I'm sitting here listening to a selection of Tony Rose's songs, which have formed part of the soundtrack to my life over the last three decades, and they bring back a colourful jumble of memories of good times and bad, adventures and frustrations - busking for bikers in Glasgow at closing time as teenagers, playing under psychedelic strobes and oil-slides in the smoky Blues Basement in Edinburgh, attempts at rustic living in farmhouses in Ireland or crofts in the north of Scotland, criss-crossing Europe hitch-hiking and jumping trains, jamming and swapping songs on the Charles Bridge in Prague, spinning through the neon lights of Berlin or Amsterdam, epic drives across the USA and Canada, talking way into the night on more occasions than either of us would care to, or be able to, remember.

Tony's songs document the many facets of a rock'n'roll life that is not merely imagined, and the tracks on “Medicine Tunes” come from a difficult period involving disintegrating relationships, painful separation from his children, and the death of both of his parents. While the songs evidently deal with feelings of loss, confusion and despair, they also explore how these can eventually evolve towards something new and brighter through the healing effects of music, love and friendship. In spring 2017, in a house in rural France, Tony got together with four musicians with whom he has collaborated closely in various projects over the years, and the album was recorded in one session, with all the basic tracks played live together.

As a songwriter, Tony continually receives the highest accolade possible: lots of people sing his songs. To accompany the release of “Medicine Tunes”, we have assembled a collection of covers of Tony's songs, “Roll High and Roll Good”, some collected from existing albums, others recorded specially for the project, by musicians spread across four continents. The songs chosen span Tony's career so far, from the bands he played in in Edinburgh and Leeds in the late '80s, the Purple Rizla Experience (“Oh You Sweet Child”, “Hey you in the Darkness”) and the Fragments (“You Don't do Nothing Wrong”), his bands in Prague in the '90s, the Oul' Bogwarriors (“1000 Miles Away”, “Roll On”) and Band of Jakeys (“One Day I'll be Gone”, “Everything is Changing”), the reincarnation of the Purple Rizlas in Ireland in '94/95 (“Lostville”), and his Berlin projects from the 2000s, Impure Thoughts (“Angel Gabriel”, “So Blue”, “Please Kill Me” - in this case in a cajun French translation) and Two Dollar Bash (“100 Miles Behind”, “Old Man Song” - in a feminine version here). I have often thought it a shame that generally we only record tributes to musicians who have died, and not while they can appreciate them, so this starts a series of albums by talented songwriters which will be accompanied by a collection of covers of their songs.

Tony plays regular gigs, solo and with various bands, in Prague and around Europe. Long may he “roll high and roll good”. My glass is raised!

Mark Mulholland