eddi reader: peacetime

“I like to take little history walks,” Eddi Reader says, “and go and see old buildings, old dance programs and things in museums, and see what things were like for people then. What I try to do with these older songs is brush off some of that dust and dirt of age, so you can see what’s really there.” Reader has both the voice and the musical intelligence to make that sort of idea work really well.

The Glasgow native, whose work ranges from pop success with the band Fairground Attraction to busking on the streets of Glasgow to playing her original arrangements of Robert Burns’ songs with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, includes both traditional and contemporary folk along with music she's written on the latest release,Peacetime.

The songs include Muddy Water, Mary and the Soldier, Aye Waukin-O, The Shepherd's Song, The Calton Weaver, Ontario, and Should I Pray? Among other things, it's a deft illustration of how folk and pop and various other strands of music may weave together. It's also a batch of songs about connections and relationships, the successes and questions and and failures therein. All part of of the eternal subjects of music, and of peace, and of Peacetime. Good subjects for reflection,at any season.