I mentioned before that the weather was pretty crazy in Alabama. Now I reckon folks there might be used to the down pours but never on a tour before have I come across so many flights being cancelled because of the weather.

Shortly after we’d finished our gig in the Fox Theatre in Atlanta – and it’s a mighty fine theatre too – our tour manager (Mr Dan Mackay of Montreal) got a call to say our flights from Atlanta to Gainesville had been cancelled. So hasty phone calls were made and the next morning we were to leave at 9 am on a tour bus. I wasn’t jumping up and down at the prospect but it was to be another little adventure so on we go. The next morning there was THE TOUR BUS.

I’ve bus-ed it about places before but not quite like this. 9 bunks, tables, chairs, sofas, a kitchen, toilet, showers and back seated area with wi-fi. I loved it. This is how Dan lives all the time and for touring I must admit I could get used to it. I did my emails, had something to eat, went for a sleep and woke up in Gainsville. Easy. No airports, no airport security and no planes with horrible air conditioning – result. OK the food wasn’t great but the American truck stop was an adventure all in itself.

We stopped a few hours into our journey at an unknown destination - if you jump aboard the bus and don’t have a map you are really none the wiser. Justin Currie talked about it once when he was chatting to me about touring with Del Amitri. He called it ‘submerged’ I think, where you get on the bus in one state and get off 3 days later on the other side of the country. Ours wasn’t quite as long a trip but I now know what he meant. The truck stop had a buffet. Well I examined that buffet and I’m still none the wiser as to some of the ‘delicacies’ on offer. Another thing was quite a few folk were very well dressed for a truck stop? At my observation Larry, our monitor man, informed me that it was Sunday and folks had obviously stopped off on their way home from Church for something to eat. Certainly not something we’d be likely to do in the Islands after church on Sunday – until a few years ago nothing was open. ‘Thou shalt not work’ on the Sabbath day - remember. The Western Isles of Scotland are still fairly religious and I think Lewis must be one of the few places they are still building Churches.

Gainesville was fairly cold but the sun was shinning so finally out came the runners and off I went. Running is great anywhere but for touring it is a good way of flexing those weary muscles, checking out the streets and it’s fairly easy to do - no weights or swimming pools needed. So Gainesville came and went a good gig, nice folk, a late night with the girls, a lazy day off and then the tour bus took us to Clearwater and I know exactly why it is called that. (Some places in America do seem fairly straightforward when it comes to names). It was beautiful, crystal clear water, the whitest sand but freezing when we arrived. Yes freezing. There were a few people down by the poolside trying to convince themselves it was warm but they weren’t fooling me. So flights cancelled due to bad weather in Atlanta and it’s freezing in Florida - what is going on? We had flights cancelled in Dayton, Ohio too but that is another blog all together. 

Here's the latest newsletter for 2009.  

TOURS

It’s been a wonderful start to 2009 both musically and personally. I’m currently on tour with ‘The Chieftains’ in America until the 19th of March and am enjoying the gigs, the venues and promoting my new album ‘People like me’ over here. Obviously the Chieftains draw a big Irish/American crowd but it’s good to be given the opportunity to further introduce that audience to Scottish music and song and on such a grand scale - as one reviewer wrote after our recent Seattle gig - The Chieftains are ‘a group that aren't legends in the opinion of anybody, but in the opinions of everybody’ so gigs are busy and great fun.

NEW ALBUM - see attached image  

‘People like me’ was released on the 23^rd of February by Navigator Records. (The best birthday present I had). It is a collection of traditional and new, Gaelic and English songs. I had great fun recording it. Worked with a stellar cast of musicians and friends including Brian Mcalpine of Session A9, Jonny Hardie of the Old Blind Dogs, Noel Eccles from Moving Hearts, Aidan O’Rourke – Lau, Ewen Vernal – Capercallie, Donald Hay - Mystery Juice, Fraser Fifield and Gerald Peregrine. Calum Malcolm who works with the Blue Nile and more recently Lau produced. Song writers include the lovely Boo Hewerdine, Brendan Graham and Justin Currie (Del Amitri) too who sang with me – now that was a good day. It’s available to buy in hard copy or download through my own website www.alyth.net, www.myspace.com/alythspace, www.navigator-store.com, iTunes, Amazon and also all records shops.

