THE SKINNER SONGBOOK

FRETS – April Edition / Friday 24th

THE SKINNER SONGBOOK

Acoustic Concert at FRETS 

Friday 24th April , The Strathaven Hotel – 7pm

Tickets available at 8pm on Friday 6th March – from the Eventbrite link below

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-skinner-songbook-tickets-97196040975

THE SKINNER SONGBOOK is a new troubadour concert show produced by vocalist Grahame Skinner. The idea of the show is to highlight songs Grahame enjoys performing live as a vocalist, including songs from his own repertoire (Jazzateers / Hipsway / Cowboy Mouth), and songs by other artists (including Scott Walker / Lee Hazlewood / Frank Sinatra / Lou Reed / Orange Juice / Josef K). The music in the show is stripped down and performed as torch songs, focussing on the interpretive voice and lyrics.

Grahame Skinner first came to prominence as a vocalist on the Jazzateers eponymously titled debut album on the Rough Trade label. Jazzateers were signed to legendary Postcard Records (and managed by label head Alan Horne), but after the demise of Postcard, Jazzateers joined label-mates Aztec Camera and the Go-Betweens in signing to Rough Trade. Skinner’s laconic Lou Reed meets Iggy Pop drawl worked perfectly with Jazzateers, resulting in international acclaim for the album.

After the demise of Jazzateers, Skinner regrouped and formed a new group, Hipsway, who would go on to significant commercial success with their debut album, which sired single success with Broken Years, Ask The Lord, The Honeythief, and  Long White Car. The group toured internationally, with Europe and the USA being particularly popular countries for Hipsway. The Honeythief was a big hit single in the USA, and the group based themselves in New York to record their second album, Scratch The Surface.

Exhausted from years of recording and touring, Hipsway disbanded, though Skinner kept working on musical projects for a period before taking a complete break from being involved with the major label industry. However, on receiving an offer by Hamburg based label independent label Marina Records to record, he returned to singing and writing, releasing two album on Marina with his new group, Cowboy Mouth.

In recent years Skinner has worked on a variety of projects, most notably reforming Hipsway to record an album “Smoke and Dreams” and return to live touring to considerable success.