Music in Glasgow

Glasgow is a great place for music. But don’t take our word for it – listen to what some of the city’s musicians have to say on the subject… Today we’re releasing the second in a series of (very) short films we’ve put together, featuring Glasgow musicians talking about making music and going to gigs in town. In the hotseat this time, we’re beyond delighted to have Frances McKee, one half of the continuing legend that is The Vaselines. Are you sitting comfortably…? Huge thanks once again to Sir Scott Paterson, director, interviewer and general man behind the camera for all of these films. We’ll be putting up another little video soon…watch this space! Meanwhile, you can check out our other clips here including the first film in this series, with Teenage Fanclub’s Francis Macdonald.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Glasgow Jazz Festival we’re running jazz tours (24, 25, 26 June) and we’ll be kicking off at 2pm with some live music and a refreshment at the brilliant Scottish Music Centre. Guests will have the opportunity to peruse some archive jazz material and listen to a short set by one of the musicians featured in 30 under 30 before we set off on a jaunt around Merchant City. We have lovely Oaked Highland Gin courtesy of Strathearn for inside and ponchos should they be required outside! On Friday 24 one of Scotland’s most exciting young artists, Fergus McCreadie will perform before we head out for a gentle stroll and some great stories. On Saturday 25 it’s the prodigiously talented Declan Forde. On Sunday 26 playing for us is the gifted, award-winning Alan Benzie. We’re excited and honoured to announce that Alan Benzie will be…

We’re very excited and honoured to announce that Declan Forde will perform on Saturday 25th. Declan Forde was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1992. In 2014, after completing his Bachelor studies at Leeds College of Music, he relocated to Berlin and has since established himself as one of the most in demand pianists on the…

Rachel Lightbody is a young vocalist based in Glasgow. Growing up in Chicago she was immersed in  American song — from Billie Holiday to James Taylor, the family home was always filled with music which sparked her early interest in performance. Rachel studied Applied Music at Strathclyde University  and graduated with first class honours, focusing on…

Brodie studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on Tommy Smith’s Scottish Jazz degree under the tutelage of Mario Caribe, Julian Arguelles and Tommy Smith. In a collaboration between the Edinburgh and Oslo Jazz Festivals in 2012, Brodie was one of  three young Scottish musicians who were invited to Oslo to play with three young Norwegian musicians….

Young Scottish Jazz Musician award 2013, and went on to win it a second time the next year, the first and only time this feat had been achieved. For three years in a row, not only has Fergus has been selected to compete in the overall final of the Young Scottish Jazz Musician award (2013,…

A man whose accomplishments are too many to list here, it’s an honour to have the great Scottish singer-songwriter Rab Noakes taking the time to pen a brilliant guest blog for us. Here he recalls some memorable experiences of gig-going in Glasgow in the 60s, including tales of Little Richard, The Rolling Stones, Bo Diddley…

Okay, so The Beach Boys’ seminal Pet Sounds is fifty years young this year, but we at Glasgow Music City Tours are minded to celebrate an album anniversary which strikes closer to home. Belle & Sebastian’s debut album Tigermilk was released twenty years ago this summer, heralding the arrival of a special Glasgow band, irrevocably linked to their city…

Glasgow Music City Tours founder and guide Fiona Shepherd is the subject of one of the twelve beautifully-shot, documentary-style online films which capture the spirit of Scotland through the eyes of those who live and work here. Images of Glasgow will be beamed worldwide as part of the new VisitScotland cinematic TV advert set to be shown…

When Glasgow Music City Tours began our guest blog slot, one of Scotland’s very best feature writers, the award winning Peter Ross, graciously allowed us to post some of his writing about Glasgow. A six time winner at the Scottish Press Awards, Peter was recently shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2015. We’d like to share…