Music

Carrie Elkin with Danny Schmidt

Admiral Bar, Glasgow

Rob Adams

FOUR STARS

THEY didn't quite bring out the photos, but no-one would have left in any doubt that Carrie Elkin and Danny Schmidt are the proud parents of eight-months-old Maisie.

The object of their affection sat out the gig back at the hotel with her grandmother and although she's at that awkward stage and won't admit it, it's a reasonable guess that she's quite proud of mum and dad, too.

She has every reason to be a fan because they make great music together. This was ostensibly Elkin's gig to showcase her latest album, The Penny Collector, and the focus fell on songs from it and the stories behind them in the second half. Schmidt's opening set, which was effectively a duo run through a handful of his songs, was no mere support slot, however.

Schmidt has the kind of soft, beguiling voice, aided by a beautifully relaxed guitar picking style that can turn even quite esoteric subject matter into warm, assured songwriting and with Elkin adding gentle harmonies and superbly judged vibrato, it was like eavesdropping on a living room session of concert hall quality.

They continued with this standard as Elkin shared tales of her father's coin collection – 600,000 pennies, which took days to bank – and wove lovely versions of songs by Richard Thompson (Dimming of the Day) and Paul Simon (a rueful, timely American Tune) into her own narrative. She's especially good at conveying atmosphere, both lyrically and in her deceptively simple guitar accompaniment, and her singing of New Mexico and Tilt-a-Whirl had the transporting effect of taking the listener with her to that state and that long ago carnival ride.