From Croy Village Hall To Nashville: Jamie Rafferty On The EP That Ticks Every Box

A village hall in North Lanarkshire is not where careers in Nashville are supposed to begin. Jamie Rafferty's did anyway. Five years old and handed a drum kit for Christmas, then a guitar after watching Noel Gallagher play, he wrote his first songs in secret with money earned on his dad's building sites — not for want of confidence in them, but because he could scarcely believe anyone from Croy was allowed this particular dream. His family heard them eventually. So, before long, did Music City.

There is a pleasing symmetry to a career that began in a village hall in front of people who had known him since birth and is now, some years on, taking Jamie Rafferty to Nashville, Tennessee. The Croy-raised singer-songwriter is preparing to release his debut EP later this year, and it is a record, he says, that has been a long time in the making — even if most of it came together over the last twelve months.

"There are 2 tracks I've had for a couple of years," he explains. "It's definitely a snippet of what I want to do musically, but I think as a debut project it's ticked all of the boxes I wanted to. All of the songs mean something to me in different ways, and that's really important for me."

Chief among them is the lead single, "Back at 25", a song steeped in the place that made him. "It's quite a nostalgic song," Rafferty says. "It's about the village I grew up in and the stories I've heard from family and friends all my life."

That sense of storytelling runs through everything he does, and it is one he is keen to defend as a living tradition rather than a lost art. "I think it's still strong with some artists; it can be framed in different ways," he says. I find that a lot of music today is very descriptive and personal, telling a story in that way. It's a really natural thing to do when writing a song." He points to two very different contemporaries as proof of the form's range: "Taylor Swift, for example, creates a whole world for her fans in her stories in songs, whereas Sam Fender tells his and other people's stories in a totally different way."



Nashville and the noise

Part of that debut EP was recorded in Music City itself, a pilgrimage Rafferty had wanted to make for years. "Nashville is obviously known as Music City because of its country music links," he says. "I'm a fan of old-school country and the history of it in Nashville; I always wanted to see where all of this music came from." The trip was as practical as it was romantic — "I also have management who are based there, so it made sense to go over and do some recording there, which was an incredible experience" — and it left more than just songs behind. "The sessions in Nashville were some of my favourites, and I've made some good friends over there now."

He admits that getting those songs heard once they're finished is a different challenge altogether. "I think all artists agree on the fact that it's never been easier to get music out in the world, but with the amount of music released every day it's really hard to be heard," Rafferty says. "It's definitely hard to cut through the noise and grab people's attention. There are so many different boxes you have to tick as an artist now; socials are usually considered the main one. It's definitely conflicting."

Barrowlands and Britpop

If Nashville represented a bucket-list ambition realised, so too did a rather more local landmark. Rafferty recently opened for the Bootleg Beatles at Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom, a venue whose reputation follows him wherever he goes. "Everyone in the music world mentions the Barrowlands when they find out I'm from Glasgow," he says. "To get to play on that stage in front of friends and family was a bucket list moment, and I'm really thankful to the guys for having me on as support."

It was, in its way, a full-circle booking, given that Rafferty's own musical awakening traces back to the band the Beatles helped inspire a generation later. He took up guitar as a teenager after seeing Noel Gallagher live, and the influence has never really left him. "Massively, I think they are just part of the culture here; I imagine every UK artist is influenced by them in some way," he says of Oasis. "My first gig was Noel Gallagher on his first solo tour; that gig is the reason I started learning guitar. Definitely a special band to me; never thought I'd get to see them in my lifetime, but I did on the tour last year in Edinburgh."

What's next

Asked where he would like his career to be in five years, Rafferty keeps his ambitions refreshingly unquantified. "I'd like people to be connecting with my music and finding a meaning in it for themselves," he says. "I'd like it to take me as far as it will let me go."

In the meantime, there is a small UK run to look forward to this September, taking in London on the 10th, Manchester, on the 11th, and Glasgow — inevitably, and rightly — on the 12th, for more information click here.