Hail to The Boss: Stars salute rocker before his big day
Musician and broadcaster Roddy Hart on the secret of Springsteen’s songbook before twin tribute shows celebrate his 70th birthday
He’d gone in for a short back and sides. He came out with a new musical obsession.
As Roddy Hart prepares for one of the biggest weekends of his career as a songwriter and singer, he recalled how his appreciation for the songwriting and musicianship of Bruce Springsteen took shape in the seat of a Glasgow barber shop.
The Radio Scotland broadcaster will be at the centre of a celebration of the work of Bruce Springsteen as part of the Celtic Connections festival.
The Roaming Roots Revue, now a popular staple in the festival’s annual schedule, celebrates the 70th birthday of the New Jersey legend, known to millions simply as The Boss.
“I used to go to barbers called Stupart’s and Alan, the guy who cut my hair, was the biggest Springsteen fan,” said Roddy during a break from his band’s rehearsals last week.
“He used to swap bootlegs with me, CDs of rare radio performances that Springsteen had done. So I got really into the underworld of Springsteen and discovering all the rarities, things that weren’t otherwise available.
“He gave me things that allowed me to develop this admiration for who Springsteen was as an artist and what he stood for, the circus of the E Street Band the showmanship.
“But I was getting into him when he was uncool, in the mid-90s, when it was all about Blur and Oasis, and people were asking why I was listening to Springsteen. Then, in the mid-noughties, he was back in fashion, and people were beginning to understand.”
Roddy and his band The Lonesome Fire will be joined on stage by a revolving cast of singers including Scottish folk favourite Karine Polwart and Irish singer Lisa Hannigan, among others.
Staged over two evenings, at Glasgow Royal Concert
Hall tonight and the city’s Old Fruitmarket tomorrow, the concert is the latest in a long line of celebratory reflections on the work of hugely influential artists.
Last year’s Roaming Roots Revue was a celebration of The Beatles’ Abbey Road, while previous jamborees have tipped a cap to the music of 60s Americana legend Levon Helm and The Band, with others celebrating female songwriters and the sounds of Laurel Canyon.
With the Boss hitting 70 last September, there was only ever one option for a Springsteen devotee charged with coming up with a themed night of musical collaboration.
Roddy said: “The first one we did, there were only 600 people at the concert hall, and I remember thinking, ‘Well, we won’t be doing this next year.’
“But it was a transformative night and got some great reviews, and we’ve built on it since then. This one sold out in a few hours and Donald Shaw phoned me
worrying that folk thought it might be Springsteen himself performing. Now we can’t wait for these shows. We’ve been rehearsing the past week and every time we break into one of the big songs.
“Our guitarist, John Martin, and I are Springsteen devotees, and we’ve just been grinning at each other ear to ear. It’s brilliant winning over some of the other band members.
“Scott, our drummer, finished playing Born To Run yesterday and he said it was the most exciting song he has ever played in his life. Springsteen writes about the struggle to exist, to be free, about people who are victims of circumstance, born into a life that they don’t understand or that somehow inhibits their dreams.
“It’s that sense of looking forward, trying to feel that you’re more than your own background, that you can escape, and that you can make your life whatever you decide you want it to be.
“That’s hard to write about as a Scottish artist. Springsteen’s as blue collar as they come, and a guy from Glasgow trying to do that sort of thing is very difficult.
“Ricky Ross (the Deacon Blue frontman) writes songs in a Springsteen style but with a Scottish feel to them, it’s hard to do but he’s the master at it.”
Roddy’s roles as presenter of BBC Scotland’s Quay Sessions and a Radio Scotland music show mean he’s expertly placed to curate the Roaming Roots line-up every year.
He said: “Part of my job is to think of it like an album – what’s the opener, what’s going to create the right atmosphere, what are the key ballads, the light and shade, how do you bring it home like Springsteen would with four bangers at the end?
“But a great song is a great song – and this will be wall-to-wall great songs. All night.”