Buck Meek @ The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 28 Aug

Buck Meek – wrapped in myth and mischief from the get-go – bids us good morning on a dreich Glasgow evening, complimenting the jagged guitar aerobics of main support Robert Sotelo before checking his own road-worn electric is operational. Returning to the microphone and muting his instrument, we're treated to a gentle yet bold introduction with two songs sung a capella, including Best Friend – taken from the self-titled record Meek is here in support of – during which he calls out a 'two-timing snake-eyed con man.' Originally hailing from Texas, Meek is all southern charm: softly spoken, gracious and philosophical, his songs the stomping ground of outlaws, chancers, dear friends, honest mechanics and grandmothers in need.

Like his characters, Meek’s distinctive vocal often pulls through after a split-second on the brink of collapse, occupying a rare, spine-tingling sweet spot in the process that exists just beyond the ken of less invested and intuitive performers. Big Thief fans will be well aware of his wildly expressive and emotive guitar-playing, and though largely confined to the lower half of the neck tonight as a solo performer, he still makes his guitar shudder and sing on Joe by the Book. There's a remarkable vitality to his songs – more like snapshots than statements in their honest, conversational approach – as coin tosses, stolen kisses and classic cars fill the imagination of an enraptured Hug & Pint audience.

Pointing to the space each member will occupy when he returns to Scotland in “January or February” next year, Meek introduces his absent solo band before offering a captivating cover of Twain’s High Tide, a song from his bass player’s own formidable repertoire (“we’re gonna play one of Matt’s songs”). Cuts from his 2015 release Heart Was Beat (which can and should be found on Bandcamp) feature alongside a beautiful Exit 7 Roses, and he concludes (by popular demand) with a guitar-less rendition of Townes Van Zandt’s Two Girls. Meek achieves so much with so little, making each note count and every silence speak.

While Big Thief are slowly but surely becoming one of the most critically-acclaimed folk outfits touring today (recently opening for The National in theatres across the States after selling out their last three Scottish dates) Meek seems perfectly content in the modest space he is occupying tonight, and we're left charmed and transfixed by his intimate tales that feel refreshingly old-fashioned but never nostalgic in their Carver-esque infatuation with simple pleasures and rights and wrongs. Meek is a humble, restless and joyful performer. Look for his return.