfestival.co.uk London-based singer Zoe Francis and her Glasgowborn husband, guitarist Jim Mullen, pay tribute to a unique talent when they present Remembering Blossom Dearie at Perth Theatre on Monday, November 5.
Blossom Dearie, who died in 2009, was an American singer and pianist who gained popularity in Paris and London during the 1950s and 1960s for her singing of songs including ‘Peel Me A Grape’ and ‘I’m Hip’.
She was also known for her deadpan, often spontaneous wit.
The London jazz club owner Ronnie Scott, who booked Dearie into his Soho club many times, often said that if she’d chosen to be a comedienne instead of a musician she would have been a great success.
“I got to see Blossom when I was living in New York,” said Francis, a former dancer and actress who began singing jazz after she went to the Big Apple for a holiday - she ended up staying for nine years.
“Blossom was playing in Danny’s Skylight Room, one of her favourite venues, and she made everyone laugh.”
It was Dearie’s singing and her choice of songs that particularly appealed to Francis, however.
“I loved Blossom’s phrasing and the way she made songs tell a story,” she says. “A lot of what she did sounds simple on first listening but that’s because she made everything sound effortless.”
Audiences used to think that Dearie had written the songs she sang herself because they hadn’t previously heard what turned out to be classic songs.
“She just knew a good songwriter when she heard one,” added Francis.
Returning from New York in 2004 and after working as a yoga teacher for a spell, Francis resumed her singing career in the late noughties.
She recorded her first album, ‘Looking for a Boy’, when she was living in Bristol, where she met Jim Mullen, whose trio accompanies her at Perth Theatre.
“Jim encouraged me to do a whole programme of songs associated with Blossom after I’d decided I wanted to sing a few of her songs,” says Francis.
“We’re not trying to copy her – we do ‘The Riviera’ quite differently to her version – but she’s quite underrated now and we’d like people to appreciate her more.”
Tickets to the 8pm show in the Joan Knight Studio, Perth Theatre, cost £19.50, concessions £17.50 from www. horsecross.co.uk or call 01738 621031. Aberfeldy Festival has a ‘personal’ flavour Zoe Francis