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Glasgow Music City Tours had a terrific first Celtic Connections. We’d like to thank everyone who signed up for our tours, we hope you enjoyed them as much as we did…you just can’t beat a Jeely Piece singalong… People were incredibly generous in sharing their personal stories about Celtic Connections, and some even brought related memorabilia to show us, which we will feature in our next blog. In the meantime we’d like to thank everyone who worked with us and made our first Celtic Connections tours such a success. Donald and Lesley Shaw were extremely generous with their time, coping all the while with crazy schedules, and Colin Hynd shared some great stories with us. Thanks too to our guest bloggers for making the time. The tours wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t had such enthusiastic support from our working partners;…

BENT MELTDOWN (Redux) is nostalgia for an age yet to come. Distant echoes. The event is in association with Celtic Connections, following on from the Creeping Bent organised Pop Group / Sexual Objects performance for Celtic Connections in Jan 2014. The Bent Meltdown takes place at Oran Mor, Glasgow, on Thursday 28th January. Come early, doors are…

One of our favourite Glasgow singers, Emma Pollock, is poised to release her latest solo album, In Search Of Harperfield, on Chemikal Underground Records, the fine, fine indie label which she set up with her bandmates in The Delgados way back in 1995 and which paved the way for so many other DIY labels and projects in…

JR Green are brothers Jacob and Rory from Strontian, a remote Scottish village a few miles from the most westerly point on mainland Britain, who describe their music as “Low-fi traditional skronk”. When we saw them support Joe McAlinden at the Poetry Club in Glasgow last year it’s fair to say we were very impressed, and it’s great to…

The Clutha mural: showing Glasgow’s music heritage. In between raiding the mince pies and making inroads on the whisky, Glasgow Music City Tours spent much of the festive period polishing our stories for our Trad Trail walking tours, which we are running as part of Celtic Connections in 2016. Our first tour is today, and our initial scheduled tours…

As some of you might have noticed, Christmas is upon us once more. And as everyone agrees, there’s nothing says “Festive” quite like Bob Dylan’s 2009 Christmas LP, Christmas in the Heart. To get into the spirit of the season, then, we thought we’d bring you this interview with one of the key players on the record, Los Lobos mainstay…

How did all these people get in my room? It’s time for Side Two of our virtual LP, marking the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birth, featuring tracks chosen by a swinging gang of musicians, writers and other Charleys, Barn-burners and Clydes. If you missed it, you can still give Side One a spin here. Careful not to spill while you sip… “Watertown” chosen by Jill Rodger I’m just currently a bit obsessed with  Sinatra’s Watertown album – and this title track in particular! It was a new one on me, brought to my attention by my pal Grahame Skinner (Hipsway) – who is working on his own version of some of the songs at the moment. I sought it out and immediately fell for the whole album. It’s now been on repeat for months. (Jill Rodger is director of the Glasgow Jazz Festival, and busy getting ready…

This Saturday, December 12, marks the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birth. To mark the date, we asked a rat pack of musicians, writers and other upstanding citizens to pick us out one favourite Sinatra recording and give us a word or two on why. In response, they’ve come up with an LP’s worth of tracks for us. Pour yourself whatever you’re having while we slip Side One on the Dansette… “Michael & Peter” chosen by Duglas T Stewart Sinatra has sung so many great songs by truly great writers, many of the greatest ever, the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart & Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Jobim and a personal favourite writer of mine, Rod McKuen. But even so I didn’t have to pause to think twice about what was my favourite Sinatra track. “Michael & Peter” is from 1970’s album Watertown and was written for Sinatra…

We’re super chuffed to tell you that Glasgow Music City Tours are running a series of brand new Trad Trail walking tours as part of Celtic Connections in 2016. Focusing on Glasgow’s trad, roots and folk scene, the two hour tours share tales of the songwriters and storytellers who have shaped the city’s vibrant folk culture. Expect Humblebums, bikers and music hall heroes among many other stories. The tours run on the following Fridays and Saturdays: 15/16, 22/23, 29/30 January.

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…

Ahead of his show at The Admiral on Friday 13th November (tickets) , we asked Subway Sect legend and all round post-punk muse Vic Godard if he would like to write us something about playing in Glasgow over the years. Today is the last Godard in Glasgow, bringing us right up to date. We’d like to…

Ahead of his show at The Admiral on Friday 13th November (tickets) , we asked Subway Sect legend and all round post-punk muse Vic Godard if he would like to write us something about playing in Glasgow over the years. In response Vic has composed the definitive guide to Godard in Glasgow…Vic’s Here: VIC.ism 1st and…