The Wilders
29 July 2010 (20:00 - 23:00)
‘Hillbilly Hurricane’ set to Strike Again!
They’re described as “the hillbilly hurricane” because they keep blowing people away, and The Wilders, from Kansas City , Missouri , performed in front of 1500 people when they last played in Glasgow – at The Old Fruitmarket during Glasgow ’s Celtic Connections Festival.
When the “white hot” four-piece toured Scotland in 2009, they sold out every venue they played…And, due to the band’s huge popularity, this time they have a solid three weeks of gigs lined up that will take them as far south as Peebles, to Inverness in the Highlands and over to Stornoway and the Isle of Skye.
The band will also make a welcome return to Fife – to once again wow the crowds at The Byre Theatre in St Andrews – and The Acoustic Music Club in Kirkcaldy – and they revealed this week that their last show in “the Kingdom” was one of the main highlights while in Scotland .
“We’ve played to some enthusiastic audiences but if Fife they take some beating,” said, front man Ike Sheldon as he recalled their last visit.
“We normally get the reputation for bringing the house down but that night – I remember it well – they stomped their feet so hard we kept it going way past my bedtime!”
It is five years since The Wilders made their first big impression on Scots audiences with a sell-out run at The Famous Spiegeltent during Edinburgh Fringe, where they carried off a Herald Angel award (the equivalent of an Oscar) for their outstanding contribution to the event.
They also won a clutch of five-star reviews, went on to play a standing-room-only show at Glasgow ’s Royal Concert Hall and feature in two programmes filmed by BBC 2.
A spokesman for the band’s UK agency, Brookfield-Knights, said the return to Fife was “a must” following the reception the band got last time around.
“When we set about planning this tour – the band’s most extensive run of dates north of the Border – right from the start there was a ‘must’ request to do it all again,” said booker Dunc Mackinnon.
The Wilders have spent much of 2010 in the studio recording songs and instrumentals for a new album which is due for release at the start of 2011.
The Irish media were enthusiastic after their biggest-ever tour there earlier this year, describing the new show as “phenomenal” and “incredible”.
Their last album (their fourth), ‘Someone’s Got To Pay’, carried them to the finals of the annual Independent Music Awards in America, and went on to win Alt-Country Album of The Year category.
Fiddler Betse Ellis says they can’t wait to get back to Scotland .
“I know I am speaking for the entire band when I say that as far as we are concerned there is nowhere better in the world to play.
“We have some great memories of our visits and have made some real good friends here. Quite simply we absolutely must get another fix at least once a year if possible,” she said.
Reviewers have kept raving about the band ever since they started to get audiences excited here. Writing for The Scotsman, Jim Gilchrist told readers: “They generate the kind of tunes that should by rights leave vapour trails”, and writing in The Herald, Rob Adams described them as a “one-band American roots music festival”.
Long ago established on the US festivals circuit as a “white-hot” act, the Stateside quotes tell the same tale.
“If this were old Salem , they'd be burned at the stake. They play like they're possessed," said one review.
Playing storming roots-of-country and old-time with an essence of early rockabilly attitude, they deliver a blistering fiddle/banjo/guitar/dobro/slap bass hoedown, playing music that’s infectious and smile-inducing.
The invitation back to Britain follows a common pattern for the band. Since first taking Doc Watson’s MerleFest in North Carolina, by storm back in 2004, they have returned every year to build on their reputation there as event show-stealers.
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