'He paints with Words'
I have heard Marra perform twice at the Mugdock theatre, which
with the grand piano off to the left is simply the perfect venue for him, and I
list his concerts there back in 2007 and 2008 as some of my favourite ever small venue
gigs. When Marra arrived at Mugdock he discovered one of the perfect small
theatres there. It seats around fifty in a tiered semi-circle and
to the left of the small stage sits a shiny grand piano. It was built with
music lovers in mind.
I managed a short chat with Marra. He appeared to
recognize me from last year's festival and I sense he doesn’t miss a beat. He had his green shirt laid out on the side
table. He said that last year in 2008,
he had travelled through the rain and the winding country roads and had
wondered where he was going to. He told me how he loved the Mugdock
theatre and the beautiful piano there. You could feel his excitement.
The Gig. All eyes are fixed on Marra throughout.
He was unforgettable playing the small Murdock theatre. His songs are
humorous and insightful and with his clever use of words and images he takes us
inside his colorful characters. The
first thing that I noticed at his gigs was how frail he looked but then when he
performed he surprised me with his energy and his distinctive gravelly
voice.
With endearing heart and ironic dry wit Marra led us
through his medley of songs which were brim full of unforgettable characters
and carefully crafted images of places and time. Oddly he props his
keyboards on top of a small ironing board.
Marra played piano and guitar during his set here and
he sang songs with grand titles such as - 'If Dundee was Africa', 'Bob
Dylan's Visit to Embra', 'Grace Kelly's Visit to Dundee,' 'Muggie Shaw', 'Freda
Kohl's Visit to the Tay Bridge Bar', and 'Lonesome Death of Francis
Clarke'. In 'Schenectady Calling', Marra paid tribute to Peerie Willie
Johnson, a noted folk musician from Shetland. He finished his set with a
Burns song ' Green Grow the Rashes O' and an encore song 'Mary Skeffington' by
the late Gerry Rafferty of Paisley.
Marra finished with a perfect version of Robert Burn's
song ‘Green Grow the Rashes O’ and his smile said it all. For his encore he
sang a moving song when he talked about an uncle he never knew who died and
about family being in the huff with each other - and he sang the words, ‘Did
you forget the world and did the world forget you?’
His music has grown out of both his Scottish Dundee
roots and his American fantasies and musical tastes - he calls his sound
'groovy traditional music.' He writes songs about topics such as football,
ladies choirs, and American idols! His stories and songs are highly
amusing while other songs are thoughtful and touching. There are
echoes of his poet and musical hero, Bob Dylan. He cleverly uses humour
and irony to describe the diversity and irony of human nature. His musical
influences include - Tom Waits, Randy Newman and Bob Dylan. He was a strong
character for photos with his wry fun and the light in his expressive eyes.
You could feel Marra’s joy of it after his encore
song. A perfect ending to the Saturday.
Whenever I think of the special audience connection
this has to be the perfect small venue where that magic can happen. Buckley
calls it the 'romance of the small venue'.
Although predominantly known as a songwriter, Marra
worked extensively in theatre, radio and television. Marra's
children, Alice Marra Clark and Matthew Marra, are members of The Hazy Janes.
Marra was in a band called Skeets Boliver in the late seventies. He died in
2012 at the age of 60, a very sad loss.
'There's Love in this world for everyone, Every
precious smile you make, Be sure love is out there looking for
you.' Michael Marra
**In 2007 I enjoyed shooting one of my first music festivals – Mugdock music festival. I took photos again at Mugdock festival in 2008 and also in 2009. Mugdock country park lent itself to an intimate and fun festival. Headliners included Aly Bain, Battlefield band, Red hot Chilli pipers, Karen Matheson, Michael Marra, Kris Drever and John McCusker and more.
The festival was brought together by the fun energy of director Erne Parkin who sang with the Crossborder band, sadly died in 2009.
This weekend a NEW Mugstock festival takes place at Murdock - check out their top line up here - http://www.mugstock.orghttp://www.mugstock.org
