Gig of the Week

Gary Stewart presents Graceland – A Celebration of Paul Simon’s Classic, The Crescent, York, tomorrow, 7.30pm

SCOTTISH singer-songwriter and Hope & Social drummer Gary Stewart is to re-create Paul Simon's Graceland album for a second time at The Crescent in York.

Last August, the York community venue bounced to the sounds of Simon’s 1986 album, and Stewart, his band and the audience had so much fun that everyone is reconvening one year on, 22 years to the month since Graceland was released.

"Expect the infectious South African rhythms and melodies of these timeless songs and a generous handful of other Simon classics for good measure," says the Perthshire-born Stewart.

Now living in York after cutting his musical teeth on the Leeds music scene over the past 15 years, the Scotsman runs The Gaslight Club in Leeds, a weekly acoustic night that has been going strong for ten years, as well as finding time for drumming duties with ever-busy Leeds band Hope & Social.

As heard on his two albums, Boy Cries Wolf and Mr​.​ Gary Stewart & The Tin Foil's Fool's Gold, and the EP Year And A Day, he writes songs about love, paranoia and people’s misfortunes, delivering them with a Celtic flair and earthy guitar style reminiscent of Paul Simon and John Martyn, while James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac and Carole King have influenced his songwriting too.

Stewart will return to The Crescent on November 17 at 7.30pm to launch his third album, Oh My Weary World, recorded just as his debut was, with multi-instrumentalist Gary playing all the parts.

Tickets for each show cost £12 from The Crescent or Earworm Records in York in person or at seetickets.com or more on the door.