It recently got a 4 * review in Maverick and I’ve included some links to other reviews but I look forward to hearing your own thoughts.                                                                                                                                                

Spiral Earth Review: http://www.spiralearth.co.uk/news/Review-story.asp?nid=2172

Irish Examiner Review 24^th Feb 09

Alyth

People like me (Navigator Records)

****

Scottish Folk chanteuse Alyth McCormack is a regular live guest singer with The Chieftains, and this offering reveals a solid performer cogently at ease with an endearing and engaging song selection.

Though trained in classical singing and drama, McCormack fuses her folk roots with formal tutoring to produce an uncluttered vocal delivery over superb production. Modern rhythms co-exist with old world melodies and contemporary compositions, to enhance a tender yet powerful voice. Six of the 13 tracks are performed in her native Scots Gaelic, while the sublime ‘I Wonder What’s Keeping My True Love Tonight’ is the only traditional song sung in English.

McCormack’s voice combines the purity of Joan Baez and the power of Martha Sebestyen, on arrangements that are at times lush but never pompous, enveloping the senses with warmth and splendour.

The Vices Set, a rhythmic ‘puirt a beul’ selection of mouth music, delights with Moving Hearts-ish pulsating arrangement. The title track, composed by Justin Currie (Del Amitri), is a plea for tolerance in modern Scotland, while A Smuggler’s Prayer, from the pen of Boo Hewerdine, tells the sad tale of a drug mule.

In spite of the diverse nature of the song sources, there’s a cohesive and unified tone to this record. The music is exquisitively produced and sung with heart. By tastefully and effortlessly transcending genres, this fresh recording should win the hearts of listeners across the globe. Gerry Quinn. 

OTHER GIGS

Last year I was again involved in performances of The St Kilda Opera – L’ile des hommes-oiseaux in both France and Belgium and I am delighted to say due to it’s success the company has been invited to performed at the Edinburgh International Festival on the 15^th,  16^th & 17^th August 2009 in the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh. As a result of this I have also been asked to perform at the launch of the International Festival in Edinburgh on the 25^th March. The Opera is a stunning and moving production. I love performing it and one of the best parts is the part I play is myself. I had a wonderful time working with theatre practitioners from these other countries and gained a lot from the experience I think it shows. My French has improved somewhat too. I’m delighted this version will finally be played in Scotland and I look forward to the shows.

I’m also due to be teaching singing in Italy in the summer, gigging in Belgium in the Summer and Autumn, still touring with The Island Tapes (www.theislandtapes.com) and am currently working on a tour with my own band of the UK and Ireland - so more news to follow.

Thank you for reading - however if for any reason you would like to be removed from this mailing list please reply to that effect.

I hope all is well with you too.

Regards,
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singer | Actor

 

 

There is a phenomenon that has appeared on this tour and that’s ‘Irish Dancer Mom’. I’m not a dancer, sure I dance but only for my own pleasure, but I’m not Irish and for someone who's not Irish nor an Irish dancer in my recent years I have been introduced to 30 different Irish dancing schools and that number is likely to double. With the dancing school can come ‘Irish Dancer Mom’. Occasionally she can become a little extreme.  

The Chieftains have always worked with Irish Dancers for as long as I remember The Chieftains and well before. It is a big part of their set. Cara Butler is the only permanent Irish dancer and has been dancing with them now for 18 years – a mere child when she started. She is also now joined by the Ottawa Valley style step dancers Jon &Nathan Pilatzke and together they are simply amazing!

