FESTIVAL PREVIEW / INTERVIEW / SINGLE REVIEW: COUNTDOWN TO COUNTRY CALLING 2026 - ROBYN RED
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
In some ways it seems strange to have to herald the arrival of Robyn Red at Country Calling 2026, however, although many may have heard her on the radio or via streaming services, not too many people living South of Manchester have had the chance to see her live - her last visit to London was nearly two years ago and that was a magnificent full band show in Walthamstow!
Attached to this appreciation are reviews of both that Walthamstow show and her recent Buckle & Boots performances, where really she should have been on the Main Stage with her band, following her efforts from the previous year but it was not to be.
We meet on hay bales on the Sunday morning, neither of us suffering to badly from the excesses of the night before.
This year on arrival at the merch table Robyn would prove herself to be the master of disguise by simply not wearing her red hat, that normally makes her the most easily identifiable performer on the UK Americana circuit. But for the "Caledonia" T shirts we might have had to ask "Who are you?"
#TEAMw21: You are easily the most recognisable person at any Festival. although at C2C there were at least five people who were trying to affect the same look. At least one had perfected it so well that we nearly went up to say "Hello" before realising at the last minute that it was a copycat. So where did the image come from?
Robyn: I wanted to change my name, and Red was always my favourite colour. There's a society called The Red Hat Society, they support women and women's solidarity.
#TEAMw21: You have also somewhat upgraded you hat to keep ahead of the imitators! Going back to the very beginning were you one of those girls that took the lead in the school play or show. We were wondering where you found such a confident voice.
Robyn: I was always a dancer, and through dance I started doing musical theatre, and the musical theatre teacher said you should try singing, so I started taking lessons, at about the age of eleven. Then I got to the point where I had to choose between the dancing and the singing. My whole family were shocked that I went with the singing as I'd been dancing since I was three, but I just preferred the music.
#TEAMw21: We always have the feeling that as you step on that stage, it's as if you undergo a Bruce Wayne to Batman transformation and become .....
Robyn: A different person ( laughs)
#TEAMw21: An exaggerated version of yourself, one who can do or say anything. It must be a wonderful feeling to become Robyn Red on stage?
Robyn: "It is, I just feel so different when I'm on stage, off stage I can be normal and can mingle with everyone, but on stage you really do have to give a performance.
#TEAMw21: One thing it is hard to nail down about your music is what your influences are, your sound is very much unique. There's an obvious Scottish vibe to your music which makes us lean towards the likes of maybe Deacon Blue, but there's also touches of folk in there.
Robyn: I do love Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs
#TEAMw21: When you were growing up would country have been playing in the background?
Robyn: It was a mixture, my Dad would always have Smooth radio on, and I was always saying "Please turn it over to Capital" but in the end it was me that got them into Country music.
#TEAMw21: Is writing something that comes to you easily? Are you someone that wakes up at three in the morning with an idea?
Robyn: Sometimes, It just depends, my notebooks are full of one liners, that I've never gone back to, I think that's true of every songwriter.
#TEAMw21: Your very first single "Like A Bullet, we'll take a wild guess that the end product was not quite as you had envisaged. It felt like it was someone that didn't quite understand you was at the reins, the song was good and still forms part of your set, but that version is not really you.
Robyn: It's a lot more poppy, than country, I was looking at one point to rerecord that, but not got to it yet.
#TEAMw21: The debut EP, "From Caledonia With Love" you must have been pleased with that, there is not a step wrong on that. It felt like you'd had a vision and supervised the placing of every note. Even down to the tiny small details such as including a Robyn Red plectrum, inside the CD case, it all went to make it seem just that little bit more special.
Robyn: I was so happy, I was driving when I heard the mixes, and I knew it was something that I was going to be proud of. It was Graeme and Jamie Duffin, they were such a great team to work with
#TEAMw21: The new single "Country Kind Of Blues" already sounds more overtly country from our opening few plays. The EP obviously plays to your gaelic roots but that might have been a limitation going forward.
Robyn: I did say to the Producers, I want the spirit of the EP but with a more country sound, I was so pleased with the fiddle solo on it, it's a nice get going song
#TEAMw21: The live show yesterday they were almost immediately lapping it up - it got such an instant reaction. It was effectively that same stage you were on four years ago when you started buy the difference was amazing - you looked so incredibly self assured with an air of supreme confidence
Robyn: ( Laughs) Ah Thank you,
#TEAMw21: I remember saying to you previously how fabulous you were and you said wait till you see me with a band - and it was only at Walthamstow that I finally got to realise what you meant. How often do you get to play as a band?
