Wounded Knee kicks off proceedings with an invitation to take a rummage through his bag of numbered balls which hold the key to the songs that will be sung that night.
The first couple are fun little ditties and poems which are a great introduction to the relaxed mood and allows the late comers to find their seats in an already over filled CCA.
His songs are haunting, soulful and timeless, lifted straight from the history books.
A sullen silence slips over the transfixed audience, especially as bygone Scottish melodies are delicately performed.
Concluding the set with its own quiet intensity comes the song ‘Willy McBride’ which follows the Scottish storytelling tradition.
Imagining the hostile desolate landscape and conditions of the First World War the tragic song conjures up possibilities of who this Willy McBride might have been.
Underneath the treacly deep vocals comes the relentless monotone drone of his accordion, which compliments and adds to the atmosphere of the night.
Wounded Knee through the project Archive Trails has understood something key to Scottish music.
It didn’t start in the 1980’s and that compelling modern music can be found in our collective past.
Words/photos: Gordon Ballantyne.
