Live from the Grayston Unity organised concert in Halifax.
Alan Dearling
BBG are often referred to as a modern day Supergroup!
They produce really rather beautiful melodic music featuring many powerful songs. In the promo material they were described as:
“Three creative artists united in songcraft. Bernard Butler, Norman Blake and James Grant are three established and respected musicians. Norman, a centrifugal force in Teenage Fanclub, Bernard, the original guitarist with Suede, and renowned for his production and songwriting with myriad artists, and James, best known as the songsmith of Love And Money.”
‘Bring an end’ video from their new 2nd album, ‘Murmurs’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vsZaQkRJiU
It’s all pretty laid-back, gentle and full of harmonies – endearing songs spanning five decades in the music business. From the outset with the James Grant song, ‘Last ship on the river’, I felt that I could hear genuine echoes of Crosby, Stills & Nash. But they are also wonderful and original guitarists. Bernard Butler grew up in North London, with his Irish parents. Alongside songwriters Norman Blake (from Glasgow) and James Grant (also from Glasgow), they formed a collaboration for the 2022 Celtic Connections, and the three have continued to tour together. Then, they worked on a debut record as a trio, released in March 2025 – as ‘Butler, Blake & Grant’. The over-riding sensation is one of being enveloped in a soft, protective blanket of folk-rock sounds.
Bernard Butler
In concert, the trio come across as likeable, humorous and friendly – companionable. Plenty of wry jokes, and an overall feeling of being in the company of three close mates sharing music and their craft, and enjoying themselves in the process. And despite it being a fairly big audience, it felt like a quiet conversation, a banter, an interactive affair with the audience in the Albany Arcade where the gig actually took place.
In 2026 their second collaborative album, ‘Murmurs’ has recently been released. Live, they perform a mix of their joint works and tracks from their previous musical careers. Their older songs are re-crafted and re-imagined by the trio. Three songs each from the members of BBG, and one from Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie), the rather lovely and romantic song, ‘Me and Magdalena’ which was recorded by the Monkees. It was one of the many high points in the live show. Here is a recording from them in Leeds last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thSmH50U4o8
Norman Blake
James Grant
The trio have said of their ‘Murmurs’ that it is a companion piece to their first album, but it is very simply recorded, quite stripped-back:
“The nature of the new album is that it is gentle and quiet – that’s the reason we called it Murmurs.” (From the ‘Say it with garage flowers’ music blog). Bernard Butler also told ‘Say it with garage flowers’: “We just recorded really quickly at Norman’s – we banged it out. He hasn’t got a studio – we plonk a computer on his dining room table and put some mics up – without headphones. We just record the three of us playing the songs together, as we would play them live – that’s the main thing. I take the tracks to mine and add some touches, like piano, and then I spend about a month making a record out of it.”
The audience in Halifax were generous in their appreciation of Butler, Blake & Grant. But, they also gave Molly Rymer, who supported BBG, plenty of positive support and applause. Molly is very much part of the modern folk music tradition. A singer-songwriter who displays plenty of power and ambition, intensity and emotion. Her confident vocals conveyed a mix of ‘stories’ from her life, some challenging, some lighter and happier. ‘Heavyweight Champion’, was apparently created during what she described as her holiday that turned in to her ‘breakup tour’! ‘Old – Boring’ is an unusual song from a young performer portraying someone getting older but still relatively happy in their relationship with another person. Molly seems to have a very mature head on her young shoulders!
‘City Half Awake’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIjmTUYKJAg
Molly told me after the gig: “The new EP is out on Friday the 8th of May and will be called ‘Alone When The Lights Come On’.” It will be available from all the usual streaming platforms.