Ahead of the release of his forthcoming debut album, Where Two Hawks Fly — due 10th April via Broadside Hacks — Glasgow-raised folk guitarist and singer/songwriter Sam Grassie shares The Burning of Auchindoun, a stirring reimagining of a traditional Scottish folk ballad, out now.
Drawing on Dick Gaughan‘s late 1960s take on the song, Grassie builds a version coloured by ponderous double-bass, mystical flute excursions from Conor Cunningham, and backing vocals from Avice Caro and Maria Dmitriev — all anchored by his own compelling fingerpicked guitar and vocals, flighted with equal parts fantasy and foreboding.
“I’ve known the song since I was a wee lad,” Grassie says. “My mum grew up near the castle and I played it with Iona Zajac in our previous band (Avocet). It wasn’t till I came across Dick Gaughan’s melody that I worked a guitar part I could comfortably sing with.”
Stream: https://samgrassie.lnk.to/Auchindoun
Defined by a distinctive fingerpicking style and a vocal that shifts between low and dark and rich and warm, Where Two Hawks Fly compiles traditional songs — bar one original composition — with an eye on Grassie’s Scottish roots, each given entirely new guitar arrangements. It’s material, he says, “that has a place in this time, that has a modern relevance.”
Grassie sometimes wrestles with a nostalgia for his youth in the Scottish countryside, “with wanting to be back in nature and my dad’s cabin,” but life at the heart of London’s resurgent folk scene — where he permanently relocated in 2022 — has its own pull. “I feel at home wherever I feel at home musically,” he says, “and there’s loads of people here who I really respect. There’s a flow of people coming, playing and staying, the standard’s really high.”
Since arriving in London, and after a period battling life-threatening injury, debilitating illness and personal tragedy, Grassie’s gigging across the UK and Europe has been extensive. He has toured with Naima Bock and Ryley Walker, joined bills with folk legends Martin Carthy, Jacqui McShee and the late Wizz Jones — as well as contemporaries Jim Ghedi and Gwenifer Raymond — and performed alongside Robert Plant and Bernard Butler at a Bert Jansch tribute. He also founded Les Caravanes, a travelling folk club whose regular members include Daisy Rickman and members of Shovel Dance Collective. KLOF previously reviewed his debut EP, Sandwood, as well as releases as a member of Avocet with Iona Zajac, beginning in 2018 with “Borrowed Seed“.
UK Headline tour dates
29 MAR // Winchester, The Railway
31 MAR // Bristol, The Exchange Basement
1 APR // Brighton, The Rossi Bar
2 APR // London, The Ivy House
4 APR // Norwich, The Holloway
8 APR // Nottingham, The Grove
9 APR // Manchester, Eagle Inn
11 APR //Glasgow, The Hug & Pint
Pre-Order ‘Where Two Hawks Fly’: https://samgrassie.bandcamp.com/album/where-two-hawks-fly