The Hour

Glasgow musician Roddy Hart hopes the release of his second album, Sign Language, and recent high profile performances such as playing for the queen at the tenth anniversary of the Scottish parliament will gain him exposure in the cutthroat music business.

He said of the performance: “it was great to be asked we got asked to do a Robert Burns’ song…the day was mired in a bit of controversy because the chamber was only half full but it was like a normal gig to me to be honest.”

The performance for the Queen came after Roddy was commissioned to write new melodies for Robert Burns’ poetry to celebrate the launch of Homecoming Scotland, so it fit nicely with the anniversary.

Hart has been flying under most people’s radar since the release of his self recorded demo Home Tapes. Roddy, who graduated from Glasgow University with a first class law degree, decided to trade a career arguing at the bar to playing music in them.

The demo did, however, attract the attention of country music legend Kris Kristofferson and led to the young singer opening on his tour. This led to Kristofferson adding his vocals to Roddy’s debut solo album Bookmarks and a performance with him at the Royal Albert Hall.
 
He then toured with Eddie Reader, who also lent her vocals for the album. Roddy followed this with a sucession of tours with acts like  Deacon  Blue and performances at the festival South by Southwest and the Leonard Cohen festival in Canada.

Not bad for a guy who started out with a residence in the Universal Bar in Glasgow once a week.

Roddy Hart’s album, Sign Language is out now on Vertical Records. Comparisons of his style have been made to Bruce Springteen, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan. He also had a successful stint on BBC Radio Scotland where he had his own show for three months and now acts as a regular stand-in for popular host Iain Anderson.