Tae Sup wi’ a Fifer has been a fixture and fitting of the Fife music scene since James Yorkston began to curate and host the eclectic club nights at the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy in 2015.
Now, having gone online during the pandemic and having also seen the occasional performance in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Tae Sup is going on tour for the first time in July and September.
Starting on July 21 at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews, then trips that week to Shetland, Inverness and Peebles, the first tour will star Gruff Rhys, Salena Godden and Brighde Chaimbeul plus Yorkston himself.
The second tour featuring Josie Long, Jeffrey Lewis, Kathryn Joseph, plus Yorkston again, will take place from September 21, taking in the same venues.
‘Quite simple’ idea
Speaking to The Courier, Yorkston said the idea for the tour was “quite simple”.
“Choose some people and some acts who I like and whose work I really like and then just go for a wee road trip with them!” he says.
“It’s just fun – getting to hang out with great artists, great musicians, great poets.
“As a musician there’s a connection between musicians that perhaps you don’t get with folk who don’t do music.
“It’s understanding the reason why you do music as a living. So getting to hang out with folk for four or five days is great fun.
“That fun between the musicians and the artists will hopefully transfer to the audiences as well. “They’ll be very special shows!”
Stripped back and relaxed
It’s the stripped back, eclectic and relaxed nature of the Tae Sup shows that appeals to audiences and artists alike.
Gruff Rhys and Brighde Chaimbeul, for example, appeared together at a 2019 Tae Sup.
Given they had all got on so well and enjoyed performing together, James says it was “too good an opportunity to miss” having them back on the same bill.
James laughs, however, when asked about the logistics of travelling from St Andrews to Shetland to Inverness to Peebles over the course of four days.
“It’s a lot of mileage!” he says.
“Fortunately we have a driver coming with us. We’ll be flying from Aberdeen to Shetland.
“But I’ve only just realised the mileage when booking hotels. Inverness to Peebles! That’ll be quite a journey!
“But I’m looking forward to it, Even the A9. I think if I drove up and down it every day I’d be sick of it, but because I’m very rarely on it, I’m kind of looking forward to that as well. It’s a beautiful stretch of road.”
Novel release in autumn
James has been keeping busy in recent months whether that be tinkering in his East Neuk studio or preparing for tours.
He loves the peace and quiet so, in a strange way, actually enjoyed the lockdowns, he says.
He put out an album of electronic music on Bandcamp earlier this year and has a new album coming out next year.
He’s also looking forward to the release of his third book/second novel The Book of the Gaels in September.
It’s set in Ireland in the mid-1970s where he used to spend a lot of time as a family.
“It’s kind of based around the area that we lived in,” he says. “But then it goes into all sorts of other darker places that are definitely fiction.”
Tae Sup wi’ a Fifer on Tour: July 21, Byre Theatre, St Andrews, https://byretheatre.com/shows/james-yorkstons-tae-sup-wi-a-fifer-3/
Conversation