News / Singers’ double bill
HIGHLY talented Edinburgh-born singer songwriter Ross Wilson, aka Blue Rose Code, and Orcadian folk royalty Ivan Drever are to play two co-headline dates in Shetland in mid February.
The pair will perform at Sound Public Hall on Friday 13 February, with support from local heroes Hom Bru. Twenty four hours later they’ll be at Voe Hall for Valentine’s night – joined on the bill by a relatively new Shetland group, Trookers, featuring Robert Balfour, Chris Thomson, Chris Cope and Erik Peterson.
Blue Rose Code’s latest album ‘The Ballads of Peckham Rye’ features a roll call of musicians including legendary bassist Danny Thompson, revered English singer Kathryn Williams and prominent Scottish musicians including Karine Polwart and Aidan O’Rourke from Lau.
Bournemouth-based singer Wilson’s songs are not easy to pigeonhole, taking in many shades of genre including folk, Americana and jazz. He was chosen by BBC presenter “Whispering Bob” Harris for a showcase at the Americana Music Association in Nashville in 2013.
Ivan Drever, whose son Kris is one of the leading lights on the Scottish roots scene today, hails from Orkney and now lives in Norway. It will be the first time he has performed in Shetland for more than 20 years – he last played here in the early 1990s with the much-loved Wolfstone.
His latest album ‘What You Hear’ was released in November 2014. Its 12 songs feature just Ivan and his guitar, and he will be performing tracks from the album – along with numbers from an extensive back catalogue built up through his long and fruitful career.
Neil Riddell of Ragged Wood Promotions said the two nights promised to offer some terrific songs and guitar work from the pair.
“Ross Wilson is an outstanding example of how Scotland’s roots music scene is bursting at the seams with talented writers and singers,” he said.
“We’re also really chuffed that Ivan is making a long overdue return to these shores. He’s really looking forward to renewing old acquaintances and sharing his work – old and new – with a Shetland audience for the first time in over two decades.”
- Tickets for both dates are on sale now through Shetland Box Office. There is also an allocation for Sound Hall at High Level Music and at Tagon Stores for Voe Hall.
The song ‘Julie’, which features on Blue Rose Code’s 2013 album ‘North Ten’:
A track from Ivan Drever’s latest album ‘What You Hear’:
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