As part of Cara’s preparation for the gig she has to coordinate the children from local dancing schools that come to guest on the show. It can be a big deal for them, as some are still quite young and gigging on such huge stages to such large audiences may be a bit daunting, so in addition to getting herself primed for her own sets Cara puts them through their paces spending time with them before the show, listens to their worries and encourages them and before that spends much time speaking to the teachers at the schools. The Chieftains invite the schools themselves but from some reason recently one venue organised another school too. This is where the problem began.

Now knowing what little dancers are like and their excitement Cara decided rather than disappoint one school, due to the double booking, both schools could dance – this is where ‘Irish Dancer Mom’ took flight. A tirade of emails began flying about the ether where a Mom from the school not invited by The Chieftains began an offensive on the other school, wanted to bring to our attention to ‘substandard dancing’ of said school and ‘how dare these other girls appear on stage with her girls’. The number and length of the emails was quite staggering. Now in my book that’s just not cool, there’s no need and being hostile and volatile even via email to a band that has not actually invited you to dance ain’t that smart either..... What did she expect – Cara would immediately ditch the other group? I was amazed that this Mom thought The Chieftains could not think for themselves and only take instruction. I mean they've only been doing this for 48 years and have worked with Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, The Rolling Stones....

Now I know about competition I did loads of them myself as a child singing. It was a regular thing in the Islands and throughout Scotland to have Gaelic singing competitions. It was a means of helping develop the Gaelic language. It was also great craic because you got to go away with the Choir sometimes and you made friends too. Nowadays thankfully there are also Feis where the aim is children play together as opposed to just simply against each other. However if you are a child with any wit about you of course you want to do your best to win and so did my Mum. However she got anxious too and this came out as stress - the only time she ever smoked in her life (after she was pregnant) was on the days I was competing. The family became aware and after the first few competitions Dad took me. ‘Irish Dancer Mom’ take heed. I can well imagine the Irish Dancing world is very competitive and every Mom wants their girls to do well but as I worked out for myself it’s only a gig – yes I know it’s The Chieftains take it seriously, professionally – but a little perspective and less vitriol is needed. The episode however it did make for some healthy discussion in the van – well what do you expect? Be careful what you put on the ether........

***** People like me Love this CD 21 Feb

Ken Stewart, Aberdeen Scotland

Its been a long wait for the follow up to An Iomall but People Like Me is a fabulous release. Alyth has such a stunning voice and her choice of material is faultless. Equally split between Gaelic and English it’s a very balanced CD, I do prefer the Gaelic material but the English language tracks are equally stunning. The superb core musicians: Mcalpine, Hardie, O’Rourke, Vernal and Fifield are amongst the best there is. Standout tracks are 1 to 13.

Alyth deserves praise and success for producing a classic recording.

***** People like me 2^nd Feb 2009

J.Halliday “circusfagmonkey” London

Alyth has really come into her own this time around. Her voice is as unique and gripping as you’d expect, but the musicianship, dynamics and chemistry amongst her collaborators are even better that ever, creating a consistent and eye-opening debut.

Stepping flawlessly between English and Gaelic, the joy in Alyth’s voice is universal breaking down barriers and affecting all who experience it. If I had to pick a favourite, it would probably be the sympathetic ballad ‘A smuggler’s prayer’ but there’s not a song here that doesn’t have the emotive qualities that Alyth is becoming so well known for. One to watch.

I had really been looking forward to Birmingham, Alabama. I have a favourite author called Fanny Flagg whose books are always set in the South. Not specifically here but her characters all have that deep southern drawl so I looked forward to meeting some of that and I wasn’t disappointed – except for the rain. Oh boy and people think Scotland is a wet place? Sure I’ve seen rain before, lots of it, but never quite like that. Torrents pouring from the sky with no let up. I watched it for a while and then ventured out I had my laundry to do afterall. (Anyone who has done a lot of touring or travelling knows how important it is to get your laundry done. It’s simply much nicer dragging around clean clothes than dirty ones).  It did cross my mind I could slip on all the clothes and just stand out side and run about for a bit but my mother would never approve so off I trotted to the Laundromat.

