Roderick John Hart (born 16 July 1979) is a Scottish singer–songwriter, film/TV and theatre composer, and broadcaster from

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. As a solo artist, he has released three records – ''Bookmarks'', ''Sign Language'' and ''Road of Bones'' – and one EP, ''The Dylan EP'' (with Irish artist

Gemma Hayes Gemma Hayes (born 11 August 1977) is an Irish musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments, including the piano and the harmonica. She is also a m ...

). Hart now releases albums with his band the Lonesome Fire, the first of which was the self-titled ''Roddy Hart & the Lonesome Fire'' produced by

Danton Supple Danton Supple is a British record producer and mixer, best known for his work with Coldplay. Early career (1985–1994) Danton Supple was introduced to the world of recording studios in the 1980s, at his girlfriend's uncle Paddy Kingsland's BBC ...

. Released in late 2013, the album was nominated for the Scottish Album of the Year Award in April 2014. Their second album - ''Swithering'' - was co-produced by Paul Savage (

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mog ...

Emma Pollock Emma Pollock (born 20 December 1972) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, musician, and a founding member of the bands the Delgados and the Burns Unit. She is also one of the founders of The Fruit Tree Foundation project and a regular contributor ...

Admiral Fallow Admiral Fallow are a Scottish musical group formed in 2007 by singer-songwriter Louis Abbott and based in Glasgow. They were originally named Brother Louis Collective. The band's first album, '' Boots Met My Face'', was released worldwide in 20 ...

) and released in late 2016. The band made their American network TV debut on ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, 2 ...

'' on 17 February 2014 and proved so popular they were invited back the following week to perform a week long residency on the show. Hart has toured and played with numerous artists including

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently d ...

Field Music Field Music are an English rock band from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, that formed in 2004. The band's core consists of brothers David Brewis and Peter Brewis. Andrew Moore was the original keyboard player. Their line-up has at times fe ...

, KT Tunstall, Beth Orton,

Ron Sexsmith Ronald Eldon Sexsmith (born January 8, 1964) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2005 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own material in 1985 at age 21, and has s ...

Dawes Dawes may refer to: Places * Dawes (Parish), New South Wales, Australia *Dawes Point, New South Wales, Australia * Dawes Arboretum, in Newark, Ohio, U.S. *Dawes County, Nebraska, U.S. * Dawes Township, Thurston County, Nebraska, U.S. Other uses *D ...

the Low Anthem The Low Anthem is a band from Providence, Rhode Island formed in 2006 by friends Ben Knox Miller and Jeff Prystowsky. The current lineup consists of Knox Miller (vocals, guitars, trumpets, saws), Prystowsky (vocals, drums, double basses, synths), ...

LAU Lau or LAU may refer to: People * Lau (surname) * Liu (劉/刘), a common Chinese family name transliterated Lau in Cantonese and Hokkien * Lau clan, one of the Saraswat Brahmin clans of Punjab * LAU (musician): Laura Fares Places * Lebane ...

Ray LaMontagne Raymond Charles Jack LaMontagne (; born June 18, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. LaMontagne has released eight studio albums: ''Trouble'', ''Till the Sun Turns Black'', '' Gossip in the Grain'', '' God Willin' & the Creek Don ...

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are " Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", " Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and " Help Me Make It Through the ...

, Jeff Beck,

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing voc ...

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disband ...

, and others. He curates the ''Roaming Roots Revue'' for

Celtic Connections The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of tra ...

each year and presents two weekly radio shows on

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

: ''The Roddy Hart Show'' and ''The Quay Sessions''. He was Associate Musical Director on the Scottish film ''Sunshine on Leith'' and with Tommy Reilly wrote the music and lyrics for the film '' Anna and the Apocalypse''. The duo arranged the music and wrote the score for ''Our Ladies'' (released via Sony International), and are currently writing songs for Steven Spielberg's revival of ''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American animated comedy musical television series created by Tom Ruegger for Fox Broadcasting Company's Fox Kids block in 1993, before moving to The WB in 1995, as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block, until ...

'' for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and Hulu, for which they won a Daytime Emmy for Best Original Song for an Animation. Their first stage musical - an adaptation of

Peter Mullan Peter Mullan (; born 2 November 1959) is a Scottish actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role in Ken Loach's ''My Name Is Joe'' (1998), for which he won Best Actor Award at 1998 Cannes Film Festival, 2000's '' The Claim'' and all th ...

's ''Orphans'' - toured theatres in spring 2022.

