James Grant is one of the most renowned and respected performers Scotland has ever produced.
Drawing from a broad palette of pop, folk, soul, country and blues influences, and interweaving his solo compositions with Love and Money favourites, James twins darkly literate, melodically lush songcraft with his richly potent vocals and virtuoso guitar work, leavening his performances with dashes of wickedly acerbic humour.
Classics from the eighties through the oughties will be performed with customary wit, style and dexterity. Music to fill the heart and stir the soul. Do not miss it.
As a member of Friends Again and Love and Money, James helped to establish Glasgow, Scotland, as a wellspring for brainy, soulful pop in the '80s. In 1982, he joined Friends Again a punchy new wave outfit who crossed Aztec Camera's jangly riffs with David Bowie's stabs at funk. Friends Again released one LP, Trapped and Unwrapped, in 1984 before Grant left the group to exhibit his own talent for songwriting. In 1985, he formed Love and Money, a band who initially clung to a jazzy, more rock-oriented sound. Love and Money recorded their first album, All You Need Is, in 1986; however, the LP did not fulfill the commercial expectations caused by the success of the single "Candybar Express." Love and Money's second album, Strange Kind of Love, sold 250,000 copies, but Grant's creative vision became increasingly incompatible with the corporate needs of the group's label, Phonogram. He battled with Phonogram over the artistic direction of Love and Money's third album, Dogs in the Traffic, in 1991. The LP sold only 25,000 copies, and when the label saw no sales potential in 1994's Littledeath, they dropped the band. The group split up soon thereafter. On Love and Money's later work, He began venturing into country, a genre that he continued to explore in his solo career. In 2000, he released Sawdust in My Veins to widespread critical acclaim, followed by three more albums, Holy Love, My Thrawn Glory, and Strange Flowers.
Love and Money reformed in 2011 for a 'one-off' Celtic Connections show and released their fifth album The Devil's Debt in 2012.
James Grant has performed or toured with artists as diverse as U2, Nanci Griffiths, Tina Turner, and BB King and appeared on TV shows such as Top of the Pops, The Tube, The Transatlantic Sessions and even Wogan! He continues to live in Glasgow, support Celtic, write and perform.
the resulting standing ovation was testament to this wonderful performance and no less than Grant deserved.,
Mark Gregory, Broadway Baby
“A ballsier Gram Parsons but with whiskytinged Scottish poetry for lyrics’ The Word ‘One of Scotland’s most gifted songwriters... and what a marvellous singer he is, too, spanning darkly burnished baritone depths and searing soulful intensity.”
Scotsman
wonderful end to a fantastic night of music delivered by a consummate professional.
