The celebrations for John McCusker’s 30th Anniversary as a professional musician culminated in a large gathering of musical friends at Celtic Connections. John, with typical humility, looked around the stage at the start and said: “It’s great to be here with such an amazing bunch of pals: it doesn’t get much better”. John also did a 30th Anniversary tour back in October/November, and has released a 30-track, 2-CD, Best Of, which we described as “an ideal introduction to the breadth and depth of one of the very best traditional musicians working today” (read our review here), and has published a book – John McCusker: The Collection – containing 100 of his tune compositions. We interviewed John a few weeks ago about his journey playing music since joining the Battlefield Band, now just over 30 years ago – you can read the interview here.
The musical ‘pals’ joining John on stage read like a who’s who of Celtic folk music, including some who played on John’s first solo album in 1995, musicians he plays with regularly in different formations, and singers he has produced and worked alongside. The band were James Mackintosh (drums), Ewen Vernal (double bass), Ian Carr (guitar), Helen McCabe (fiddle and harmonium), Michael McGoldrick (flute, whistle and uilleann pipes), Simon Thoumire (concertina), Graeme Blevins (saxophone), Tom Walsh (trumpet), and Donald Shaw (accordion) sitting in for Phil Cunningham who was due to be there but was unfortunately unable to make it. The singers were Eddi Reader, Julie Fowlis (also whistle), Karine Polwart, Kris Drever (also guitar and mandolin) and Roddy Woomble.
The significance of John’s 11 years with the Battlefield Band, something he talked about when we interviewed him, was very evident with performances of three of the tracks from their 2001 album Happy Daze, his last with the Band. The first of those, the tune Blue Bonnets Over The Border (a popular piping tune), started the evening off in a relaxed, traditional mode. There were also two songs from the album sung by Karine Polwart (Karine was in the band at the time) – Start It All Over Again (words by Karine and tune by John) and traditional song Shepherd Lad; Karine said that she hadn’t sung either since they were recorded and that the lyrics of Shepherd Lad wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny these days in terms of attitudes to women.
The evening’s performances switched between sets of tunes and songs from the ‘guests’ as John called them. However, their multiple contributions instrumentally and as backing singers were integral to the whole proceedings. Some tunes and arrangements were taken from across John’s solo output including: Jessica’s/It’s A Girl/Pur The Orangutan/Billy’s, which he dedicated to his two young daughters who were in the audience; Under One Sky which included some fine concertina from Simon and brass from Graeme and Tom; Calendar Boys – in a set with The Big Man and Waiting For Janet – had all the recorded version’s gusto and verve (it was recorded on Hello, Goodbye John’s last solo album and re-recorded for the Best Of album).
The array of songs was a complete delight. Julie Fowlis referred to John having played on her first album in 2005, sang Fear A‚ Bhrochain/Dòmhnall Binn (from her last album alterum), and in the second half, Calum Sgaire (recorded by Bothy Band and by Relativity amongst others), dedicating it to her Dad as it was his birthday. In one of the highlights of the evening, Julie also traded verses with Kris Drever on an enchanting version of Farewell To Fuineray (from Black Water, Kris’s debut album). We got two songs from the Before The Ruin album that John made with Kris and Roddy Woomble, with the three of them on stage – one of my favourite songs, Poorest Company, sung by Kris, and All Along the Way, sung by Roddy. Kris and Karine sang a stirring version of Hamish Henderson’s anti-imperialist song Freedom Come All Ye together, and Roddy gave us the great title track from his album My Secret Is My Silence (which John produced), with superb backing vocals from Julie, Karine, Kris and Ewen.
Eddi Reader got a warm welcome from the Glasgow crowd, and she wasted no time before acknowledging John’s work on a number of her albums and his broader generosity to his fellow musicians. Eddi went back to her Fairground Attraction days for two songs – Alleluia, which she introduced as the last song she ever sang with the group when she was pregnant with her now adult son, and at John’s request, a storming version of the perennially popular Perfect, the brass boys absolutely rocking. John was very involved in Eddi’s The Songs of Robert Burns, and she gave us a gorgeous rendition of Willie Stewart from that album.
The other tune sets were firmly in the territory of the arrangements as they have come to be played in the trio John is in with Michael McGoldrick and John Doyle – John’s fiddle and Michael’s flute/whistle inextricably synced throughout most of these tunes (and much of the rest of the show). Two of John’s tunes – Wee Michael’s March and Leaving Friday Harbour – were expected, necessary and as always, a complete delight to listen to. John made us laugh by explaining that his nephew Michael for whom the song was named, was on the guest list but seemingly had better things to do, but Michael’s brother Gerard was in the audience, so John temporarily renamed the tune Wee Gerard’s March. Michael’s familiar tune Farewell To Whalley Range (McGoldrick – not the errant nephew), played in a set with, I think Roddy MacDonald’s Fancy, began with just Ian and Michael on flute, John quickly joining on fiddle, and Graeme and Tom adding real brass punch. For the varied set of Taimse Im Chodladh/Hardiman the Fiddler/Helvic Head, John switched to the harmonium for the first one, a slow air, then returned to fiddle for the subsequent jigs, Michael playing uilleann pipes and Donald Shaw came on stage to add accordion. The Madison Square Set, another rousing trio staple, ended the second half, Julie contributing fabulous whistle.
This final part of John’s 30th-anniversary celebrations was much, much more than a live version of John’s Best Of. Yes, it was, with some similarities and plenty of differences, a potted history much of the music John has been involved with, but John also left room for other songs chosen by his guests or by him. There was a lot of warmth, love and respect coming John’s way from all the musicians on stage, and that was returned in kind from the audience. After the gig, John told me he had got quite emotional at times during the gig. The reflections on the night from John and his very able pals perfectly illustrated something John said during our interview: “chance meetings lead to the idea of wanting to work together, hang out and seeing what happens – it all starts with friendship.” He had also talked in our interview about his Mum’s disquiet at him becoming a professional folk musician at age 16. On the night he gave his Mum and Dad credit for supporting him, and there was his Mum, at the end of the show (a few rows in front of me), hands high in the air, clapping at least as enthusiastically as everyone else – her disquiet from 30 years ago visibly more than dispelled.
