Deacon Blue singer-songwriter Ricky Ross will release his sixth solo album, Trouble Came Looking, via Edsel, on April 8th, 2013. Set against a backdrop of global economic recession, the record’s raw, acoustic tales of poverty, displacement and desperation herald Ross’s starkest and most urgent work to date. To mark its release, Ross has announced a UK tour of intimate venues in April / May, at which he’ll perform Deacon Blue and solo songs as they were originally written, backed by Deacon Blue guitarist Gregor Philp.

While last year saw Scottish pop favourites Deacon Blue celebrate their 25th Anniversary with a Top 20 LP (The Hipsters) and a large-scale sold-out UK tour, 2013 sees Ross focus on untold stories and unheard voices. He says of Trouble Came Looking: “I wanted to tell these people’s stories, to lay them down, without anything getting in the way. The songs are rough round the edges, they’re barely written. I’ve never done that before.”

Trouble Came Looking’s lyrics and music reinforce its social climate of scarcity, necessity and lack of choice – from its first-person narratives to its stirring, pared-back arrangements, as cannily augmented by Philp (guitar, banjo, mandolin) and Lewis Gordon (double bass). “There’s no backing vocals, no extra instrumentation. And I wrote most of the songs on guitar, on the only two chords I know,” laughs Ross.

Ross, who also presents BBC Radio Scotland’s Another Country and Sunday Morning With… says of his forthcoming UK tour: “This is a great opportunity for me – it’s going to be an adventure for one thing. Gregor and I will drive ourselves around the country. The idea was to stop pretty much anywhere that had a piano, so that we could set up with minimal fuss. I’m looking forward to playing places we couldn’t get to with Deacon Blue, and sharing the untold stories behind my songs in churches and village halls.”

Trouble Came Looking is available to download here: http://bit.ly/10MWEh8

And on CD here: http://amzn.to/XB1Mtt