Twenty years ago The Alan Lomax Foundation [ACE] did a deal with Boston-based Rounder Records to issue CDs of as much as possible from his thousands of hours of worldwide recordings and archives. Soon enough they turned to his 1951 collecting roar around Scotland, and his 1950s London hours of song and interview with Jeannie … Continued

📷 Photo by Sophia Rose Lockley I’m always running out of pocket space in summer. Growing up in Scotland, I’m used to being wrapped up in jumpers and jackets with so many different pockets to keep all my change and keys and other trinkets in. It’s not unusual for me to have multiple books crammed … Continued

📷 Photo by Rufus Huggan Hello there! My name is John Dew, a musician and composer from Crieff, and I’m really excited to bring my debut album ‘Mackerel Sky’ out to the world. This album, building from my E.P. ‘The High Bridge Walk’, was inspired by the ever-changing atmosphere up above and explores how multiple … Continued

Hello! I’m Isla, a fiddle player and Manx Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Man. I moved to Scotland to study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland a few years ago and loved Glasgow so much I decided to stay after graduating last July. Although I now live in Scotland, the culture, language and music … Continued

I first contacted poet, Rab Wilson in 2016 looking for poems relating to industry in and around Ayrshire, in particular in my native Lallans Scots. I had been commissioned by Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival to write a 50 min piece of new music as part of their New Voices concert series and I decided to … Continued

The Scots are universally known for their entrepreneurial spirit. As musicians, our creative spirit is generally at the heart of what drives us. Never have these two values been so important as we try to overcome what is the most testing period of our generation. Back on the 9th of March 2020, we had just … Continued

(📷 Photos by Sandy Butler) Hi there! I’m Becky, a harpist based in Glasgow. When I was asked to write a blog I pondered over writing about my lockdown home recording set up and a step-by-step process of my recent virtual harp series. However, I’ve decided to speak a little more about how creating regular online … Continued

Hello… we are Kristan and Jeana, one half of Scottish/Orkney folk band, FARA. It’s a pleasure to be asked to write this blog about one of the things we got up to during the lockdown of 2020! Back when FARA began – the unexpected result of a one-off concert at 2014’s Orkney Folk Festival – … Continued

Hello! My name is Chris Gray and I’m a Scottish piper, whistle player, pianist and composer, originally from Lockerbie in the South West of Scotland. This past year, during the pandemic, has highlighted even more to me the intense pleasure of having the freedom to travel, and experience new places and opportunities. It is something … Continued

Is there nothing new under the sun? It sometimes seems not. While 2020 will be remembered as the year we all discovered Zoom and online sessions, it is interesting to note that this is a phenomenon that has a precedent right back at least to the early 20th Century, when telephone lines were few and … Continued