Robyn: Not as much as I'd like, I have been trying to get a lot more band stuff but there's quite a lot of new festivals, so for Country Calling this year I'll be playing solo but will hopefully be coming back the following year with my band.
#TEAMw21: You've done C2C in Scotland
Robyn: Yes In the Hydro they used to have two stages, but they've cut it down to one now, in the Hydro its like one little bar with live music, while the other was a record store, where you could get the artists cd's and vinyls - now it's just the bar that has acts.
#TEAMw21: - The other thing that all artists love is seeing their songs on vinyl? Is that the same for you?
Robyn: Oh yes - I would love it, definitely.
#TEAMw21: Are you looking forward to Country Calling?
Robyn: Oh yes - I wanted to play it last year, but happy it's worked out this year.
#TEAMw21: The ep had the one song Caledonia, but there was a general feel of a Scottish influence across the tracks, even if only subliminally. It made it definitively you
Robyn: The sound of it had a lot of Scotland, I did say to the producers, "Caledonia" is what the EP is going to be called, can we include touches of Scottish music in there.
#TEAMw21: Even now a year down the line - all of the songs still stand up well
Robyn: Thank you
#TEAMw21: One of our favourite bits about your live shows is that you are not afraid to chide the audience if they are not giving 100%. You were there with just your guitar and stomp pedal generating an amazing atmosphere. When they really join in is there an urge just to keep extending the song?
Robyn: ( Laughs) The crowd yesterday were so good, Even If I have to teach them it I don't care, I think it's what every artist wants to hear their words being sung back to them
#TEAMw21: There's no other song quite like "When The Sun Set Sets", with it's almost built in singalong
#TEAMw21: Have you come face to face with Luke Jackson yet? He's the fictional womaniser who meets an unfortunate ( or maybe depending on your point of view fortunate ) end. It's a name shared by an actual performer on the circuit.
Robyn: He's messaged me to say "I like your song"
#TEAMw21: Is there any one you are looking forward to seeing over the festival?
Robyn: ( in a heartbeat) Kezia - I can't wait for it.
#TEAMw21: The first EP, we know we gently teased you but it did seem to take a long time coming? Is there likely to be a follow up reasonably soon?
Robyn: We'll I'm heading to Nashville, and I'm going to be writing over there, hopefully I'll come back with all the songs. I want to get Graeme and Jamie to produce again, so it will depend on when they're available
At Country Calling we'll be looking to maybe hearing one of those new Nashville based tunes, and hearing how Switzerland took to the commanding lady in the red hat. Either way prepare for a great show, possibly be prepared to be chided if your effort in singing along does not match hers but most of all prepare to be royally entertained.
"Country Road Blues" was effectively a snapshot of her life at present, it opens to some fast based percussion and a divine fiddle sound, but there's also guitars and possibly a mandolin all going to build an engaging welcoming country sound.
When Robyn appears she details her performing life. whether playing solo with just a stomp box or being backed by a full band Robyn Red is the sort of performer who always give 100% wherever she plays
"These boots have wandered many towns
This guitar in my hand,
Has played in many bars,
On my own or with my band"
The cover picture shows Robyn and her guitar case, with her trademark hat, now bedecked in feathers, with her blonde tresses hanging down, on a deserted road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere!.
"Got Country music in my soul
To keep my spirits high
And at the end of every show
I hate to say goodbye"
If anything shone through from our discussion above it is just how much Robyn lives for that feeling of being on stage and this song is an epitome of that.
"When I'm out on the road
And I'm feeling all alone
I'll add a little bit of rock 'n' roll
When my country gets the blues"
The latter verses cover post show enjoyments.
"When we've finished singing songs
I lay my red hat down
Put a whiskey in my hand
And we'll toast this Country town
Let's tune guitars and start again
So sing along with me"
The song comes with as great a fiddle solo as you are likely to hear and it is easy to see why Robyn was pleased with its contribution to the end result. There is plenty of room for the fiddle player to truly express themselves in a long solo slot. In fact as the song gradually emerges from the solo, its last action is to help slow thongs right down.
"When the stage lights fade away, and I'm homeward bound
I think of all the shows I've played
And I don't let it get me down
But if I feel my sprits drop
I know just what I'll do"
As jaunty a tune as you will hear and a guaranteed crowd pleaser as you'll find at Country Calling
Robyn Red will play Country Calling on Friday 14th August
