The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Boost for teen talent as Hynde dazzles at Fringe
Teen hopefuls are being invited to tap in to backing that previously helped Lewis Capaldi have his shot at fame.
As well as the Bathgate hit-maker, other previous participants in the national Hit The Road youth music touring project have included such hotly-tipped artists as Perth rockers Parliamo, Dundee songbird Be Charlotte, Aberdeen alt outfit Angry Man Car Park, Glasgow popster Riley, and Fort William troubadour Keir Gibson.
Run by the Scottish Music Centre (SMC) with Creative Scotland and PRS Foundation support, the scheme provides breaking talents with a chance to learn about the live music industry and to tour with professional backing.
Expert masterclasses and production, performance, royalties and marketing workshops are also part of the package.
Following 18 months of music industry shutdown, SMC’s executive director Gill Maxwell said she “can’t wait” to check out Scotland’s upcoming talent. “We want to hear from emerging artists aged 14 to 19 working in any music genre, either as a solo artist or with a band,” she said.
“All our venues have 14plus licences so that new young audiences can see and support their local bands. Our nationwide team of music industry mentors is on standby to guide the selected artists through stagecraft, song choice, press and PR, while our pro photographers will provide individually tailored promo pics.”
Performers are being asked to look up the website hittheroad.org.uk to make their application.
Meanwhile, live music continues its revival this weekend with Dunfermline’s PJ Molloys hosting the long-awaited returns of punk legends The Skids (tonight) and Fife faves Shambolics (tomorrow), while Beat Generator in Dundee has grunge covers outfit Lost Dogs.
Still on the theme of bands finally coming out to play again, if ever there was an event that highlighted how much gigs have been missed – as if we need reminding – it was Chrissie Hynde’s Edinburgh Fringe turn this week.
The Pretenders frontwoman exuded star quality and sheer class as she brought her Bob Dylan-themed acoustic show to the capital’s Queen’s Hall.
Her main musical collaborator these days is guitarist James Walbourne, and his warm-up set as one half of The Rails alongside Kami Thompson impressively channelled the latter’s parents Richard and Linda Thompson on rootsy offering The Caley.
However, from the moment she started cooing her tenderly-treated In The Summertime, the first of nine Dylan songs in her set, it was Hynde who proved that a socially-distanced gathering can have a genuine buzz.
Accompanied by Walbourne, keys man Carwyn Ellis and double bassist Chris Hill, this immediately felt like a Pretenders show in all but name. “This is a song that Bob wrote for me... well, he has tonight,” she playfully teased before delivering a sublime rendition of Standing In The Doorway that highlighted the allenveloping nature of the five-piece’s playing and her achingly beautiful vocals.
The singer’s deep devotion to Dylan doesn’t feel forced in any way and her astonishing ability to make words seem as if they’re hanging in the air, giving them maximum resonance, can seldom have been as effective.
A few grumpy broadsides are only to be expected from the USA-born radical, and her every cuss was delivered with knowing humour designed to keep the audience on its toes.
“Let me see your hands,” she mischievously declared at one point, tipping a nod to ex-husband Jim Kerr, then adding in her Ohio drawl, “It’s a Scottish thing, you know what I’m talking about, right?”
Two songs inextricably associated with Hynde – the delicate I Go To Sleep and toe-tapper Stop Your Sobbing – but penned by Ray Davies provided a reminder of The Pretenders’ past glories, but it was You Can’t Hurt A Fool from last year’s Hate For Sale album that brought the house down as Chrissie, 69, finally stepped out front for the closing stages.
A trio of glorious standards from her 2019 jazz-oriented Valve Bone Woe LP, including a super-seductive take on Charles Trenet’s Que Reste-t-il De Nos Amours?, only served to underline that Hynde has reached a point where she’s capable of doing absolutely anything in song that she wants, even hamming up her French lines with a lyric sheet in hand.