Happy Burns Night!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
A Man’s a Man for a’ That by Robert Burns
It’s comin yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man the warld o’er
Shall brithers be for a’ that.
It seems appropriate to be listening to another Scottish poet this week. The Bard of Fife is perhaps less-well known and less celebrated than the Bard of Ayrshire, but, I would argue that Kenny Anderson, aka ‘King Creosote‘ deserves a place in the list of great Scottish wordsmiths.
I remember being aware of the name years before I took the plunge and invested in one his albums. I believe I picked up his 2007 release Bombshell on CD in a post-Christmas HMV sale for the princely sum of £2.99. If that’s true, it’s probably the best £2.99 I’ve ever spent considering the number of times that I’ve listened to that particular album over the years and the introduction it gave me to someone who has become one of my favourite artists.
And then, in 2014, I came across the wonderful BBC/Scottish Screen Archive documentary From Scotland With Love and was instantly captivated, not just by the inspirational use of archive film to tell the story of 20th century Scotland and its people but by the music: the soundtrack was by King Creosote and I’m not sure that music and film have ever worked so well together.
Since then I’ve explored as many of King Kenny’s albums as I can get hold of (he’s released over 50, many of which were sold/given away at gigs and are almost impossible to find) and I’ve seen him live at least five times.
He was back (after a gap of seven years) with a new, officially released, album, last year and he’s still producing top notch material.
Enjoy…
The 'Spill 