Origins

Hart grew up in

, Scotland. After graduating from

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

with a first-class law degree, he put together his demo album ''Home Tapes'' in 4 days on an 8-track recording machine. Released as a limited edition pressing through small

indie label Adorno Records, the demos subsequently sold out, and led to an invitation to open for

. Hart then began recording his solo debut studio album ''Bookmarks'', with members of Scottish band the Trashcan Sinatras with whom he had been touring at the time.

Solo music career

Hart's first studio album ''Bookmarks'' was released in 2007 on indie label

Vertical Records Vertical Records is an independent record label founded by Capercaillie member Donald Shaw in 2000, based in Glasgow, Scotland. Releases The label has predominantly focused on Celtic and roots music, with releases from Michael McGoldrick ('' ...

and US label

Compass Records Compass Records is an independent record label founded in 1995 by musicians Garry West and Alison Brown that specializes in folk, bluegrass, Celtic, jazz, and acoustic music. In 2006, Compass purchased the Green Linnet and Xenophile catalogs ...

, and featured guest performances from

and

Eddi Reader Sadenia "Eddi" Reader MBE (born 29 August 1959) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known for her work as frontwoman of Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards. In 2003, she showcased the w ...

on the tracks "My Greatest Success" and "Home". In 2009, Hart released his second studio album ''Sign Language'' on

, which was followed by his participation in Homecoming Scotland by writing new melodies for poems by Scotland's national poet

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

. This in turn led to an invitation to perform the Burns poem "Nature's Law" for the Queen at the Scottish Parliament on 4 July 2009, to mark its 10-year anniversary. In early 2010, Hart produced ''Hello! I'm Tommy Reilly'' – the second album by the winner of T4's Orange unsignedAct, Tommy Reilly - and then released his third studio album ''Road of Bones'' on limited edition vinyl, which featured 10 new tracks, including the single "Boxes". The album was then released on all formats in July 2011 by

. Later that year he released ''The Dylan EP'' with Irish singer/songwriter

, featuring four new recordings of Bob Dylan songs.

The Lonesome Fire

Hart then formed The Lonesome Fire with other members of the Scottish music scene, and worked with

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album ''Horses''. Called the "punk poet ...

and Morrissey producer Danton Supple. Their eponymous album ''Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire'' was released in late 2013. It was described by

Uncut Magazine ''Uncut'' is a monthly magazine based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections. A DVD magazine under the ''Uncut'' brand was published quarterly from 2005 to 2006 ...

as "Widescreen…poetic…and

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

verve, evoking the epic rock of Springsteen". In April 2014 it was announced that the album ''Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire'' was on the longlist for the Scottish Album of the Year Award. The band was one of the first Scottish acts to play the newly built 13,000 arena

The Hydro The OVO Hydro is a multi-purpose indoor arena located within the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, Scotland, and is the largest entertainment venue in Scotland. The arena was initially named The Hydro after its main sponsor Scottish Hydro El ...

alongside

Glasvegas Glasvegas are a Scottish indie rock band from Glasgow. The band consists of James Allan (vocals), Rab Allan (lead guitar) and Paul Donoghue (bass guitar), with Swedish drummer Jonna Löfgren joining the group in 2010 until her departure in 2020 ...

and

The Proclaimers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. They also made a cameo appearance in the Scottish film ''Sunshine on Leith'' due to Hart's involvement on the film as Associate Musical Director alongside Emmy Award winning composer

Paul Englishby Paul Englishby is a film and theatre composer, orchestrator, conductor and pianist. He is best known for his Emmy Award-winning jazz score for David Hare's ''Page Eight'', his orchestral score for the Oscar nominated ''An Education'', his BAF ...

. After US TV Host Craig Ferguson retweeted the video for their single ''Bright Light Fever'' the band were invited to make their American TV debut on ''

''. They performed the song on 17 February 2014 on the show, which featured

Gary Oldman Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three British Academy ...

. The performance proved to be so popular that Ferguson asked the band to return the following week to take up a rare week-long residency. From the 24–28 February the band performed a song each night from the album – ''Queenstown'', ''Cold City Avalanche'', ''High Hopes'', ''Forget Me Not'' and ''Bad Blood'' – on shows that featured guests including

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel (; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She made her film debut in '' Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film '' Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known for h ...

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a ...

