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

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. 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). Hart also 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. 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 and released in 2016. The band made their American network TV debut on '' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' 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 Rock music, rock band based in Chicago. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo after singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently during its fir ...

, Field Music,

KT Tunstall Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on ''Later... with Jools Holland'', and h ...

Beth Orton Elizabeth Caroline Orton (born 14 December 1970) is an English musician known for her "folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit, Andrew Weatherall ...

, Ron Sexsmith, Dawes, the Low Anthem, LAU, Ray LaMontagne,

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

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

and Jack Bruce. 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 trad ...

each year and presents two weekly radio shows on

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national 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 name from 23 N ...

: ''The Roddy Hart Show'' and ''The Quay Sessions''. Hart 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 wrote songs for the 2020 revival of ''

Animaniacs ''Animaniacs'' is an American Animated series, animated Comedy television, comedy Musical film, musical television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Television Animation. It originally aired on Fox Broadcasting Company ...

'' for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

, for which they won a Daytime

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

for Outstanding Original Song for a Preschool, Children's or Animated Program. Their first stage musical - an adaptation of Peter Mullan's ''Orphans'' - toured theatres in spring 2022.

Early life

Hart grew up in

, Scotland. After graduating from Glasgow University 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 and US label Compass Records, and featured guest performances from

and Eddi Reader on the tracks "My Greatest Success" and "Home". In 2009, Hart released his second studio album ''Sign Language'' on Vertical Records, 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 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

. 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 Vertical Records. Later that year he released ''The Dylan EP'' with Irish singer/songwriter Gemma Hayes, 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, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

and

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

producer Danton Supple. Their eponymous album ''Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire'' was released in late 2013. It was described by Uncut Magazine as "Widescreen…poetic…and ithverve, 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. The arena was initially named The Scottish Hydro Arena after its main sponsor Scottish Hydro Electric. During construction, Scottish ...

alongside Glasvegas and The Proclaimers. 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 The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

winning composer Paul Englishby. 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 '' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson''. They performed the song on 17 February 2014 on the show, which featured

Gary Oldman Sir Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Gary Oldman, various accolades, including an Academ ...

. 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, Ashton Kutcher, Vera Farmiga and Alice Eve. The band then made an appearance at 2015's

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

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 The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

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 his first wife, Vivian Cash. Although Cash is often classified as a country artist, her music draws f ...

, Josh Rouse, Thea Gilmore, Gemma Hayes, James Grant, Tim O'Brien, Kris Drever, Rab Noakes, Laura Cantrell, Eddi Reader 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 in January 2012. The concert featured acts such as Jack Bruce, Paul Brady, Ron Sexsmith, The Proclaimers 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 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, Frazey Ford, Matthew E. White, Field Music, Justin Currie,

The Pierces The Pierces are an American pop rock duo 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 t ...

, Howe Gelb, Roberta Sa,

, The Low Anthem, LAU, Gemma Hayes, Dawes, Lindi Ortega, Rachel Sermanni, Roddy Woomble, Grant Lee Phillips, Dawn Landes,

, The Staves and many more.

Radio presenting

Hart currently presents a weekly show for

on Tuesday nights. He succeeded Edith Bowman as presenter of ''The Quay Sessions'' in 2016, and now 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). The duo has since scored and arranged the music for Sony International's adaptation of the Alan Warner 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 Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

, which aired on the

network from 2020. In 2021, they won a Daytime

for Best Original Song for an Animation. The duo composed the music and lyrics for ''Orphans'', a musical adaptation of the cult film by Peter Mullan for the National Theatre of Scotland, which toured in 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 1979 births Living people Scottish male singer-songwriters Scottish singer-songwriters Scottish film score composers Musicians from Glasgow Vertical Records artists BBC radio presenters Alumni of the University of Glasgow