The Scottish Folk Singer Looks Forward to her Full Band Tour
Gill Sherry
She may have grown up in the east of Scotland, but Siobhan Miller has a special place in her heart for Glasgow.
“I grew up in Penicuik, but Glasgow has always felt like a second home. I love the city so much. For me, it was the perfect place to be a student… surrounded by the music scene, the session scene, and having Celtic Connections right on the doorstep. As a folk singer, it was just amazing. You can’t get rid of me, Glasgow!”
Siobhan’s parents have always had a strong passion for traditional music and song, so her musical journey began at a very young age.
“My dad, Brian Miller, plays guitar and sings. He was very active in the 60s and 70s, playing in folk clubs. Music has always been a really important part of our family. A lot of my early musical experiences involved being taken to concerts and festivals. Every weekend, I was surrounded by all these amazing singers.”
But despite music being in her blood, the young Siobhan Miller never intended to make it her career. Only when a new music teacher arrived at Penicuik High School, did she start to follow the musical path.
“Keith Murphy saw this love I had for singing… and offered to do some recording with me. So I recorded my first CD in this little back room in the music department. He was very encouraging that I at least applied to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, so I did. I had no expectations whatsoever – I applied to do lots of other things – and then I got the call saying I’d got into the RCS and just decided to go for it. I haven’t looked back since.”
Those four years at the RCS gave her the opportunity to spend time with her peers and to realise exactly what she could achieve. It also allowed her to reflect on the influences from her childhood.
“If only I’d realised at the time just how incredibly special that was. So many people saw that I had an interest in folk songs and they would sit with me and teach me songs and tell me the stories behind them.”
Siobhan’s experience was enriched still further when she worked with the singer/songwriter, James Grant, at the RCS.
“He just happened to be taking a songwriting course in my last year. We really hit it off, I loved working with him. I asked him to produce my first solo record and that was the catalyst for me getting more and more into songwriting.”
She now has five solo albums to her name, plus a Christmas EP. She is also the four-time winner of Best Singer at the Scots Trad Music Awards (2011, 2013, 2017, 2022) and won Best Traditional Track at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2018.
“That was a special night. That track, ‘Banks of Newfoundland’, came from my second album called Strata where I delved into my treasure trove of traditional songs that I’d been learning since I was really young. That track was from a singer called Rod Paterson. We sadly lost him recently but he gave me an incredible wealth of songs so it was really special that we won best track that year.”
Siobhan’s husband, Euan Burton, produced Strata (and all of her subsequent albums), which she describes as a mixture of traditional songs plus songs written by writers on the folk scene that she’d either looked up to, learned from, or been inspired by.
On the subject of inspirations, is there anyone in particular that warrants a mention?
“There’s a whole host from the folk scene, I couldn’t list them all! From my early years there were singers like Gordeanna McCulloch and Anne Neilson… really strong, powerful Glasgow voices. I’ve always loved and still love the singing and songwriting of Karine Polwart.”
She goes on to cite a certain Bob Dylan.
“There’s a cover of a Dylan song on Strata, ‘One Too Many Mornings’. I love trying to find songs that might be really difficult to cover… and then find a different approach to it with the band and the musicians that I work with. There’s also an amazing writer called Anaïs Mitchell that I love.”
Her own music, she tells me, is influenced by lots of different genres and she enjoys bringing her love of songwriting and contemporary music alongside her love of traditional music. In fact, that’s exactly what people can expect from her upcoming tour.
“This tour is my very first headline, full band show. I love doing intimate acoustic-feeling concerts but I’ve been really building the band’s sound over the last few years. I love going from intimate ballads to then being able to open out and go into a song by Rab Noakes called ‘Open All Night’… a big party, late night song. So people can expect a mixture of it all.”
The Siobhan Miller Band UK Tour 2024 includes a date at Glasgow’s St Luke’s on Sunday December 15th. Is she looking forward to that particular gig just a tad more than the others?
“Nothing brings me more joy than a room full of people singing along to your music so that’s what I’m hoping we can create on this tour, certainly in Glasgow. It’s always a special night. There’s just something so special about Glasgow audiences. It’s the last night of the tour as well so I think there’ll be some extra party vibes going on that night!”
Tickets are available from www.stlukesglasgow.com but if you can’t wait until then to enjoy Siobhan’s music, her latest album, Bloom, is available to buy or download. She has also recently dropped two new singles.
“I bought out a single called ‘Over Again’ which is very much leaning into more of a contemporary pop song. This idea of never really standing still, always wanting to develop as an artist, pushing the boundaries and trying out different sounds is important to me. I had a lot of fun making this. It touches on the theme of past relationships and how they shape us and change us as people but also about the connections that we strive to have even when it feels impossible to stay connected to each other.”
‘Over Again’ is part of a series of individual tracks, the second and most recent of which is ‘The Club of Squandered Youth’.
“They both have this crossover feel of a more contemporary sound but still touch the heart of storytelling which for me is the basis of folk songs and folk singing. I’m having a ball getting to bring those two worlds together. It feels very freeing.”
Obviously, her focus right now is on the upcoming tour and her final words are reserved for her band.
“I love playing live, it’s such an amazing part of what I do. Getting up on stage with the musicians alongside me, it’s so exciting. The band I have, they’re absolutely amazing and all bring such unique elements to this sound. I really feel it’s opened up this landscape, this canvas for me to be able to bring all of my favourite material together to the one place. It’s slightly terrifying to take this many people out on the road, but I’m really excited. The fans and the listeners are a huge part of the journey and I’m so excited to see where we take them and what their response is to the full band show.”
Glasgow, get ready!