Vera Farmiga Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films '' The Conjuring'' (2013), '' The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Annabelle Co ...

and

Alice Eve Alice Sophia Eve (born ) is a British actress. Her movie career includes roles in ''She's Out of My League'', ''Men in Black 3'', ''Star Trek Into Darkness'', and '' Before We Go''. She has had recurring roles on the TV series ''Entourage'' and ...

. The band then made an appearance at 2015's SXSW festival in Austin, Texas whilst writing for their new album. They released ''Swithering'' in late 2016, co-produced by Paul Savage. Hart and guitarist John Martin then played in

's band when he performed on the Pyramid Stage for the Glastonbury festival in 2018.

Roaming Roots Revue

As part of Glasgow's

in January 2011, Hart curated Forever Young: A 70th Birthday Tribute To Bob Dylan. The concert featured

Rosanne Cash Rosanne Cash (born May 24, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country musician Johnny Cash and Vivian Liberto Cash Distin, Johnny Cash's first wife. Although she is often classified as a country art ...

Josh Rouse Josh Rouse (born March 9, 1972) is an American folk/roots pop singer-songwriter. Originally from Nebraska, Rouse began his recording career in Nashville in 1998 and later relocated to Spain. In 2014, Rouse won a Spanish Goya Film Award in the ...

Thea Gilmore Thea Eve Gilmore (born 25 November 1979), also known as Afterlight, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released more than twenty albums since her 1998 debut '' Burning Dorothy''. She has had three Top 40 entries on the UK Albums Chart and ...

, James Grant, Tim O'Brien,

Kris Drever Kris Drever (born 31 October 1978) is a Scottish contemporary folk musician and songwriter who came to prominence in 2006 with the release of his debut solo album, ''Black Water''. Drever is the vocalist and guitarist of the folk trio Lau with ...

Rab Noakes Robert Ogilvie Noakes (13 May 1947 – 11 November 2022) was a Scottish singer-songwriter. Noakes was at the forefront of Scottish folk music for over 50 years and recorded over 19 studio albums. He toured folk clubs and often performed at the G ...

Laura Cantrell Laura Cantrell (born July 16, 1967) is a country singer-songwriter and DJ from Nashville, Tennessee. Biography Cantrell moved to New York City from her native Nashville to study English at Columbia University. She briefly recorded songs with ...

and Tommy Reilly, with The Lonesome Fire performing and acting as house band for the evening. Highlights of the concert were broadcast on BBC Radio 2, and the gig was filmed by Sky Arts and broadcast in April 2011. Following the success of Forever Young: A 70th Birthday Tribute To Bob Dylan, Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire acted as the house band for Celtic Connections' tribute to the late

Gerry Rafferty Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in th ...

in January 2012. The concert featured acts such as

Paul Brady Paul Joseph Brady (born 19 May 1947) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. Initially popular for playing ...

and more. Hart performed a solo version of Rafferty's "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway". The concert was broadcast by BBC Radio 2, and edited highlights were shown on BBC 2 Scotland and BBC 4. Hart now curates the ''Roaming Roots Revue'' each year at the

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Glasgow Royal Concert Hall is a concert and arts venue located in Glasgow, Scotland. It is owned by Glasgow City Council and operated by Glasgow Life, an agency of Glasgow City Council, which also runs Glasgow's City Halls and Old Fruitmarket v ...

for

, which focuses on new and unusual collaborations between a transatlantic-spanning array of musicians performing their own material and that of something from a themed songbook. The shows have featured artists such as

Jesca Hoop Jessica "Jesca" Ada Hoop (born April 21, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who writes and performs in diverse musical styles. She has released six studio albums of her own, as well as live, acoustic and dual albums with other ...

Frazey Ford Frazey Obadiah Ford is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. She was a founding member of The Be Good Tanyas. Her solo debut ''Obadiah'' was released on Nettwerk on July 20, 2010. Jenny Charlesworth of ''The Georgia Straight'' wrote that a ...

, Matthew E. White,

Justin Currie Justin Robert Currie (born 11 December 1964) is a Scottish singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the band Del Amitri. Career Del Amitri Justin Currie was born in Glasgow and established the band Del Amitri in the early 1980s ...

The Pierces The Pierces are a Los Angeles-based band consisting of sisters Allison and Catherine Pierce. Early life Allison Margaret Pierce (born July 22, 1975) and Catherine Eleanor Pierce (born September 12, 1977) were born in Birmingham, Alabama. They tr ...

Howe Gelb Howe Gelb (born October 22, 1956, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer based in Tucson, Arizona. Projects Gelb's approach to music is collaborative and he has recorded with a number of s ...

