King Creosote holds court
King Creosote left the Kingdom of Fife to undertake a royal visit in Argyll last week, writes Oban FM presenter Campbell Cameron.
Taking up residence at the Corran Halls the ‘King’ played a sell-out concert to appreciative subjects. The tour continued overseas to Mull for two nights at An Tobar and then one night at Iona Hall.
Kenny Anderson is a witty, charming, talented and likeable individual who composes great tunes and writes fine lyrics too. His work rate is legendary, with more than 40 albums of creative genius released over the years. The latest is Astronaut meets Appleman.
He has lately found himself under the spell of Mull and his recent recordings have been under the direction of Gordon MacLean at the An Tobar studios. And it was with MacLean, his son Sorren and Hannah Fisher offering the ‘Mulleach’ influence that Creosote performed at the Argyll gigs.
All are consummate musicians and, like Kenny himself, deserve greater exposure than they currently enjoy. In Oban, Hannah provided fantastic soaring fiddle play that raised the band to new heights. Father and son Maclean, on bass and lead guitars respectively, played with understated elegance that augmented the skill of Creosote’s drummer and keys men, Andy and Des.
Hannah relished the freedom to raise her game higher than has been seen before and her violin would rest easy in any symphony orchestra if she took the notion to play there.
Sorren has a skill on guitar that was rarely let loose, save a couple of solos, but the king himself complimented all on their ability to create his music with little or no direction from himself. Devolution of power to the subjects does indeed work well.
As the conclusion of this powerful two-set performance neared, a new subject was introduced to the court in the form of Benderloch-based piper Kate MacPherson.
Kate joined the band for the penultimate and final numbers, raising the roof with her delightfully powerful anthemic piping. Kate is a product of the Angus MacColl-trained Oban High School Pipe Band, and is gaining a following of admirers. Her future is now assured by royal appointment of King Creosote himself.