01 Jun 1990
Custom House Quay (2000 capacity)
■ The Wild River Apples 1.45pm. One of the Glasgow groups to watch, currently recording their first LP tor Chrysalis.
■ Eddi Reader 2.10pm. Aye, that's right. Her out of Fairground Attraction.
■ John Martyn 2.30pm. Don't call him a folkie! Well, you could, but Martyn's eclectic tastes have driven his music along an individual path. He can move from near-soporific ballads to intense exorcisms, employing a variety of influences.
■ Paco Pena 2.50pm. The revered Spanish flamenco guitarist, considered one of the top two or three in the world.
■ Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham 3.15pm. The Shetland-born fiddler is a mainstay of the Scottish traditional music scene. He's joined by his regular accordionist partner Cunningham, formerly of Silly Wizard.
■ Tommy Smith 3.40pm. The Wester Hailes wunderkind's face has hardly been out of the papers since he first went to America to study music at Berklee College. His new Blue Note album Peeping Tom and his first classical composition, which was premiered at Mayfest, are the latest chapters in a fairy-tale career.
■ Dick Gaughan 3.55pm. Scotland's foremost exponent of the political folk song, with classic LP’s like A Handful Of Earth to his credit. There's a possibility of a team-up with Billy Bragg as well, as the two collaborated on the latter's new album.
■ SCO Quartet 4.10pm. Founded in 1974, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra are much in demand at home and abroad. While the rest of them are taking a breather between finishing The Martyrdom of St Magnus at The Tramway and playing at the Bath International Festival, these four brave The Big Day alone.
■ Maria McKee 4.30pm. McKee split from her California-based band Lone Justice some time ago, released a solo album and now lives in Dublin. Her many admirers are waiting for the day when she goes truly mega-platinum, knowing that it can't be far off.
■ The River Detectives 4.55pm. Sam Corry and Dave O'Neil, from the Ravenscraig area of Motherwell, write and perform songs which seem the sum of so many qualities in Scottish music: direct, influenced both by America and the music of their homeland, performed equally well acoustically or with a full band.
■ Larry McCray 5.20pm. See panel.
■ Billy Bragg and Natalie Merchant 5.35pm. Mayfest visitor Bragg's career has been given a shot in the arm with his new release, The Internationale, his interpretation of seven political songs including The Red Flag, returned to its original tune of The White Cockade. He will be joined by the singer from 10,000 Maniacs — a late addition to the bill.
sitenotes:
This announcement was published in The List of 1 June 1990 on page 7. There were more venues: George Square (30.000 capacity), People's Palace (30.000), and the Haugh on Glasgow Green (125.000).