The Canny Band

The debut album from Sam Mabbett, Michael Biggins and Callum Convoy is an exciting and fresh piece of trad fusion. The trio are well-known on the Glasgow session scene for their blend of trad, jazz, classical and folk.

Their debut, featuring mostly self-penned songs, is an ideal showcase of the trio’s work, comprising nine tunes with a fine mix of reels, jigs and more eclectic sounds. Arrangements are well thought out, and sensitive to the tunes. Listen, for example to ‘O’Carolan’s’, a confident and frisky interpretation of the old favourite. Same too can be said of ‘Helen’s Song’, a beautifully atmospheric cover of Hamish Napier’s tune from 2018’s The Railway. The trio also don’t shy from highlighting their own talents as writers. In addition, there’s a fun French waltz in the playful ‘Musette à Govan,’ while ‘5 Tunes’, composed by Mabbett and Laura Cortese, is a soothing, sensitive set brimming with confidence. With the release of The Canny Band the boys stamp their formidable presence on the Scots trad scene and are certainly an act we’ll happily see more of in the future. An exciting and invigorating debut.