THE CHICKEN PICKERS _ The Chicken Pickers

We’ll kick off this time with a new album from one of the most exciting young bands in the country. THE CHICKEN PICKERS have progressed in the three years since they first got to play at the Caithness Festival. This year, they used the event to launch their self titled album, on Pan Records.
The five piece band are made up of Mikey Henderson, on vocals, with Andrew Reynolds, Chris Boxall, Michael Simpson and Ryan Bain, who do all the playing on the album. The only outsider on the album is famed Caithness fiddler Addie Harper, who adds some nice touches.  Mikey, who heads off to Heriott Watt University after the summer,  is credited with producing the album, which must make him one of Country music’s youngest ever producers.
It is an album of covers, but they’ve chosen well, and feature a good mix of classic, and modern Country songs, ranging from Billy Yates’ “Alcohol Abuse” and Hal Ketchum’s “Small Town Saturday Night”, back to “Cotton Fields”, “Wagon Wheel” and “When You Say Nothing At All”.
Chris adds some nice harmonies, and gets his only solo number, as he delivers a catchy Monkees cover on “I’m A Believer”.
Youngsters in the far north don’t have to look far for inspiration in wanting to be a first class Country band, and these guys have found theirs just down the road in Golspie. “Drivin’ My Life Away”, although an Eddie Rabbitt song, is still a Jacks favourite, and the youngsters do a very good road version of the song.  They even cover Geordie Jack’s autobiographical “Something To Say”, and make it their own. I’m sure they’ll change the words in twenty years time, when they can put their own story into the song.
The album is well produced, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to many more.  Available through www.panrecords.co.uk