Reviews

Artist: Fred Morrison
Album: Outlands
Label: Ridge Records
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.fredmorrison.com

A legend in his own lunchtime, I first encountered Fred Morrison at the Edinburgh Folk Festival many years ago. With all guns blazing he attacked the session with the subtlety of a bull in a china shop laced with the humour of Laurel & Hardy particularly his rendition of the Banana Splits theme tune.

Of course, Fred later joined the Celtic/Jazz influenced Capercaillie and onto the present day where he embraces all things Bluegrass. With reminiscences of Davy Spillane’s 1986 “Atlantic Bridge” Fred extends the range of instruments to include the mighty Highland Pipes and his very own Reelpipes and with the revitalised co-joining of two seemingly clashing cultures in 2010 he sounds totally at ease in the company of Tim O’Brien’s snappy mandolin and the frailing banjo of Ron Block.

At times driving along at a cracking pace including the opening highly syncopated “Train Journey North” and his own composition “Hard Drive” which closes the album he throws caution to the wind really swinging with a fuel injected hornpipe/reel that would leave many lesser musicians gasping for breath. There are, of course subtler moments when his impressive low whistle playing is put to good use but it’s generally the buoyant mood of the album that will remain most firmly in the mind

Peter Fyfe

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