It is no surprise that the Tolbooth, one of Scotland's priceless, small-scale treasures, should make Cedric Watson get over the strangeness, for him, of playing to a seated audience – and on a Saturday night, too.

Watson, originally from Texas, is one of the young masters of Louisiana's creole music scene and he must have felt like a fish out of water on two counts: first, because on a weekend night back home he would just be getting started at the hour this concert ended and secondly, because he is accustomed to seeing dancing bodies responding to his music.

With its steeped rake and feeling of intimacy, the venue proved ideal as Watson soon felt the approval for his accordion and fiddle playing, songs of celebration, cheatin' and cheek – A Kiss Ain't a Contract being a highlight of the category – and his superbly tight, masters of the dance measure band. Watson's music may be designed for creating a good time but it comes from a long way back in history. You can hear worksongs as well as magic-fingered phrasing in his two-row button accordion melodies and his fiddle playing digs deep into the Louisiana blues tradition.

A student of his music's past, he served up a terrific example of what a young man such as he would have been playing in the 1920s, with just accordion and rubboard (a vest-like washboard) courtesy of the delightfully named Desiree Champagne, before returning to the sound that came in with rock'n'roll in the 1950s, singing with passion, and trading hotter than hot licks with his saxophonist over a magnificently stylish drum beat.

✶ ✶ ✶ ✶