Celtic Connections

Tweedy, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Keith Moore

Three stars

One of the great things about Celtic Connections, as Thursday night once again proved, is the quality of the support acts across the festival. It's a description however that, in most cases, does little justice to these guys and it's always worth making the effort to catch the earlier bus to hear them. For those who missed Field Report, a Wisconsin-based trio; kick yourselves. Picking up where Fleet Foxes gave up halfway through their second album, their leader Chris Porterfield has a searchlight of a voice and a pocketful of beautifully crafted songs.

And so the scene was set for Tweedy, a side project for Jeff Tweedy, hitherto mainman of alt-country pioneers Wilco. Promoting his recent double album, Sukierae, and accompanied by a four-piece band that includes his 18-year-old son Spencer on drums, this versatile musician is hard to pin down and while the new songs have an overhanging melancholy, the arrangements veer from folk to psychedelic wig-outs via waltz-time country and 60s pop sensibilities. If there are constants, it's the quality of his songwriting and easy-on-the-ear voice.

In a set of three parts, the first was songs from the new album a highlight being New Moon with its Dylanesque overtones and plaintive refrain: "Don't treat me like a stranger". The second found Tweedy, alone onstage, for an acoustic set that, while undoubtedly a treat for fans, slightly overstayed its welcome. But true to his own mantra of "Leave 'em wanting less" (and clocking in a valuesome two hour set) the full band returned for an extended encore of half-a-dozen songs that included a couple of tracks he wrote recently for Mavis Staples, the gospel tinged Only The Lord Knows being a highlight.

ends