Scott Murray

The Edinburgh Folk Club

Edinburgh Folk Club was very crowded tonight which I found surprising as I wasn't really aware of the main act, Scott Murray. Clearly he had a lot of followers in the audience, who knew his songs, because they were soon joining in the chorus. I discovered later that Scott taught courses on folk music for the Scots Music Group and also took folk music out to many groups in Edinburgh, and many of them had attended tonight to listen to him.It made for a great atmosphere in the folk club. In my opinion folk clubs should involve the audience as much as possible, as singing is good for the soul!

Before Scott began, his main guest, Andy Chung, the well known Chinese Scot from Fife, gave an entertaining guest spot to open the first and second half. Andy is a regular performer around the folk clubs of Scotland and although he looks Chinese he is very Scottish. He made a joke about his appearance saying "this guy approached me at the interval and said ˋare you from Thailand?´ Andy said "aye very near, Burntisland"! Andy is a fine singer and guitarist and entertained us with Scottish songs but also in honour of the imminent Chinese New Year a Chinese song from a Hong Kong composer which fitted well into the folk tradition.

Scott Murray is a very experienced performer and has been singing, playing and composing songs for over 50 years, most notably with the group Sangsters who were regular guests at Edinburgh Folk Club, and indeed gave their final concert there last year. Scott has a lovely gravelly voice which, although at times seemingly a little tired always carries a tune well. His diction is also very good, which made understanding the songs very easy. Again, this is very important in folk music. Some younger singer-songwriters often deliver anguished introverted songs which not only can't be sung to but are difficult to understand! He also has a very nice easy guitar accompaniment. His performance combined fine traditional songs by Burns and others, which had the audience joining in vigorously, and his own material. Even here he was often joined by members of his singing groups, who had come along to support him. Scott‘s songs are often inspired by the people he meets in the community, the groups he works with, including homeless people and recovering alcoholics in Leith. One of his songs I thought I had no voice was recorded by Roy Bailey. So in this sense Scott is carrying on the folk tradition. As Hamish Henderson said ‚the carrying stream‘. It was fitting then that Scott concluded the evening by singing Hamish's great anthem Freedom Come All Ye. We all joined in and went home happy. As the great theatre director John McGrath would have said‚ it was a good night out!

Photo credit: Alan Macmillan