So there I am running along a road in the west end of Glasgow. It’s a sun shiny day too with several members of our beloved local constabulary engaging me in the time honoured game of pursuit and arrest. Figuring that the best place to hide a tree is in a forest I take shelter in a one of those coffee shops when a voice reaches my ears and that voice reminds me that the truth is all in the old time groove.
Sure enough, with but a download link forced upon me, I made the acquaintance of Glasgow’s Bearpit Brothers – or at least one of them as there are three: Larry Alexander, Jim Byrne and Robert Ruthven – for they are musicians of the reclusive variety. A wise thing too for the pursuit of pastures mellow and fruitful is hardly the path to commercial success these days. Nonetheless, you have to admire the super polite performances here and the beatitude that bathes these brothers in mellow fruitfulness. Taking “Blue Boy” as an example, the years pass backwards with commendable fluidity to a time when, but for the reverb on the guitar, you would be thinking that Al Bowlly had bought a ticket to Nashville in search for the truth in matters so the heart. Likewise “Burden Of Your Cross” takes that Irish country feel to the edge of sentiment. Would not Norman Borland – our unsung King of Country – not wish to adopt this song as one of his own?
Whilst the Bearpit – if not in blood then in spirit - Brothers sprinkle rhinestones on the past with this EP, it is undeniable that they are a far easier sell to your maiden aunt than, say, Jobriath, would be. Easy on the ear and none the worse for all that. Just remember that, when the lights flash blue, it is time to go.