Roddy Woomble

Roddy Woomble first drew attention during the closing years of the 1990s and the start of the following decade as the lead singer of the Scottish rock outfit Idlewild, which issued several records before he opted to pursue work on his own. Born north of the border in 1976, he spent his early years moving between countries, residing in France and the United States before establishing himself in Edinburgh, where he enrolled to study photography. There he encountered the musicians who would later form Idlewild, and the group came together in 1995. Over the course of five albums the band moved away from its raw, punk-derived origins toward a style steeped in folk elements. Capitalizing on that evolution, Woomble paused band activities to immerse himself in traditional Scottish folk music and develop his own songs, resulting in the July 2006 appearance of his first solo record, My Secret Is My Silence. Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones, vocalist Kate Rusby, and Woomble’s spouse Ailidh Lennon—bassist with Sons and Daughters—were among those who contributed to the project.

After My Secret Is My Silence reached the top of the U.K. folk listings, Woomble felt motivated to revisit the genre once Idlewild completed their fifth album, Make Another World, in 2007. On that occasion he shared equal credit with fellow singers Kris Drever and John McCusker for the 2008 collection Before the Ruin. Maintaining his dual focus, Woomble rejoined Idlewild, who had parted ways with Sanctuary Records following the label’s acquisition by Universal Music Group. Operating independently, the band finished Post Electric Blues and made it available directly through its website in June 2009; an official edition arrived via the indie imprint Cooking Vinyl that December. A month afterward, Woomble began composing material for a second solo outing that retained the folk leanings of his debut while incorporating greater electric instrumentation. The Impossible Song & Other Songs surfaced in the opening months of 2011.

For his solo endeavors Woomble assembled a fresh ensemble comprising Seonaid Aitken on violin and keyboards, Sorren Maclean on guitar, Gavin Fox on bass, and Danny Grant on drums; together they entered the studio to capture his third solo album, Listen to Keep, issued in 2013. A performance given that same year by Woomble and his group—now consisting of Maclean alongside newcomers Hannah Fisher on fiddle, Craig Ainslie on bass, and Luciano Rossi on piano—was documented on the limited-edition Live at King's Place, released in August 2014. After a period of inactivity Idlewild reconvened, enabling Woomble to participate in the creation of their seventh album, Everything Ever Written, which appeared in 2015 along with subsequent live dates. He then resumed solo activity, steering his fourth studio effort, The Deluder, toward a more introspective and somber tone in 2017. Once that record emerged, he reunited with Idlewild to mark the fifteenth anniversary of The Remote Part and to begin work on their ninth album, Interview Music. The band observed its twenty-fifth year in 2020, although planned concerts were abandoned because of COVID-19 restrictions. Woomble used the resulting downtime to complete the authorized Idlewild history In the Beginning There Were Answers: 25 Years of Idlewild and to initiate his fifth solo project. Departing from the acoustic folk of earlier releases, he pursued an experimental direction that introduced synthesizers, brass, and spoken-word passages. Lo! Soul reached listeners in mid-2021.