By Angela 18/04/2020
It was 2016 when Gerry Cinnamon started selling out bigger venues in his hometown of Glasgow. He now plays to sell-out crowds all over UK arenas including Hampden Park 50,000 which recently was sold-out in a matter of hours. It is, however, imperative to point out he went through this journey on his own without media support, he was no fan of the music business, perhaps he has become what he didn’t set out to be, but his success is certainly through choice and not circumstances. He is still, the outsider in our opinion.
He is an artist that hasn’t and doesn’t do many interviews that is something we have always admired also his enormous recognition is bigger than any profile, at many of his gigs or festivals he will break into merriment as if he has just been busking and thousands of people have appeared and joined in.
The Bonny — his latest masterpiece, is what we were anticipating it to be, an immense piece of composition and with that, he has evolved no doubt.
When first upon hearing, ‘Where We’re Going’ it was a standout and far removed from his usual acoustic sets with a full band rather than a solo track; but on listening to the rest of the album there is quite a bit of variation.
The album title relates to times in Castlemilk when the local boys would yearly rival each other in the enormous bonfire stakes, the sad part you needed to learn, and accept, was that the bigger your bonny gets the more people would try and piss on it. As he puts it: “But, if you build it big enough there’s no c*** getting near it … “The Bonny’s a metaphor for dreaming something into existence and building it bigger, and even if you don’t care enough about yourself to do it for your own good, maybe try doing it for the people you love.”
Sun Queen — remains the favoured track for us here at HWS, musically and lyrically. The story going right through the track is uplifting then again you may adapt the story to what suits “Fakes in bands only wanna get wasted … They wear nice clothes, but they’ll never even taste it.” We habitually played this all through the Christmas and New Year period and it ended up a captivating theme tune.
Head in the Clouds — is a track describing his insomnia and how it takes its toll after a few days, the voice is prominent in this track and despite the lyrics sounding he may have a despondent view on life, there is a small narrative of a love song to it as it proceeds.
It has been mentioned in music circles that the lyrics are simple, I totally disagree. His voice is lavish but effortless, a lyrical genius.
Full album tracklist:
- Canter
- War Song Soldier
- Where We’re Going
- Head In The Clouds
- Dark Days
- The Bonny
- Sun Queen
- Outsiders
- Roll The Credits
- Mayhem
- Six String Gun
- Every Man’s Truth
Castlemilk’s finest has seen it, done it and writes about, he doesn’t care about the sums oh and he is a creative musical genius – he could only be a Tim.
Holywell Street maintain: Celtic – music – threads are intertwined, Gerry Cinnamon ticks the boxes.
Holywell Street 