I splish-splashed my way through rivers and reached the door to be welcomed with a ‘you’re not from around here’ kind of look – but that was ok because they were right. Not only am I not from around there I don’t normally do my washing in a Laundromat so yep I stood out like a sore thumb. I put my $20 bill in the machine for change and then ended up with 80 quarters – handy? - wrestled with the slot sud machines and finally the washing machines themselves. There isn’t much in the way of instructions I think you’re just supposed to ‘know’.  However by the end of 2 hours I had a dry pile of the cleanest jeans and undies I’d seen for a while and I’d gotten to sit quietly in the corner and listen to that slow southern drawl discuss whether the tornadoes would be reaching Birmingham anytime soon – Oh Lord!

With dry clean washing in hand I then left and braved the dash to the post office - arrived drenched and stood in a cue with another 13 sopping customers. There was one lady behind the counter. The cue was agitated: so was she. After a bit of loud huffing and puffing from the cue the lady behind the counter made a public announcement she didn’t use a microphone or intercom – there was no need. She bellowed: ‘Now look y’all he-a. Ain’t nobody gonna give the lady behind the counta a hard time cos she is the ONLY lady behind the counta. Y’all relax stand behind the red line and if you’re good I might just sing y’all a song’. Well it worked. Everyone laughed and then everyone started talking and yelling and laugin. I laughed too mainly because I didn’t know what they were saying but it sounded good to me.

The audience in Birmingham that night were like that too. Open, friendly and vocal. It was a good night.

Well turns out they do some very good Margaritas in Arizona; had some good Mexican food there too. The weather was pretty warm so I spent some of Sunday swimming and sitting in the sun. It was very pleasant and I loved the fresh air or ‘regular air’ as it’s called here. The air-conditioning in both hotels and airplanes has gone for my skin and the day outside helped sort that out - but if dry skin is all that ails me this tour I can live with that – I lost my voice last year. That has only ever happened once before but the combination of hot and cold weather, hours and hours of flying, air-conditioning and the fact that you can’t open windows in American hotels for some ‘regular air’ took its toll. (I imagine that’s because they don’t want you jumping out but we are not all that way inclined. Dear Hotels, from a singer travelling your country couldn’t you even have a small top window for us to open?)

So Mesa was fun. Met some charming people and had a group Mexican meal - as I mentioned – helps the band to get to know each other that little bit better. It only takes a few days but it all adds up – more to follow.
 
Monday was my birthday and we were travelling on to Fort Worth Dallas. We played the same venue last year and I couldn’t quite remember why that gig in particular had stayed in my mind. It wasn’t the hotel as this time we stayed in a different one (sadly it was not very nice). It wasn’t the venue itself as I stepped out on to stage during the sound check to see if it jogged my memory but it didn’t however when the Pipe band started to play it all came flooding back. They were brilliant! The second half of the gig this year starts with the Pipe band playing with The Chiefs and this Pipe band rocked!! It’s run by a fellow originally from Belfast and he’s doing a great job.
 
Tuesday was Houston and a day off so birthday celebrations began. This was sparked by us all knowing each other that little bit better. In Houston it started with some Bar-b-que and then, inspired as it was the last day of Mardi Gras, some dancing and lots of laughing and some Jamesons (I mean really Alyth your Scottish!) some red wine (on top of Jamesons oh the foolishness)  and riotous merry making. I’d love to say more about it but I can’t – I mean I really can’t. Consequently I have decided for lent I shall give up the riotous merry making – oh well at least the Jamesons. 
 
