Naming an album Lawside could suggest its creator is a proud Dundonian, yet singer/songwriter Roseanne Reid was raised in Edinburgh.
The eldest daughter of The Proclaimers star Craig Reid, Roseanne moved to the City of Discovery for her wife’s work and they have spent five years now on the slopes of the Law.
They originally moved to a Bell Street flat in 2017 for Glasgow-raised Fiona’s work as a university academic, but now can’t imagine living anywhere else, Roseanne states firmly.
“I love the people. They have a lovely, dry sense of humour and we’ve both made a lot of friends here,” she says.
“Coming from bigger places, it’s nice Dundee still has that city feel, but it’s not as full-on.
“You can get around easily and there’s so much green space around us as well, which we absolutely love.”
Roseanne wrote her second record at home between 2021 and early 2023 as the pair prepared to start a family. Now Roseanne is hitting the road to promote Lawside, which came out in 2023, the same year she and her wife became first-time parents.
She is especially looking forward to a couple of dates close to home, beginning in Montrose. While her set is sure to be full of numbers from her current release, the solo artist is keen to try out new material, she reveals on a call.
“This month I’m trying to get as much rehearsing done as possible, but get some new ones written as well,” Roseanne says. “I do like to have new material to pull from.”
First-time parenthood makes touring tricky
With Brodie now 18 months old and in nursery with Fiona back at work after giving birth, Roseanne looks back fondly at their life change.
“This time last year we were just getting to grips with being new parents, so it was tricky to be away,” she says. “I was able to do a few shows in different places, so it’s been nice to stagger tour dates.”
Roseanne hopes to give their son an upbringing similar to her own – surrounded by music, with open-minded parents refusing to pass judgement on their child’s tastes.
‘My dad can’t play guitar’
Her father may form half of one of Scotland’s best-loved musical duos, but Roseanne thanks her mother for setting her on the course of becoming a respected singer/songwriter.
She points out that while dad wrote on piano, mum Petra taught her the first chords to play on guitar.
Roseanne adds: “Both my parents absolutely loved music and I was very fortunate to grow up with a massive record collection, anything from folk to punk. We were exposed to all sorts.
“My mum is a huge country fan, especially for the traditional sounds she grew up on. She taught me my first finger-picking techniques. My dad can’t play guitar!”
In her early teens, Roseanne cut her teeth at Edinburgh’s open mic nights before progressing to its folk clubs and writing her own material, with helpful advice from Craig along the way, she remembers.
“He was always very set on being your authentic self, you just have to write what you feel and give it everything you’ve got when you’re on stage,” Roseanne says.
“I don’t tend to write for writing’s sake. He’s got a diaristic way of writing and I think I’m quite similar. It’s just trying to encapsulate the different stages of life.”
Record pulls from ‘dark moments’ and joy of motherhood
Such advice helped Roseanne establish herself both on her 2019 Americana-influenced debut album Trails and its confident follow-up. Here, the solo artist’s vocals are more prominent on striking tracks such as Constitutes A Sin, a wry look at morality she is especially proud of.
“It’s an incredibly personal song that pulls from a lot of dark moments in my life,” Roseanne says. “It was very cathartic in that sense, not being afraid to go to those places and explore them a little bit more.”
Another standout is heartfelt ode to motherhood Made Just For You. While the album was written before Brodie came along, the possibilities of this life-changing moment thread through its thoughtful, emotive writing, Roseanne believes.
“We knew we were beginning the process of starting a family when I wrote Made Just For You, things were starting to quite real,” she says.
“But the more I’ve played in front of different crowds, the more people have said it pairs up nicely with how they feel about their own kids.”
Playing with dad Craig ‘would be lovely’
Dundee, then, is proving a useful base for both family life and her burgeoning career. Along the way she has found support from US roots veteran Steve Earle and Teddy Thompson, producer of Trails and himself part of a musical dynasty as son of folk luminaries Richard and Linda.
Another solo artist, he has also performed regularly with both parents. Roseanne, though, is yet to properly consider taking to the stage with her father.
“Teddy and his folks love being together and it seems to be a cultural thing, coming together and generating a community feel on stage,” she says.
“I’ve been to a couple of Wainwright shows and it’s incredible to watch, it gives their performances a whole new dimension.
“It’s never even been discussed to be honest; right now we’re both focused on our own things, but I actually think it would be a lovely thing to do.”
Roseanne Reid plays Montrose Playhouse, on February 27, and the Larick Centre, Tayport, on April 14 2024.
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