So I’m not going to lie… The Magpie Arc is the shot in the arm I needed.

I have loved The Magpie Arc’s cheeky, no-nonsense, brazen folk-rock fission*, since their cover of “what you do with what you’ve got” from their first EP’s in 2021. To me their music always felt like a release from the restraints of the folk tradition, a way to give a new, soaring and unbridled freedom to lyrics, stories and tunes that need to be unleashed….
(*that’s not a typo by the way… we all know fission is better than fusion)

There is so much incredible music out there, and now music discovery has reached new extreme levels of AI personalisation, you could be forgiven for thinking that every new band you discover, is making music just for you, same old, same old, yada yada and whatever… but then and its a big “BUT then” every now and again something altogether provocative and mind-blowing happens….. It happens when some of the most sensational folk artists on the circuit occasionally get together to shake things up. 

Oh my… something exhilarating happens when you get The Magpie Arc together.

Like a very cheeky cocktail they bring together perfectly, the legendary Scottish singer songwriter Findlay Napier alongside the amazing song collector and fiddle queen Nancy Kerr… Underpinned by the composer and drum legend Tom Write and the deftly, rock-solid bassist Alex Hunter…. They are delivering something altogether unique, impossible to copy for any other collection of musicians.

I had actually been thinking on my way to this gig, “how can they improve on their very special blend of folk-rock fission?” (not a typo)  and then I remembered their new secret weapon…. A new collaborator, the ever-ready, finger “pic-king”  Sam Carter.

Sam brings an electrified edgy new layer of tasty magic to an already perfect recipe.  

Adding Sam carter to this astounding mixture is a bit like, when you have been making the perfect custard for years and then someone says “you want to add a bit of marsala wine to that” and then custard is never the same again. 

Opening the show with a full on high energy explosion, Nancy delivered a perfect rendition of “All I planted”. This song is folk-rock at its finest, and sets us up for a night of something sharp and sweeping. Findlay quickly steps up to introduce the first of a few songs from their new album, a sensational reimagining of classic traditional song “The Burning of Auchindoun”… The last chords of the first verse of this new release were not even strummed before I had decided I was buying the new album (to be released dec2025)

Cater’s astounding guitar work on this version really shone and cemented him in this collective as a new essential component.

Heart rate now at critical, they take it up another notch (as if that was possible) with “Tough as Teddy Gardiner” which is a rough and ready, punchy powerhouse of a track, channeling a beastie-boys style energy and a solid gold heart.

Everyone found their chance to shine in this outstanding live show… Sam delivered a fully rounded and lively reimagined edition of his own solo track “Dark Days” which nestled into the groups set list perfectly, as if it had always been there. Tom Write found his chance to shine on the drums, with the jaunty, bluesy and soulful treatment of “Roll your Stone away” with Sam Carter able to unleash his epic slide style too…

This wonderful group of musicians, are all outstanding in their own right, but deliver something collectively worth way more than the sum of its parts. You should take some time to deep dive each member of this truly original band, exploring each of their back catalogues independently, because you will discover a rich seam of glorious music down each of the roads leading away from the musical crossroads of The Magpie Arc.