Local musician grabs a roller

Danderhall musician Rab Howat has teamed up with old friend and original Bay City Rollers singer Nobby Clark to make a collaboration album.
Rab Howat and Nobby Clark with their new album 'Shoulder The Sky'.Rab Howat and Nobby Clark with their new album 'Shoulder The Sky'.
Rab Howat and Nobby Clark with their new album 'Shoulder The Sky'.

Rab, a guitar player originally from Glasgow, has played with The Incredible String Band, Runrig, RAF and on his own albums in collaboration with Kenny Herbert. He also played guitar on Frankie Millar’s version of Caledonia. And he still performs regularly in Edinburgh with the Rab Howat band.

Nobby Clark, the original singer and founder member of The Bay City Rollers, became friends with Rab many years ago. The duo, who have performed live and recorded together, decided it was time to write some songs, culminating in the album Shoulder The Sky, out now.

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Rab is delighted with the album, he said: “A couple of years ago we wrote a song called Pandora and thought our voices sounded good together, so we said we should write more and record them, it became a nice little project for us. We just kept writing and writing and ended up with 14 songs on the album, we must have written about 20 songs in total.

“The Bay City Rollers thing is like an anchor around Nobby’s neck and I’m known as a bluesy rock player, so we decided we would just go in any direction and see how it goes.

“I think the album has got a slightly country blues sound to it, which we are really happy about, it’s turned out great.”

The duo are also holding an album launch concert at Church Hill Theatre in Edinburgh on April 15.

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Rab added: “I’m looking forward to the launch, we have worked quite hard on this album, working for over a year.

“We will have a 14-piece band on stage with us so we have tutored everyone in the band to make it as good as we can possibly make it. It’s almost sold out, so that’s good.”

Call 0131 228 1155 for tickets for the concert at Church Hill Theatre, priced £16.50.

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