RELEASING his thirteenth solo CD this year, Jim Malcolm is among the most prolific of Scotland’s singer-songwriters, and this outstanding collection of 14 songs, performed live in Perth last autumn, shows why. The guitar playing is superb, his characterful harmonica brings unexpected nuance, and Jim’s voice, always warm and attractive, sounds mellow, smooth and exceptionally tuneful; entirely deserving of this live audience’s enthusiasm.
The CD includes six of Jim’s own songs, alongside masterful renditions of Brian McNeill’s ‘Lads o the Fair’, Andy M Stewart’s classic ‘Valley of Strathmore’ and Jim Reid’s ‘Vinney Den’.
Over his 30-year career, including eight as frontman with Old Blind Dogs, Jim Malcolm has performed the traditional songs of Scotland across Europe and the USA, and it’s no surprise that Live In Perth features four, including the jaunty ‘Jolly Beggar’ and ‘Billy Taylor’ and, perhaps the most beautiful of the whole CD, ‘Lochaber No More’. But while the songs and stories and the influence of other artists from Scotland’s cultural landscape are much in evidence, the performances are vintage Jim Malcolm. There may have been only one musician on the stage, but there was an abundance of musicality.