, Roberta Sa, Beth Orton,

The Low Anthem The Low Anthem is a band from Providence, Rhode Island formed in 2006 by friends Ben Knox Miller and Jeff Prystowsky. The current lineup consists of Knox Miller (vocals, guitars, trumpets, saws), Prystowsky (vocals, drums, double basses, synths), ...

, LAU,

Lindi Ortega Lindi Ortega (born May 28, 1980) is a Canadian country singer-songwriter from Toronto, Ontario, who had lived in Nashville, Tennessee then moved to Western Canada in 2017. She spent nearly a decade as an independent artist in the Toronto music ...

, Rachel Sermanni,

Roddy Woomble Roddy Woomble (born 13 August 1976) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and writer. He is the lead vocalist of indie rock band Idlewild, with whom he has recorded nine studio albums. Celebrated for his poetic lyrics and warm, baritone voice, In 2 ...

Grant Lee Phillips Grant-Lee Phillips (born Bryan G. Phillips; September 1, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He led the group Grant Lee Buffalo in the 1990s, afterwards launching a solo career. He features as the town troubadour ...

Dawn Landes Dawn Landes (born December 5, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is originally from around Louisville, Kentucky but spent many years living and performing in Brooklyn, New York. As a recording artist she has released five f ...

, KT Tunstall,

The Staves The Staves are an English indie folk trio of sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor from Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Career The Staves began performing together at open-mic nights in Watford hosted by a local pub, The Horns. ...

and many more.

Radio presenting

Hart currently presents a weekly show for

on Tuesday nights. He succeeded

Edith Bowman Edith Eleanor Smith (born January 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted '' Colin and Edith'', weekday afternoons, weekend breakfast, and ''The Radio 1 Review'' on BBC Radio 1 until 2014 and has presented a variety of ...

as presenter of ''The Quay Sessions'', and currently hosts the live music show for TV and radio each Wednesday night.

Film, TV and theatre

Together with Tommy Reilly, Hart composed the music and lyrics of the zombie comedy-musical '' Anna and the Apocalypse''. The film hit cinemas in 2018 via MGM Orion (US) and Vertigo Releasing (UK) with a "certified fresh" critical aggregate score on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. The duo have since scored and arranged the music for Sony International's adaptation of the

Alan Warner Alan Warner (born 1964) is a Scottish novelist who grew up in Connel, near Oban. His notable novels include '' Morvern Callar'' and ''The Sopranos'' – the latter being the inspiration for the play '' Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour'' and its ...

novel ''The Sopranos'' entitled ''Our Ladies'', which was released in 2020. They have also been writing songs for the first three seasons of the revival of ''

'' for

as executive produced by Steven Spielberg, which aired on the Hulu network from 2020. In 2021, they won a Daytime Emmy for Best Original Song for an Animation. Most recently, the duo composed the music and lyrics for ''Orphans'', a new musical adaptation of the cult film by

for the

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

. It will tour theatres in spring 2022.

The Lonesome Fire members

*Roddy Hart – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano *Scott Clark – bass, vocals *Scott Mackay – drums *John Martin – electric guitar, vocals *Geoff Martyn – piano, hammond organ, wurlitzer, vocals *Andy Lucas - piano, keys, vocals *Gordon Turner – electric guitar, vocals

Discography

Albums

* ''Home Tapes'' (2003, Adorno Records) * ''Bookmarks'' (2007, Vertical Records/Compass Records) * ''Sign Language'' (2009, Vertical Records) * ''Road of Bones'' (Vinyl – 2010, Odd Art; other formats – 2011, Vertical Records) * ''The Dylan EP'' (2011, Vertical Records) * ''Roddy Hart & the Lonesome Fire'' (2013, Middle of Nowhere Recordings) * ''Swithering'' (2016, Middle of Nowhere Recordings)

Singles

* "Send a Message" (2009, Vertical Records) * "Take Me Home" (2010, Vertical Records) * "Boxes" (2011, Vertical Records) * "Bright Light Fever" (2013, Middle of Nowhere Records) * "Cold City Avalanche" (2013, Middle of Nowhere Records) * "High Hopes" (2014, Middle of Nowhere Records) * "Violet" (2016, Middle of Nowhere Records) * "Sliding" (2017, Middle of Nowhere Records)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Roddy Living people Scottish singer-songwriters Scottish film score composers Musicians from Glasgow Vertical Records artists 1979 births BBC radio presenters Alumni of the University of Glasgow