The Great Lakes marks the latest twist in the story of the Deacon Blue bandmates who became husband and wife, later actress and radio star.

Now, the album that cast Lorraine McIntosh and Ricky Ross as equals, is going live and on tour.

And for the second night of the tour, the duo and their band stop off in Inverness with their band.

Ricky and Lorraine will be joined on stage by their good friend Davie Scott of The Pearlfishers plus the band's Jamie Gash plus former Danny Wilson member Ged Grimes and Teenage Fanclub's Dave McGowan.

With Deacon Blue on an indefinite break with just the occasional special gig on the horizon, McIntosh Ross is the chance for Deacon Blue fans to see something different from Lorraine and Ricky.

Already, the album has been receiving glowing reviews.

And McIntosh Ross have been invited to perform some songs from the album with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on November 29 at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh. Of course, both have careers that have kept developing over the years.

Ricky has branched out as a songwriter, and written songs with and for other people – James Blunt, Ronan Keating, Will Young, Nanci Griffith and Jamie Cullum, among others.

Lorraine's acting has made her recognisable to a whole new generation of TV viewers in Scotland as Alice in River City, and beyond in recent BBC drama series Hope Springs, plus film roles.

Though they have a big family too – four youngsters to look after – it seemed that having come up with the idea to do an album together, they were determined to make it happen.

And to make writing, recording and performing the songs fun – and the kind of experience that challenges.

But why now and not before?

Ricky laughed: "It never really occurred to us before.

"I think the songs probably were what really changed that.

"We came up with some songs and we thought 'This feels like we can make a record'."

Ricky said: "I write all the time – and with other people – and over the last couple of years I've been going to Nashville to write songs.

"Lorraine did some singing on them and that got her interested in writing again too.

"Of course, Lorraine has written before and she plays a lot of guitar in the house."

Ricky added: "But she would probably say that she doesn't finish things."

Ricky decided to help move the songs on. My role was to find little bits of stuff Lorraine had taped – and rescue them – and see if we could finish them, writing together."

A series of demos then meant it was time to think through where the songs might go.

With 20 years and counting with Deacon Blue, the trick for any musician, would be creating a new way of working to avoid going down familiar byways.

Both write and sing on the album.

Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh... out on tour as McIntosh Ross and stopping off at Ironworks, Inverness, on Wednesday.

And they didn't want to over-complicate the songs – or the arrangements.

Heading off to America became another new way to make a break from the familiar.

Ricky said: "We thought we would go away so we would concentrate on doing the songs.

"We have a big family, but we had to abandon them for a while! We thought if we left home for a wee while that would be good. And we wanted to work with different musicians – people we wouldn't normally get to work with – and we had such a great pool of American musicians."

But from the start, there were some clear ideas for the way the project would develop.

"Having chosen America as the place to record the album, the duo then had the chance to play with some dream-team American musicians. At the Red Star Studio in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, Lorraine and Ricky teamed up with some of America's alt.country elite.

Mark Howard – who has worked with Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and produced Lucinda Williams' World Without Tears album – was hired to produce.

And he helped choose musicians to work on the album, including drummer Steven Nistor (Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse), bass player Daryl Johnson (Emmylou Harris, the Neville Brothers) and on pedal steel and banjo, Lucinda Williams' guitarist Doug Pettibone.

Completing the line-up was one familiar Scottish face, Ricky's and Lorraine's old friend Davie Scott of The Pearl Fishers, as guitarist and backing vocalist. He produced Ricky's last solo album, Pale Rider.

The album, maybe not surprisingly, straddles the Atlantic with sounds that have both the Scottish and American roots at the heart of it, well on show.

And for Deacon Blue fans, used to the classy pop of songs such as Dignity, Chocolate Girl and Real Gone Kid, there's more of a foray into the rootsier, even folkier feel of their temporary American base, in these McIntosh Ross songs.

Ricky revealed that they called on close friend Davie Scott of The Pearlfishers for his view.

"We wanted him to be our listening ears and he had helped us to do some of the demos."

And when the couple were trying to choose which songs to include on the album, Davie's opinion was invaluable "It's great to have someone you trust, to ask," said Ricky.

Now Davie is appearing as part of the McIntosh Ross band.

Ricky said: "The last time I did a solo tour, Davie was with me. This time, we're taking a whole band and it will be the show of the record. We've got a great bunch of musicians, but it won't be like a Deacon Blue show. "

And there will the chance for Lorraine and Ricky to play Inverness – it's a long time since both played the city.

"We haven't played a gig in Inverness for years and years, though we had a great time with Deacon Blue for two nights in Strathpeffer last year. Hopefully the people who were there will come along to see this show. It will be pretty special. We feel that even if this doesn't make money, it's just something we want to do."

And what had the Great Lakes experience brought to the couple?

Ricky said: "I think we both enjoyed doing the music – and it didn't drive us mad! It was great working together."

* McIntosh Ross play the Ironworks, Inverness, on Wednesday supported by Texan musician Darden Smith. For more details, go to www.mcintoshross.com

entertainment@highland-news.co.uk

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