Duo making a noise in Partick

Stalwarts Dave Dick and Jim Gilbert are no strangers to it — in fact, they’ve been doing the rounds for years, each in various bands or flying solo for acoustic sets.

Guitar player Dave, who moved to the westend aged 17, made his way up in the music world listening to black acoustic blues, honing his guitar skills in bands like The Whole Hog and busking trips as far flung as London and Paris.

Together with a young Eddi Reader and fellow guitarist Angus Aird, he toured Scotland under the name Pigmeat, before taking a break from the world of music to take up a career as a professional bird conservationist, from which he retired in 2006.

Partick-born Jim, meanwhile, started out playing soul music on an electric guitar before turning to acoustic and playing the folk club and festival circuit in bands like the Original Kingston Bridge Trio and Sean Mcghee’s Limited Edition.

The two have been gaining momentum as a double act called Wing and a Prayer, and recognition from dedicated folk fans too – no mean feat in a city steeped in the genre.

The result is a first foray into professional recording with an album called Making Hay recorded in an apt rural studio in Moffat.

Promising “original songs with a country blues flavour, occasionally wandering into the Americana/roots and rhythm and blues fields”, it’s full of original tracks influenced and adapted from the duo’s favourite samples, eschewing percussion to rely on those acoustic guitars.

Tomorrow (Friday) sees the album launched to regulars at the Partick Folk Club – a date that’s been a long time coming for the turned-professional musicians.

And for the Tchai Ovna regulars, described by Dave as “pretty much locals, although we play all over the country”, there can be no better place to relaunch into the world of folk.

Wing and a Prayer perform at Partick Folk Club (St Peter’s hall, Chancellor Street) to launch Making Hay on Friday (November 25) at 8pm.