Various - Ballads Of The Book - Digital Album (2007)
Original UK Release Date: 5th March 2007. Entire Album Download With Cover Art - 18 Tracks (320K bit rate; 194MB)
Originally brought to us as a fledgling idea by Idlewild's Roddy Woomble, 'Ballads Of The Book' turned into a significant artistic event with live performances at Glasgow's Celtic Connections, an all day festival as part of Triptych and a sold out show as part of Edinburgh's International Book Festival.
The idea was head-slappingly simple: get a host of Scottish literary talent to submit poems or lyrics and have a battalion of Scottish musical talent on standby to turn them into original songs. The end product was a seventeen track folk-monster featuring artists like Idlewild, Sons And Daughters, King Creosote, Vashti Bunyan, Mike Heron, Alasdair Roberts, Trashcan Sinatras, Emma Pollock and Aereogramme alongside writers like Edwin Morgan, Alasdair Gray, Ali Smith, AL Kennedy, Robin Robertson, Ian Rankin, John Burnside, Alan Bissett and Louise Welsh.
Hailed as an artistic triumph, the album effortlessly showcased the breadth of talent currently operating in Scotland today.