Our gig in Houston was Wednesday night. The pipers arrived and low and behold one of their snare drummers is from Edinburgh. He studied on the course at the Academy in Glasgow and is now teaching Pipe band drumming over in Houston I was delighted. The gig itself went well the Houston audience were a very appreciative audience. Afterwards we retired for some pizza. Now as happens some folk head to bed earlier than others and by the end of the night Triona and I were left on our own just settling our bills when a man came over and asked us, as we were sitting out on the street, to keep an eye on his car while he was inside doing something. We said yes and got chatting. He was Sam and worked at the Hilton. He was delighted to hear our accents. Delighted. He wanted us to chat more and insisted, thrusting his business cards upon us, that the next time we were in town we’d have to stay at the Hilton where he worked and he would make sure we were taken good care of. Smashing we’d be quite happy to as the Hotel were staying in although plush furnishing and nice beds etc had tiny rooms. I was told by a Texan it is sold to American’s like that as it’s ‘European’ but I assure you it is Not European and is very American.
 
Shortly after Sam followed Jeff. He was ‘stoked’ as he was meeting musicians who had played with The Chieftains as his best friend had been trying to get him along to the gig as he loves the band and here he was having drinks with them. He kept saying ‘you know he was all about you today’. Charming. Jeff was a Republican – not surprising in this State – works in the Oil industry and not a fan of Obama. He is actually the first person I’ve ever met who is not a fan but he assured me he wasn’t a fan of Bush either. He was very friendly and most intrigued by our Democratic ways.
 
Then there was, I think, Trone and Knut. Not being very good at Norwegian I’m not quite sure how to spell their names. They were charming too and though not originally from Texas they have an Oil company there. (Common thread appearing here at all?) They sat down with us as we were paying our bills, took our bills from us and wanted to pay them. We declined. Trone explained to me shortly after that he is in the Oil industry and has a LOT of money. I’m glad there are some people out there who still do. I suppose I stopped him from injecting it back into the economy to help get it on its feet again but I am trying to do that in my own way. They asked me all about singing as Knut is a keen singer and then they were bold enough to ask me to sing. I don’t mean I thought they were rude but when people find out you are a singer they don’t generally ask you to sing. So I did and they were delighted and then the loveliest thing happened – they sang for me. They weren’t very good, I think the money they had been ploughing back into the economy before they met us had affected their pitch slightly, but at least they were trying.
 
So all in all I found Houston in Texas a very friendly place. I don’t know if we were just in the right place at the right time or whether that is true of most but it was delightful. It’s what I enjoy on tour almost as much as the gigs – seeing places and meeting people. Next stop Birmingham, Alabama. I’m quite excited about that one.

Irish Examiner Review 24^th Feb 09

Alyth

People like me (Navigator Records)

****

Scottish Folk chanteuse Alyth McCormack is a regular live guest singer with The Chieftains, and this offering reveals a solid performer cogently at ease with an endearing and engaging song selection.
 
Though trained in classical singing and drama, McCormack fuses her folk roots with formal tutoring to produce an uncluttered vocal delivery over superb production. Modern rhythms co-exist with old world melodies and contemporary compositions, to enhance a tender yet powerful voice. Six of the 13 tracks are performed in her native Scots Gaelic, while the sublime ‘I Wonder What’s Keeping My True Love Tonight’ is the only traditional song sung in English.
 
McCormack’s voice combines the purity of Joan Baez and the power of Martha Sebestyen, on arrangements that are at times lush but never pompous, enveloping the senses with warmth and splendour.
 
The Vices Set, a rhythmic ‘puirt a beul’ selection of mouth music, delights with Moving Hearts-ish pulsating arrangement. The title track, composed by Justin Currie (Del Amitri), is a plea for tolerance in modern Scotland, while A Smuggler’s Prayer, from the pen of Boo Hewerdine, tells the sad tale of a drug mule.
 
In spite of the diverse nature of the song sources, there’s a cohesive and unified tone to this record. The music is exquisitively produced and sung with heart. By tastefully and effortlessly transcending genres, this fresh recording should win the hearts of listeners across the globe. 
 
Gerry Quinn.