Rock legend Chrissie Hynde is the big attraction as live music returns to the heart of Edinburgh this weekend.
A host of acts including The Snuts, Edwin Collins and Tide Lines have played physically-distanced shows at the specially-created Edinburgh Park venue on the edge of the capital in recent days as part of the restored Edinburgh International Festival, and the Edinburgh Fringe muscles in on the music front on Sunday with an intimate appearance from the veteran Pretenders frontwoman.
Hynde, 69, kicks off four consecutive nights at the city’s Queen’s Hall having made her UK live return at the end of last month when she performed three stripped-back shows at London’s Royal Opera House.
Her new Bob Dylan covers album Standing In The Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan has earned rave reviews from such luminaries as American cultural guru and Zimmerman authority Greil Marcus.
The opus was recorded in lockdown by Chrissie and her Pretenders bandmate James Walbourne, who eschewed the usual process of hours spent laying down tracks in the studio.
Phoning it in
Instead, guitarist Walbourne, 41, would record an initial idea on his phone and send it to the singer, who’d add her vocal.
Mixed by U2 and Arctic Monkeys cohort Tchad Blake, Hynde’s third solo album’s also the subject of a Sky Arts film documenting its making.
Released today, Standing In The Doorway includes new interpretations of such Dylan standards as You’re A Big Girl Now, Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight and Every Grain Of Sand.
The Brass In Pocket star is being supported by The Rails — Walbourne and his wife Kami Thompson, daughter of folk-rock legends Richard and Linda Thompson — at all four Edinburgh shows, which are expected to run to close to three hours.
Tickets are available from myticket.co.uk
Wee Solas line-up
Elsewhere, this weekend’s Wee Solas has completed its line-up with the addition of a brace of up-and-coming singer-songwriters.
The scaled-down version of the annual Solas festival, which is being staged in the grounds of Scone Palace tomorrow and on Sunday, recently appealed for unsigned performers to put forward their claims for a slot on the bill.
After trawling through a raft of entries submitted online, the organisers of the Perthshire extravaganza selected Spanish songsmith Lola O’Dorel and American-born troubadour Esther Marie as the winners of their new talent search.
Originally from Madrid, Lola moved to Scotland to further a musical career that’s taken inspiration from such esteemed artists as Amy Winehouse, Corinne Bailey Rae and Paul Weller.
Her eclectic indie rock-meets-soul vibe can be heard in her recently released debut single Black And White.
The widely travelled Marie spent most of her childhood in Berlin before moving to Malaysia aged 16, then Turkey two years later, and the influence of the different cultures she’s experienced is to the fore in her music.
A Wee Solas spokesperson said organisers worked closely on the Gannochy Trust-funded competition with music business student Brooke Allan.
“Lola and Esther are both quite young and up-and-coming musicians, and have largely come out of a partnership we’ve been developing with Perth College UHI,” she declared.
But wait, there’s more…
The newly-added duo join the likes of Rachel Sermanni, Randolph’s Leap, Suzanne Butler, Brass, Eye?, the Fergus McCreadie Trio and French-Cameroonian folkster Djana Gabrielle on the mini-festival’s roster this weekend.
Tickets for the event went on sale before restrictions on large-scale events were substantially lifted last week, so an attendance of little more than 200 is expected per day at its temporary home.
The festival was previously held at Blackruthven, by Tibbermore, and Errol Park, where it debuted in 2019.
Remaining tickets can be purchased from solasfestival.co.uk
