Red Sky July are a trio with a phenomenal pedigree – husband and wife duo Ally McErlaine and Shelly Poole, and
singer Charity Hair – all of whom have been steeped in music for as long as they can remember.
With her sister Karen, Shelly Poole was one half of the million-selling duo Alisha’s Attic. The daughter of famed ‘60s
artist Brian Poole, music was always around Shelly as a young child and she learned to read and compose music at
a very early age. Since the band’s split in 2003 Shelly has gone on to become a successful songwriter for other
artists, as well as releasing a solo album Hard Time For The Dreamer.
Ally McErlaine has had a guitar in his hand for most of his adult life. Sitting in his bedroom as a teenager and
teaching himself how to play along to his favourite records, Ally joined Texas when he was just 17. He has been
touring with them since 1988, selling over 15 million albums worldwide in the process. Ally and Shelly married in
2001.
Charity Hair hails from the small town of Plant City in Florida, and developed a love for playing music after being
given a violin by her grandmother at the age of 8. Scouted by a modelling agency at the age of 18, Charity soon
moved to London and ended up forming The Alice Band with two other girls she had met. It was during this time
she first met Ally while performing on a TV show at the same time as Texas. Later she would become singer for The
Ailerons, performing alongside drummer Dave Rowntree (Blur) – who had signed Shelly to his record label. Charity
has previously performed at several of Shelly’s solo gigs, and the three all kept in touch over the years, always
wanting to work together but never quite finding the right moment or material.
Red Sky July came together to make music they love with no boundaries and expectations. It was set to be a
‘soulfood’ side project that would bring a few low key gigs and be a great contrast to their song writing day jobs.
One day a week soon became five, and a group of songs with a hazy, folk-inflected sound soon found their way
into shaping and becoming a whole album. All three would later testify that the song writing process was one of
the easiest of their respective careers, with songs and lyrics literally tumbling out as they discussed past
relationships and experiences. Working with no boundaries or expectations, what transpired was an album written
for the sheer pleasure of making music together.
Yet there was a two-year break where the entire project was put on standby – Ally suffered a major brain
aneurysm and was in a critical state for over a year. The focus, of course, shifted to getting Ally fit and healthy.
Once he was suitably recovered, the trio recorded the album live in Bristol with producer Rory Carlile to give each
song a sense of danger and fragility. As Shelly noted, “We can’t help but make music that sounds like it’s about to
fall to pieces, but somehow it stays together.”
On its eventual release in 2011, the album garnered wide media support with Q Magazine describing it as “a
timeless blend of vocals & intricate twang…. As atmospheric as it is emotional”, the Evening Standard as “a
seductive, exuberant mix of voices” and the Daily Telegraph as “well-crafted songs featuring slick harmonies”. The
release also saw support on national radio stations including Radio 2 (who described the band as having
“mesmerising vocals, touching lyrics, beautiful melodies and a sense of self belief”) and appearances on national
TV including BBC Breakfast.
Consummate live performers, a headline national tour and support slots with the likes of Deacon Blue, James
Walsh (Starsailor) preceded the group joining Jools Holland as special guests on his UK summer tour, returning
later that year to perform at his sold out performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The trio also performed
at the Scottish Music Awards where they were presented with a prestigious Tartan Clef award by Nordoff-Robbins
Music Therapy.
They toured with renowned Nashville singer/songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman on her UK tour, both opening for
her and performing as her band. As well as special guest support slots with Steve Earle, 10cc, Mary Gauthier and
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Sheryl Crow, Red Sky July took to the road for their own headline tour and throughout 2014 performed over 50
shows to more than 50,000 people.
Summer 2014 Red Sky July returned with Lay Down Your Love the first single from new album Shadowbirds
(released in Sept 14′). Lay Down Your Love is Shelly explains “about asking for a break when you’ve really had as
much as you can take…Does it always have to be the hard way?” and is a perfect appetiser for ‘Shadowbirds’.
The album was produced by Ross Hamilton and Michael Bannister of Glasgow’s Rocket Science Studios with
musical collaboration from Mark Neary and Ally’s Texas bandmates Ross McFarlane and Eddie Campbell, “the
great thing about recording in Glasgow is that we can call on these amazing musicians to work with us. We
recorded the entire album in one week” Ally recalls.
Gorgeous harmonies, beautiful melodies, top-drawer songwriting, signature guitar playing and an Americanainflected, alt-country twang are the name of the game. Themes of hope, love, loss and despair are often couched
in contrasting music – the foot-tapping jauntiness of Here Then Gone masks the desolation of the lyrics; whilst
New Morning Light’s more mournful melody is actually about a positive change in the air.
Stories of relationships – both doomed and enduring – sit alongside tales of tragedy and affirmation. Elsewhere
Renegade was written after reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy “we think it is how the book would
sound if it had noise” Charity reveals. Anglo-Italian singer/songwriter Jack Savoretti features, and shares the
writing duties with Shelly, on Any Day Now, a song inspired by the diaries of Karen Christenze Dinesen (the
inspiration for the film Out Of Africa).
Further singles followed on from the success of the album, ‘Losing You’, ‘New Morning Light’ and ‘Christmas Time’
which quickly gathered critical praise, radio airplay and performances from the likes of Radio 2, Radio London,
Radio Scotland, Amazing Radio, Bauer Radio to name but a few. When asked what they wanted to achieve when
they started making the album Shelly simply replies “We just wanted to make something beautiful” – mission
accomplished.
2015 will see the band returning to the studio to record their hugely anticipated third album, whilst continuing to
delight fans with their intimate live performances.
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