Festival to serve the tastiest music

Jun 27 2008 by Alison Anderson

THE Americana spotlight falls on Perth at the beginning of August for an exciting new Festival which celebrates the very best in American roots music embracing soul, blues, rock ‘n’ roll and country.

‘Southern Fried’ is the baby of Andy Shearer, creative director at Horsecross Arts Ltd, the organisation which runs Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre.

The Southern Fried stage is shared by both venues, bringing to Perth the music of giants from across the Big Pond such as Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, Nanci Griffith and Billy Joe Shaver.

Perth’s own Americana outfit Southpaw are among Brits giving audiences a taste of Southern Fried, along with Eddi Reader, Dean Owens and The Coal Porters.

“Southern Fried is unusual in that it is a particularly broadly based festival,” said Andy. “Americana covers black music, soul, blues, rock ‘n’ roll and country, and hopefully the name Southern Fried gives the idea of an enjoyable, informal event.”

He explained the background to this three-day spectacular from August 1-3 which includes major gigs at Perth Concert Hall and cosy late-night clubs at Perth Theatre.

“This festival has been an idea of mine since before the concert hall opened and has been part of a long-term strategy to create a destination offering a one-off and touring programme especially at times of the year when things are quite quiet.

“The whole strand of Americana is something we wanted to focus on, particularly as there is a history of this in Perth, with the guys from Goldrush putting on gigs.

“Because Perth is so central we can create an event which is not just local but also Scottish, with people travelling to Perth from all over the country and beyond.”

Southern Fried comes at a time when Perth Concert Hall approaches its third birthday. “The first two years have been very hectic and we’ve been finding out where our audiences are, and we also now have a better feeling for the buildings and what is going to work.

“That’s why the time is now right to bring this major festival to Perth and hopefully build on this year’s programme to make it bigger in years to come.”

Andy is delighted that Perth Theatre is sharing the Southern Fried spotlight with the concert hall.

“We can put on a lot at Perth Theatre, which is fantastic for acoustic and rootsy music.

“We’ve tried to structure the Southern Fried programme so the two venues are not competing against each other. We have an extended licence which means that over the festival, the music in Perth Theatre doesn’t start until the concert hall is finished, so events can run until 2.30am on the Friday and Saturday and 1.30am on the Sunday.”

Andy continued: “We’re very pleased with the programme, which I think has a good broad base of acts.

“It’s exciting for people who know Americana, while anyone who likes good live music will find a lot to enjoy. There’s nothing obscure or strange – it’s all good stuff.

“The bigger acts are Scottish exclusives, which is a real coup for Perth,” said Andy.

“If we are going to establish Southern Fried as a major Scottish festival we need that exclusivity and put a stamp on the event.

“It’s great to have someone as recognisable as Nanci Griffith. Personally, I’m really looking forward to the Hank Williams show, and also Allen Toussent and Billy Joe Shaver, who are both huge songwriters and Allen was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

“We’ll give the artists some good Scottish hospitality to make it an event bands and musicians want to come to.”

Tickets and details of Southern Fried events are available from the box offices at Perth Theatre and Perth Concert Hall, phone 0845 612 6319 and online at www.horsecross.co.uk