Folk, jazz etc: Picking their route to Bute

by Jim Gilchrist
THE enthusiasts boarding the Rothesay-bound ferry from Wemyss Bay later this month won't be your traditional doon-the-watter excursionists. Clutching cases bearing treasured Gibsons, Martins and Epiphones, rather than buckets and spades, they'll be descending on Bute for the island's first international guitar festival, which runs over the weekend of 16-18 September.

Organised under the auspices of this year's Scotland's Islands initiative, aimed at raising awareness of island communities' culture, heritage and environment, "the Big F", as the festival styles itself, could become an annual event – if funding can be found to sustain it in these penny-pinching economic times.

The Isle of Bute, once known as "the Madeira of Scotland" in the pre-package flight days when thousands swarmed out of Wemyss Bay Station and on to the laden ferries, or churned their way down the Clyde from the Broomielaw, has come up with numerous events while reinventing itself as a destination.

It boasts an annual, trad-orientated jazz festival, although its once thriving folk festival is currently in abeyance, but the island continues to sustain a healthy degree of music-making, according to Paul Templeman, musician, proprietor of Rothesay Music and a member of Transclyde Music, which organises music events on the island, including the forthcoming guitar festival.

Templeman stresses that the weekend, at venues in and around Rothesay, isn't just a showcase for virtuosity: "The guitar is an incredibly versatile instrument in all forms of music, and we've got bluegrass, classical, flamenco, blues… But it doesn't matter whether you're a singer-songwriter strumming three chords or you're Tommy Emmanuel, as long as you play a guitar or guitar-like instrument, it's valid so far as we're concerned."

Consequently, an important element of the festival is its Open Mic stage, with prizes including a an electro-acoustic guitar and a PA system, while the first-prize winner will be invited back to the island to make an appearance with Irish singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy when she plays Mount Stuart on 30 September.

However, for aficionados who want to hear the best, the festival bill features an eclectic range of notable names, as diverse as: Nick Harper, who has carved out an impressive reputation as singer, guitarist and dazzling live performer well clear of the shadow of his famous father, Roy; rock veteran Henry McCullough, whose playing credits range from pioneer folk-rockers Sweeney's Men to Joe Cocker and Paul McCartney; the fiery Scottish singer and flatpicker Dick Gaughan; and, both from Texas, multi-instrumentalist Steve James and singer-guitarist Rodney Branigan.

The festival also features the extraordinary pianistic fretboard attack of Ayrshire-based American Preston Reed, Cara Luft, founder member of the Canadian vocal group the Wailin' Jennys, the powerful Edinburgh singer Lee Patterson, 16-year-old classical guitar prodigy Tom Page and many other group and solo talents, local or otherwise.

While the Scotland's Islands funding initiative is for this year only, Templeman hopes that – despite increasing demands on a patently dwindling pot of public money – the festival might become an annual event.

"We suspect that both government and corporate funding will be tricky to get hold of next year. However, if we hit our targets for this year, which are not unobtainable, the profits that the festival generates will go back into next year's event.

It remains to be seen, then, whether the Bute event might become a substitute, of sorts, for the much-celebrated Kirkmichael Guitar Festival which, under the active patronage of jazz guitarist Martin Taylor, annually drew aficionados to the little village in Ayrshire, just across the water, until 2005.

Templeman doesn't see the Bute event in terms of filling any gap left by Kirkmichael, but simply as another step in the regeneration of the little island's economy.

• Bute International Guitar Festival runs from 16-18 September. Seewww.buteguitarfestival.co.uk
http://news.scotsman.com/entertainment/Folk-jazz-etc-Picking-their.6828012.jp