Ian Bruce

31 March 2011 (00:00 - 00:00)

Highly talented Scottish singer/songwriter.

http://www.ianbruce.org/

And listen here: 

http://www.ianbruce.org/pages/albums/albums.htm

Ian Bruce has emerged one of the great singer / song-writers of the Scottish Folk Movement.  He was the obvious choice, alongside Tony Cuffe, Rod Paterson and Billy Ross, to give new impetus to the 12 vol Linn series “THE COMPLETE SONGS OF ROBERT BURNS” with his now classic renderings of Ye Jacobites By Name, The Soldier’s Return, Lassie Wi The Lintwhite Locks, etc..  Linn Recordings recognised this outstanding achievement with a solo CD of his own – “ALLOWAY TALES” - directly based upon his contributions to the project.

 And that is not the end of it.  Recent years have seen his appearance in numerous  Concerts of The Jolly Beggars  and The Merry Muses (Burns And A’ That Festival, Ayr); performances of the Burns songs at the Mitchell Theatre, Glasgow, The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen (Rootin Aboot Festival), Dundee Rep Theatre, to name a few, alongside Dr Fred Freeman, Marc Duff, Ian Lowthian, Tony McManus and other stalwarts of the Scottish folk scene.  He has made quite a reputation for himself undertaking primary school workshops, on Burns, Ramsay and modern song-writing, throughout East Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway and South Lanarkshire. 

Through it all he has continued to develop as a song-writer, more than realising the  promise of his splendid early compositions – Child On The Green, Too Far From She, Gone For The Day, Hungover Morning and more.  His recent songs include haunting and compassionate compositions like Sweet Fallen Angels and Brown Eyed Baby. 

On stage Ian brings a huge presence which invariably has his audiences singing, laughing and crying.  His perennial return bookings to festivals in Towersey, Warwick, Bromyard, Cleckheaton, Bedworth and farther afield are a testimony to his following amongst aficianados of Burns, contemporary folksong and even the better pop songs of the present day. 

And now a review from a young person:

of Ian Bruce at 2006 Edinburgh Fringe

Like many other young urbanites, I have a natural suspicion of folk music. More than anything else: the idea of bearded men playing obscure Celtic instruments brings to mind scenes from 'The Wicker Man'. I've generally given the whole genre a wide berth, yet Ian Bruce's show could almost tempt me to change my policy. The informality of the gig made me feel thoroughly comfortable, despite being a generation or two younger than anyone else in the audience, and I left with my curiosity kindled. His hour-long set was thoroughly engaging, blending traditional music with modern Scottish compositions, and the tunes are still stuck in my head. Moreover, to my relief, there wasn't a human sacrifice in sight. 

Chris Watt