A day in the life with the songwriter and lead singer of Deacon Blue

Lead image: Deacon Blue performing at Usher Hall. Credit: Jamie Carter

A day in the life can be pretty changeable for me, depending on whether I’m on tour or not. Today is probably quite a bad day to ask me about routines, as we were out with friends last night until late, and I’m not long up. We’re not 5am risers – we’re reasonably late people, although Lorraine, my wife [and fellow Deacon Blue bandmate] is much more late-night than I am. 

In the run-up to a tour I’m a bit more disciplined with keeping fit, and I get up in the mornings to go running. I managed to slightly injure my knee when I was skiing a few weeks ago, so that’s my excuse not to go running at the moment. We’re at home for the next couple of months, so I’m just enjoying that freedom. 

If I’m working in the studio, I’ll do a lot of songwriting during the day then stop at 5pm. I love cooking, so I enjoy a quick scurry down to the shops for some bits, then making a meal while I’m listening to the radio. At the moment I’m going back and forth to the piano in the evening, as I’ve got a solo show coming up in support of homeless charity, Simon Community Scotland.

Ricky Ross and Frances Poet. Credit: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

I’ve been writing songs for Small Acts of Love [a production about the friendships formed in the wake of the Lockerbie bombing] for the past five years. It’s like writing a record. You can’t sit down and do it all at once. There are so many aspects to this story, but one of the biggest parts is the relationship between Scotland and America. It’s reopening the Citizens Theatre, so when Frances Poet [the playwright] and I started talking about writing it, I got quite excited.

We took something that I’m more familiar with musically – Americana – which is really music that’s come from that Celtic heartland, gone over to America, then been reinterpreted and come back again. That’s one of the templates of how the music will appear to people, in my head. Music allows an expression of emotion that doesn’t necessarily come through in text in the same way. You get those pulls on the heart differently than you would with just straight dialogue.

None of us thought we would be in the global situation we are now when we started writing Small Acts of Love. Our story focuses on the people of Lockerbie being kind and welcoming during this time of horrible grief. There was this real need from the community of grieving people in America and Lockerbie to support each other in different ways. It’s still very moving to find out how much care and attention was given by Lockerbie residents to the slightest detail. I think that relationship between North America and Scotland has always been there, but 2025 is a good time to remind people.

Lighting test at Citizens Theatre. Credit: Mark Liddell

I’m looking ahead to touring the UK and Ireland in the autumn. Tours can be arduous as you get older – there are long travel days, plus the soundcheck and a two-hour show. You just have to pace yourself. If you’re a singer, you tend not to do a lot of speaking during the day to save your voice.

Our latest album, The Great Western Road, marks 40 years of Deacon Blue. It is quite reflective, but it’s also steaming into the uncertain future. As far as the band goes, we don’t make any big plans – if we’re enjoying it, we’ll do it, and that’s the way we move forward. 

If I’m not performing, I like to get out and see the artists that we support on my BBC radio show, Another Country. Even if you go to a gig that you don’t really love or wasn’t as good as you hoped it would be, you always learn something. Nine times out of ten I’ll see a gig and think: ‘Wow, wish I’d thought of that.’ I recently saw country singer-songwriter, Sam Outlaw. He’s such a beautiful singer and actually a bit of a friend now. My son was kicking about the house, so he came with me, and it was lovely seeing it through his eyes as well. 

It’s ironic that I’m now involved in the theatre, because that is my chosen thing. I’m happy to go to the theatre on my own if there’s something I want to see – more so than gigs, actually. Aside from that, there’s always a pile of books by the bed that I’m hoping to get through, but I’m not sure there’s anything else I’m missing out on in life. Everything feels reasonably balanced at the moment.

Small Acts of Love will reopen Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre. The production runs from 9th September – 4th October