STRIPPED of the leftfield experimentation of his Nonesuch albums, Sam Amidon cut a rather plain solitary figure on the Mitchell Theatre stage.

The mood perked up for the Bonny Prince Billy-like Short Life and kept on through his Appalachian-flavoured banjo songs, but an unsettled fiddle interlude and a surreal spoken routine about Bruno Mars that went on for too long made this a patchy performance indeed.

Karine Polwart, despite also being in a solo set-up rather than with her usual trio, was in magnificent form. Ewan MacColl and The Waterboys featured on the set list, but it was her own songbook that underlined what a tremendous writer - not forgetting lyricist - she has become. And this being Holocaust Memorial Day, her tribute to Scottish Auschwitz victim Jane Haining was beautifully handled.