The Cowboy Mouth

with Xan Tyler

The latest gig on our A to Z Musical Tour was ……

Quite a few of the acts we have seen on our #AtoZMusicalTour have been around the block. Some of them were even involved in building the ‘block’ itself.

The Scottish music scene is renowned for producing musicians who have played a major role in the cultural diversity we have come to savour over the decades. Some found fame, and maybe even fortune, ploughing a path together over several decades.

The Cowboy Mouth

Others, as in the case of The Cowboy Mouth, trod a different path.

Individually and collectively, Graeme Skinner – Hipsway, The Jazzateers, White Savages, Fascinator, The Skinner Group, The Golden Tree, etc.  and Douglas Macintyre, The Jazzateers, Love and Money, Sugartown, The Kingfishers, Port Sulphur, etc. have scattered their talents like dandelions in the wind and continue to play and record music that hits the mark for a generation of music lovers who have shared their own musical journey. 

While Skinner and Macintyre may have the notable track record above, they’re more than ably assisted by Dougie Hannah on drums and Lachlan Allan, White Savages, on bass.

The gig itself was an opportunity to hear the new album being released by Last Night From Glasgow early in 2025, Faultlines. Played in full, in the order it will appear, the songs sound immediately uplifting, a notable change since their early releases in the mid-1990s Life As A Dog and Love Is Dead.

If the recorded material is as true to the songs as they were played live, then it is definitely an album to look forward to. The Swimmer, Yeah Yeah Yeah, the title track Faultlines and others are brimming with confidence, upbeat, maybe even danceable.

As expected, once the album tracks were finished, the band played a number of songs that opened up our ears to them in the first place, My Life As A Dog, Sea Shanty No.2, Surfer Gurl and a rousing rendition of Ask The Lord closed the show on another fine Frets Concert.

Take a bow to everyone involved. Looking around the audience, most have also been around the block. They know good music when they hear it. They are reminded of times gone by when the music gave them the same pleasurable experience. On nights like this live music certainly makes you feel alive.

Support Xan Tyler

One benefit of arriving early at gigs is to listen to the support acts. Some are up and coming, learning their craft, exploring what works on stage as they go along. Others have experience, have a catalogue of songs that translate well to the audience in front of them and recognise their part in the overall experience of the night.

Xan fitted the bill of warm-up act really well. Comfortable when chatting between songs, unperturbed when a verse was forgotten. More importantly, she was singing from the heart with a strongly held belief in the songs she had written, on this occasion, from her latest album which was inspired by women who had helped shape her and others’ lives.

With most tracks taken from her album Holding Up Half The Sky, she is certainly a performer that is well worth listening to and watching if you too are one of those who have been around the block