The Admiral Pub seemed like an unlikely venue, however, as with much of Victorian Glasgow, the pub has a reasonable basement and it served the purpose well even if the place was set out like a spiritualist church meeting, the chairs were certainly as comfortable as any I have encountered in my time in church!
Quick mention of Al Shields, the support who currently resides in Edinburgh (he was born and raised on the Isle of Bute). Al, sporting a beard, a pork pie hat and clad in denim took to the stage, I say stage, but in truth it was a small platform raised above the rest of us by a mere 2 feet and is no doubt where the DJ resides when the venue is normally in use, and informed us that he was nervous as it had been a while since he had "taken to the boards", there had been an unexplained eight month hiatus (his word, so a man of letters!) and so we were asked to bear with him. A needless request in my opinion as it all went swimmingly from where I was in the front row, although Al did let us know that he had made a mess of a couple of songs, but c'est la vie, that's live music for ya!
On the night Al played solo on his electrified acoustic guitar and his songs were an interesting take on the lost love/broken heart genre. I thought If Love is a Fight, Had a Little Lovin', I'll Keep on Crying and (perhaps my favourite) Home were all great and I liked his voice which is slightly above the mid range. His début album, from which the songs were taken is called Slow Burner and is a fuller sound as he is backed by his band on the CD and if you like this kinda thing, why not check out Al's side project Ardentjohn for good measure!
So to Old Man Luedecke. If you could be bothered to Google him you would find that "Old Man Luedecke is the recording name of Juno Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and banjo player, Chris Luedecke, of Chester, Nova Scotia". Oh, and he is only 37! Chris arrived on stage jauntily dressed in a colourful tammy, what resembled a school blazer, chinos, neatly polished shoes, and beard (what is it with facial hair and musicians?) quite the rock 'n roller! Actually, he looked more like an earnest accountant than a musician, but nothing wrong with that. He then proceeded to showcase his current album Tender is the Night using his six string banjo and an odd electronic wooden foot stomping contraption! It all made for a thoroughly enjoyable sound and he kept us well entertained with his quirky tales with which he regaled us between songs whilst constantly strumming or picking the banjo.
I particularly liked the concept that he put forward that he pays a pittance to some sweat shop in China to churn out songs and he then discards most of them but picks a few to perform on tour, it made me think of the main stream 'music' industry closer to home as fronted by a certain Mr Cowell!
After about 40 minutes or so he turned to the back of the stage and swapped the banjo for a six string acoustic guitar which he introduced by saying that he wanted to relieve it from reflecting in its dull ubiquity! Then after two songs on the 'ubiquitous' guitar, which I for one found a refreshing change to the jaunty banjo, Chris swapped back and said you can get too much guitar!
Chris' influences obviously include the likes of Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, Burl Ives, Marty Robbins, Hank Williams and John Prine and his interpretation of all these various styles makes his music pretty unique.
I really enjoyed hearing Jonah and the Whale, I'm Fine (I am, I am), Little Stream of Whiskey, A&W Song (very Hank Williams), Long Suffering Jesus and my pick of the bunch This May Hurt a Bit played live and it was all-in-all a refreshing evening as it was stripped down and intimate, almost like a pal popping round to your place to sing a few songs!
Chris Luedecke is a very entertaining young man with five albums to his name (to date) and his twin daughters will be very proud of their dad when they are old enough to realise just how much he cherishes them, he dedicated the final song to them and they both got a name check which was cool!
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