Take 1 cream of the Scottish crop, 1 acoustic guitar, 1 borrowed p.a., a pinch of Celt and a dash of Caledonia, a generous cup of songsmithery that almost everyone can relate to, place in a warm glowing café for three hours and you get...

Andrew White

DP1 Café - Mawhera Quay, Greymouth

Friday, 12^th September 2003

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Dayglo crossed the river, picked up Digital Dan and yea verily merrily scampered off to DP One for a fine spot of Celtic meditation awash with a strong Caledonian infusion from Scottish singer songwriter, Andrew White.

His style is thoughtful and varied, expressive lyrically and musically. The songs are about rolling green landscapes, seafaring, wayfaring and the neverending story of lovefaring. Is it traditional? Is it contemporary? Or is it a mixture of both? In this case it doesn't matter because it's contains Andrew's soul and this man has a voice that rises and falls like the finest storyteller. There's something special in the heart of a Troubadour of Celt that tells of an ordinary story in a deep and mysterious way that renders the listener with a feeling of a time that has long since left but lives on in our own hearts.

Andrew is one of those those solo performers who possesses an inherent ability to be fascinating and charismatic, to emanate an inner strength that is somehow quietly spirited and rock-solid steady. Standing alone accompanied by a guitar and a borrowed p.a. (thanks Leah and Juulian) Andrew delivered a medley of well crafted songs with lyrics of spun gold and a vocal style that was at times sweet and salty in turn and sometimes reminiscent of Peter Gabriel. Dayglo had to wonder about the origins of bluegrass because there was a hint of that amongst the highly articulated rhythm and dexterous fingerstyling as well.

Andrew's partner, Gillian Boucher from Cape Breton, is a red hot diva fiddler and accompanied him for three songs. Oh She of the Twinkling Eyes and Fluid Arm. Oh She with the complex bowing and fingering techniques and variations. Gillian somehow makes the multiple degrees of difficulty seem oh so simple.

Andrew told us that his earliest influence was Ralph McTell, the man whose burden in life was "The Streets of London". Many years later Andrew's innate talent takes us on his own personal journey down to the river, and to a bar in Ireland to hear Christy Whelan sing "dee didle didle buttm didle didle dee", and "Buttm didle didle buttm buttm didle dee!"

This Northumbrian with a long stint living in Aotearoa under his belt, bathed the local gathering in a warm upbeat and melodic glow. Andrew has recently toured with guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel, has toured internationally as a soloist and with artists such as Clannad, The Corrs, Michelle Shocked and The Indigo Girls. He's been signed with the very classy Linn Records and has released two albums, Guitarra Celtica and Pray for Rain. We were told that this night he was supposed to be in a bar somewhere in Ireland and as exotic and enticing as that might sound we were selfishly pleased his plans had turned to custard and he was at DP One with wife and baby daughter, Lily Rose.

If you're partial to a highland fling around the rolling landscape of your heart, big story songs with a ripping good texture and where every word counts, have a listen to Andrew White. He'll be back on 17^th November, and in the meanwhile, keep an eye out for dissolving sand dragons!