Robyn Red – Photography by Lucie Cameron @luciecameronphoto
The first night of King Tuts Summer Nights 2024 kicked off with a fresh line-up of female talent on the country music scene.
The first act of the night was Clydebank’s Erin Ponsonby. Accompanied by a full band, Erin kicked off the night loud with an assortment of her own songs, as well as throwing in a few covers including ‘Who’s Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?’ by Shania Twain, and ‘Diane’ by Cam. The band were impactful, including guitars, drums and keys. This brought a full sound to Erin’s country tracks, which the already filling room took in attentively. The crowd was really warming up when the band closed on a clever mashup of country classics to leave the room on a high, working through hits including ‘9 to 5’, ‘Friends in Low Places’ and ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman’.
Next on the bill, Lucy Tay entered the stage with her guitar, a ‘Yeehaw’, and an infectious smile. Lucy brought the crowd onside with a cover of The Eagles ‘Take it Easy’ to open her set. Throughout her time on stage, Lucy was chatty and open with the crowd, sharing the stories behind her songs and shouting out to the folks who had inspired them. On stage alone with her guitar, Lucy was able to command the room and draw the room in to listen to the stories in her songs, such as ‘Red Flag’ and ‘Green Eyes (Heartbeat)’, which she performed powerfully. Lucy had evident support from the crowd, as cheers, singing, and laughter came from all angles of the room. Covering Noah Kahan’s ‘Stick Season’ encouraged the room to sing along to the recent hit, as she acknowledged the influence she has taken from the artist in her own song writing. Lucy Tay ended the night with her heartfelt song ‘Glasgow’, which she blended into popular ‘Caledonia’ to bring her set to an emotional and personable close.
The penultimate slot of the night was filled by Manchester’s Neeve Zahra. With her acoustic guitar, Neeve and fellow guitarist Drew held the room from the first note. Working through a set of her own songs, Neeve showcased her skill for song writing. She shared that she had spent time writing with fellow musicians such as Ben Walker and Kyle Falconer. Her performance was relaxed yet compelling, with songs such as ‘Rub a Little Dirt on it’ being received well by the crowd. She shared with the room how her track ‘Love Me’ won her a trip to Nashville, a country singers dream. This appears to be well deserved as the track sounded sharp in the Glasgow venue. ‘Step Right Over’ has also gained popularity from being played on BBC Radio 2’s Country Show with Bob Harris, and sounded equally as brilliant. Neeve Zahra played through a set of her own country tunes, and her performance has surely won her some new fans from the packed venue.
The atmosphere in King Tuts totally flipped as a voiceover began introducing the headliner for the night and her ‘take on country music’. Robyn Red sprang onto the stage and made her presence known. Accompanied by a full band she jumped straight into her hard hitting set. Tracks such as ‘Like a Bullet’, Robyns first release, had the room filled with energy. As she worked through the first few songs and introduced herself and her band, Robyn appeared to be taking in the room, as she reminisced on the first time she played King Tuts as a support act. She shared feeling like she struggled to sell 50 tickets, and how she feels now she is playing her own headline show to a filled room. From the audience, you could feel the emotion behind this and that the band were buzzing with energy.
Thanks were given to the band who were tight and passionate throughout the night, but particularly to fiddle player introduced as Kara. Kara had learned the songs in a short period of time in order to stand in for the gig, and played well adding another element of interest to the country ensemble. The addition of the fiddle and solos set the band on another level and impressed the crowd.
Robyn shared anecdotes of where she was in her music career when she wrote each of her songs, and some of the inspiration behind them. A few times in the set, she laughed as she reminded the crowd that some of the songs were fictional, such as ‘Luke Jackson’, clearing up any suspicions. Robyn Red credited her bandmates for writing alongside her as she sang another country track. She also credited fellow musician Rory McCallum as writing alongside her on a couple of tracks, one of which sought influence from the point of view of popular artist Taylor Swift. The room listened attentively and were absorbed in the country singers tales and tunes. This was heightened as Robyn Red had the room sing with her to the chorus of popular track ‘When The Sun Sets’.
Robyn Red was a spectacular headliner following an array of talent to open King Tuts Summer Nights 2024, an assortment which may have you adding to your list of Country Heroes.
Keep up to date with Robyn Red using the links below.