The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Helping hand that fired up Dan’ s creative spirit
While former Fence Collective member Dan Willson has recorded for nearly two decades as Withered Hand, during that time he has been far from productive.
Yet having released How To Love last year, his first album since 2014’s New Gods, the Edinburgh-based solo artist returns this month with a brand new project, a collection of duets written and performed with English singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams.
On a Zoom call from his home, Dan claims that the artist, who hails from
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, “reinvigorated” his creativity so much that he wrote, recorded and released his fourth solo album before the arrival of Willson Williams this weekend.
“I hadn’t been doing a lot of writing or finishing a lot of songs,” Dan admits.
“I didn’t even know if I could co-write with someone, but Kath came up and, over the course of the weekend, we at least started most of what went on the album.
“She’s got a lot of experience and just seems to have an instinct for staying true to what you’re doing without letting
the industry stuff getting in the way.”
Dan and Kathryn first met in 2019 when she headlined an event at Edinburgh International Book Festival set up by two of his mates, poets Hollie McNish and Michael Pedersen.
The pair clicked straight away, though Dan acknowledges the female artist had been on his radar far longer, thanks to mutual friends such as fellow Fence mainstay James Yorkston.
“James was really encouraging about us working together, but over the years, her name kept coming up with people
thinking we must already know each other,” he says.
“And after we met, Kathryn said the same thing had happened to her!”
During writing sessions, they soon found one unfortunate area of common ground – grief.
Dan had recently lost his brother Karl while he was also grieving for his pal Scott Hutchison of the band Frightened Rabbit, who had passed away in 2018.
Kathryn, meanwhile, had been close to comedian and radio presenter Jeremy Hardy, who died the year after Scott.
Not that Willson
Williams comes across as an especially dark record.
Instead there is a lot of happiness to be found, from the warmth of family bonds on Arrow to the more solitary joys of reading on Shelf.
“For Dan, though, appreciating these aspects of life comes from hard-worn maturity.
“Losing people was one of the first things we spoke about at length and bonded over,” he says.
“We identified with a lot of the things that are challenging in our own lives, characters and relationships – doubt, discovering joy and getting a bit longer in the tooth.
“There’s an awareness of the passage of time and things coming and going.
“Quite a few songs reference gratitude or just trying not to overlook what is good right in front of our faces.”
Originally, Dan and Kathryn had started writing with no fixed purpose in mind, but they soon realised they were creating something special that was different to their solo material.
With that in mind, Dan secured funding from Creative Scotland to record an album at Leith’s Post Electric Studio, though he felt the project required a different backing band to the duo’s regular collaborators.
With Kathryn’s encouragement, Dan explains how he gathered a dream team of homegrown talent that included Chris “Beans” Geddes from Glasgow indie stalwarts Belle and Sebastian on keyboards, and Orkneyborn guitarist Kris Drever.
“We were trying to find people we both knew and loved and admired,” he says.
“Kath has a kind of ‘ask and what’s the worst that can happen?’ attitude.
“That’s why she’s seen as such a good mentor to lots of people.”
There could only be one choice on accordion, though – another Fence member and proud Fifer, Kenny Anderson, aka King Creosote, who Dan claims he struggled to entice out of the kingdom.
“It’s hard to get him out of Fife, even to Edinburgh, but we managed it,” the musician says.
“I have a lot of love for him. I looked to Kenny in a lot of ways as a mentor.
“I have endless respect for him as a musician and someone who has navigated their way while trying to stay true to their own kind of muse, their own thing.
“One of the really lovely things about it is there are places (on the album) where it’s like old times, there’s a connection.
“Even though the older we get, the more we seem to be tempted to moan about things.”
Dan had kept in touch with Kenny by visiting during regular trips to Fife.
As Withered Hand, he has maintained contact with the post-Fence music scene, including a recent performance at St Monans’ Futtle.
Having only started making music after he moved to Scotland from England in 1996, he recognises the East Neuk’s influence on his career, from appearing at early events there such as
Homegame. “I really love Fife,” Dan says.
“It’s had such a big impact on my life – my whole musical journey has been guided by going over there and playing with them.
“I’ve still got a lot of time and respect for all the people involved in that scene; it put the emphasis on people coming together and sharing music. It’s about collaboration.”
Willson Williams is released today on One Little Independent Records. Kathryn Williams and Withered Hand play Perth Theatre on May 3.