Bar Files: Singer Christine Bovill
In which creative folks reveal their top watering hole. This month, Christine Bovill champions a warm space she’s used to perfect her songcraft
A traditional watering hole on Glasgow’s Woodlands Road for decades, Dram!’s refurbishment (and renaming from Uisge Beatha) managed to maintain its core appeal of vintage wooden interiors and warm, amber lighting. It’s well-stocked with whiskies and beers and has an updated menu (we held my dad’s 80th there recently). At the heart of its appeal are its live music sessions. Many years before my career properly took off, I would slip along to Sunday sessions here, guitar in hand, and sit among a group of musicians featuring every Glasgow character you could hope to meet. No PA. No microphones.
The authentic atmosphere of traditional acoustic music invariably brought countless foreign students, revelling in a unique flavour of Glasgow life. I tried out my own songs week after week, before I recorded my first album: the sweetest memories. One night, a familiar face shouted: ‘Christine, gies a Cohen song.’ I replied: ‘Which one?’ ‘Leonard,’ came the response. Only in my beloved Glasgow!
Christine Bovill plays Òran Mór, Glasgow, Thursday 22 October