BRANDON McPHEE - The Country Side

Someone who is at this year’s Caithness Festival, as he has been in recent years, is local lad, BRANDON McPHEE. 18 year old Brandon has something of a double career. He is highly accomplished in traditional Scottish music circles, as a master of the 3 row button key accordion, and indeed, is the current All Scotland Senior Accordion Champion. But, there is also “The Country Side” to Brandon, which just happens to be the title of his new CD (Pan Records), and this is the side of Brandon that Caithness Festival goers will enjoy on the Saturday afternoon.
The youngster has, of course, worked with Manson Grant & The Dynamos for the past few years, and Manson, Robert & Keith all contribute to the album, which also features Nashville musicians like Steve Hinson on steel guitar, Hank Singer on fiddle, and Music City based Orcadian Phil Anderson.
I quite liked the variety of songs. He’s obviously a big Billy Ray Cyrus fan, covering some of his hits like “She’s Not Crying Anymore”, “Where’m I Gonna Live” and “Could’ve Been Me”. There are a few older songs, like Haggard’s “Branded Man”, Olivia’s “Let Me Be There” and Cash’s “I Got Stripes”.
I enjoyed hearing his version of  “It Must Be Love”, written by Keith Macleod’s father, David, as well as “Rose Of My Heart” and “Wagon Wheel”.
It’s a real feel good album. Brandon handles the songs well, and the whole project is very well produced.
Highly recommended.