Celtic Connections
Andy White, Glasgow Art Club
Rob Adams
THREE STARS
Monday was Belfast cowboy night at Celtic Connections. While Van Morrison was holding court down in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, his compatriot and fellow singer-songwriter Andy White was entertaining a smaller gathering of his own faithful in Glasgow Art Club's far from humble gallery. White comes across as the notably cheerier character but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine Van the Man revelling in some of the wordless, melodic choruses with which White encourages audience involvement.
White's first action was to introduce his protégée, the Manchester-based singer-songwriter-guitarist Little Rach, whose brief set of mostly quiet, personal songs with occasional foot stompin' emphasis included a gentle reading of You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go in homage to her source of this Bob Dylan classic, Shawn Colvin.
As you might expect from someone whose career goes back some thirty years and whose performing and writing connections include Tim Finn, Sinead O'Connor, Peter Gabriel and Van Morrison himself, White is a performer with a relaxed, confident stage presence. He's been living in Melbourne for the past four or five years and brings both a fresh perspective and a longer view to new songs such as Separation Street (a Melbourne, rather than Belfast address, he was quick to point out) and the wistful Band of Gold (no relation to the Freda Payne hit).
He has a liking for spoken word verses and his background in literature is reflected in songs that summon up James Joyce and Shakespeare but also in the evocative Italian Girls on Mopeds, one of the highlights in an accomplished, frequently rocking and both personal and politically engaged set.
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