Delighted to welcome Glasgow-based guitarist and singer, Alasdair Roberts, to Cafe OTO for a very special live-streamed show!

“An artist in consummate control of his art” – Uncut

Alasdair Roberts is a Scottish musician, born in Germany, who was raised near Callander and has been based in Glasgow since 1995 (although currently temporarily exiled in London). He is primarily a songwriter/composer, singer and acoustic fingerstyle guitarist as well as an interpreter/arranger of traditional songs and ballads from Scotland and beyond.

Since 1997 Alasdair has produced several full-length albums of music (initially under the name Appendix Out and later under his own name), primarily working with Drag City Records of Chicago. His most recent Drag City album, The Fiery Margin - a collection of ten self-written songs recorded with bassist Stevie Jones (Arab Strap, Sound of Yell), viola player Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (Woven Skull) and drummer Alex Neilson (Trembling Bells, Alex Rex) among other collaborators - was released in September 2019.

Over the years, Alasdair has collaborated with a wide variety of fellow musicians (such as Will Oldham, Jason Molina, Josephine Foster, Mairi Morrison, Frankie Armstrong, Debbie Armour and French singing trio Tartine de Clous) as well as with other artists including poet Robin Robertson, puppeteer Shane Connolly of Sokobauno Puppet Theatre and film-maker Luke Fowler. In 2013 Alasdair became a member of the Scottish/English folk group The Furrow Collective, along with Lucy Farrell, Rachel Newton and Emily Portman. The Furrow Collective has released three albums on Hudson Records, the most recent being Fathoms in 2018. The quartet won the accolade of Best Group in the 2017 BBC Radio Two Folk Awards. Alasdair has also performed as part of the group Current 93.

Alasdair Roberts is one of a rare breed of musicians whose work has found favour with aficionados of both experimental/avant-garde music and traditional/folk music – as such, he has been the cover star of both Wire Magazine (March 2010) and fRoots Magazine (October 2003 and January/February 2017).

“It is a rare talent – one who is now bordering on auteur territory - who can relate folk music with such scholarly authenticity, and penetrate on such an emotional level at the same time.” – The Quietus