City fair set for a good ol’ time as Americana festival rolls up

AMERICA: What does it mean to you? Come on, politics and the occasional overthrow of democratically-elected governments apart, it’s mostly good things: movies, fabulous accents, positivity, maybe even small-town decency but, above all, I guess, we have to say music.

There’s even a genre known as Americana now, comprising contemporary takes on various roots styles. Americana in its wider sense is often a more nostalgic phenomenon, located somewhere between the films of Jimmy Stewart and Disneyland’s Main Street, USA. That high street almost certainly has a barber’s shop, drug store and ice cream parlour, places somewhat akin to our Superdrug and chippie. If you are Scottish, and don’t do irony, I’m joking.

However, I’m not joking when I tell you a small Scottish city famed for its midwest-style civility is hosting a festival which, while little to do with the Reaganesque pudding I’ve overegged above, focuses on the modern roots music that partly defines Americana today.

Perth’s Southern Fried Festival offers some highly-rated acts, as well as a couple of Lows, as in Andy Fairweather of that ilk in a trio with Nick Lowe and Paul Carrack. Other headliners include Imelda May, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Gretchen Peters.

Named Scottish Event Awards Best Small Festival 2014, Southern Fried takes place in Perth Concert Hall and other city centre venues. In the past, such luminaries as Seasick Steve, Rachel Harrington and Lucinda Williams have named it as among their favourite gigs.

As well as music, it offers “our famous soul food”, and one or two events described disconcertingly as “rowdy” or “uptempo”.

That’s Americana today, and in the musical sense it is lively, vibrant, creative, respectful of tradition and, often enough, simply a joy for ears and tapping feet.

The reference point remains the same: America, and not least the folky-country-bluesy-rolly tradition, some of which had its roots in – all together now – Scotland!