WHEN HE WASN’T BUSY RECORDING THAT ONE CLASSIC ALBUM WITH ROCKPILE, SESSION GREAT BILLY BREMNER WAS GUESTING ON COUNTLESS RECORDINGS, INCLUDING THE PRETENDERS’ LEARNING TO CRAWL AND NICK LOWE’S “CRUEL TO BE KIND”

By Andrew Daly

Billy Bremner in action in London, 1977

GUS STEWART/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES

► BE IT BACKING up Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe or Chrissy Hynde as a member of the gone-way-too-soon Rockpile (which featured Edmunds and Lowe) or peeling off nifty solo records, Scottish guitarist Billy Bremner has merged the worlds of good-time rock ’n’ roll and rockabilly for more than 50 years.

One look at his discography, which includes records like Lowe’s Jesus of Cool (1978) and Labour of Lust (1979), Edmunds’ Repeat When Necessary (1979) and the Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl (1984), shows his versatility. And that’s probably one reason he detests being boxed into the rockabilly category.

“I’ve said it before, but I don’t classify myself as a rock ’n’ roll or rockabilly player,” Bremner says. “I would listen to Joe Pass, Hank Garland, Chet Atkins… I was trying to be as all-around as I could be.”

Bremner was able to be “all-around,” not just stylistically but literally, as he spent the Eighties palling around with everyone from Lowe and Edmunds to Elvis Costello and Pat McLaughlin. Along the way, he’s managed to drop five solo records, with the first being Bash! (1984), which Bremner didn’t care for at first, and the latest, 2018’s Singled Out.