From page to stage, folk duo The Bookshop Band take a novel approach

The latest chapter in Scotland’s musical success story in America has just been written, penned by husband-and-wife duo Ben Please and Beth Porter.

They have recently returned from performing in bookshops and libraries across the States, playing their vast repertoire of songs uniquely inspired by literature.

One of the venues where they performed was the famous New York Public Library and, closer to home, the duo are part of Granite Noir, Aberdeen’s crime-writing festival, and they play a concert there this evening to mark the event’s conclusion.

While an American library isn’t a typical music venue, The Bookshop Band are no typical music act.

Ben said: “It’s taken us on an amazing adventure and it’s been a great experience so far.

“Books have inspired songs for thousands of years but I don’t think there are any other bands who work so intensely in collaboration with authors.”

The unusual collaborative project began in 2010 in Ben’s home city of Bath.

“I was in another band at the time and we’d just released an album,” Ben explained. “My mum told me about a local bookstore, Mr B’s Emporium Of Reading Delights, and I asked the owner, Nic, if he would stock our record.

“I got to know him quite well and when he said he was looking to revamp the author nights he held in his shop, he asked if I would write a song based around the theme of each book he was hosting.”

Ben recruited cellist Beth – who has worked alongside acts like The Proclaimers, Mel C and Royal Blood – and Poppy Pitt and, by the end of the fifth author evening at Mr B’s, the trio realised they had enough material for an album – and so The Bookshop Band was born.

Authors were soon asking for slots at Mr B’s just so the band would write a song for their novel.

Poppy later left the band, and Ben and Beth made the move to Scotland’s official “book town”, Wigtown, after stumbling upon it by accident.

“We went there for the first time by chance,” Ben smiled. “We were on tour and a scheduled concert in Penrith was cancelled, so I had a look at where else was nearby and saw this cluster of bookshops on the map.

“I contacted Adrian Turpin, the director of the Wigtown Book Festival, and he organised a concert for us.

“We had the most wonderful couple of days there and we always made sure to go back any time we were in the area.

“After meeting so many people, there was a bit of a running joke that we should move to Wigtown.

“A couple of years ago, the house we were living in near Bristol became very damp and Beth found out she was pregnant, so when we next went up to Wigtown and saw some houses were available, it just seemed to make sense.” They have now written more than 100 songs based on books and have performed in more than 200 bookshops and libraries around the UK and Ireland.

Among the bestselling novelists who have guest-performed on the band’s albums are Joanne Harris, who wrote Chocolat, and Louis de Bernieres, most famous for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.

Ben said: “I don’t think there are other bands who work in collaboration so intensely with authors but people have been writings songs about books for thousands of years.

“ There is an endless supply of inspiration.”

Ben and Beth performed in 15 bookstores and two public libraries on their American adventure, which came about thanks to their relocation to Wigtown.

The New York Times literary critic, Dwight Garner, was visiting the Dumfries and Galloway town to research an article and heard The Bookshop Band play. In his article, he implored America’s independent bookshops to invite them over.

Ben, joined on tour with 19-month-old daughter Molly, said: “America has always been a powerhouse of great literature so it was hugely exciting to go over and perform in some of America’s best bookstores.

“It creates such a great atmosphere to be singing about books surrounded by them on the shelves.”

The Bookshop Band, Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, 7pm, tonight