A song born while walking the dog, or the chorus was anyway. The verses were inspired by a book by Montrose author Forbes Inglis. His book, The Sea Enriches, is a history of the river Southesk which serves as Montrose harbour and twice daily fills “the basin” which hosts tens of thousands of geese every […]
The Wren And The Salt Air by Jenny Sturgeon
‘The Wren And The Salt Air’ is a collection of songs and tunes by Scottish singer-songwriter Jenny Sturgeon. It was written to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Scottish archipelago of St Kilda becoming a World Heritage Site for its natural features. This collection of music was commissioned by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) […]
Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner/ Trip to Breckon by Vair
Trip To Breckon (Contradiction- Trad) (Freefalling – Michael McGoldrick) (The Hard Drive – Fred Morrison) The band are always grateful that they’ve managed to hear and play with fantastic local and visiting musicians. Ryan learnt the first tune in this set from one of the band’s heroes, Tim Edey, who has played up in Shetland […]
Princess Rosanna by Top Floor Taivers
Taken from the debut album ‘A Delicate Game’, Princess Rosanna is a song by Scottish singer songwriter Findlay Napier. Findlay was inspired to write this song after seeing graffiti that said “RIP Princess Rosanna” whilst on a run along the river Clyde in Glasgow. Top Floor Taivers are a young and fresh Glasgow based band […]
Anna’s Lullaby by Hannah Rarity
A lullaby I wrote for the birth of my close friend’s baby girl, Anna, based on traditional Scottish lullaby melodies. Featuring Innes White on guitar and keys and Sally Simpson on fiddle. Introduced to the Scottish folk scene a mere few years ago, Hannah Rarity’s spellbinding voice and warm, genuine stage manner have seen her […]
Apocalypse by Kaela Rowan
A beautiful unusual and ethereal track from Kaela ‘s debut Solo Album, Menagerie, released on Shoogle Records in June 2014 Described by Folkwords thus: “Listening to this album will do you so much good the medical profession should prescribe it” Tim Carrol , Folkwords: 13/06/2014 “..A powerfully unique album” Norman Chalmers Scotland on Sunday:08/0614**** “Sensuous […]
How Many More Willie McBrides? by Liza Mulholland
Like so many others who were against Tony Blair’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003, I grew increasingly horrified by the carnage as the war and occupation lurched on, amid revelations of the lies and deceit on which the whole escapade was based. One day a news report stated that one hundred British, and a […]
Gem Anemone by Neil Thomson
The words are a poem about the 12mm sized Gem Anemone written by Gerry Cambridge from his book, “Nothing but Heather!” The poem has been set to music written and recorded by Neil Thomson and features an underwater audio sample recorded by Nick Turner 30 feet underwater off Ardnamurchan Point featuring the sound of ‘Pistol […]
Maiden Stone by Jenny Sturgeon
‘Maiden Stone’ is the opening track on ‘From the Skein’, one of several songs on the album inspired by regional folklore. The Maiden Stone is a Pictish standing stone which is located at the back of Bennachie Hill, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This track tells the local tale of how the standing stone came to be […]
Jute Mill Song/Song For Mary by The Shee
Song for Mary was written by Karine Polwart for the band as part of our ten year anniversary project Continuum. We are grateful to the School of Scottish Studies for the permission to use Mary Brooksbanks’ voice on the recording. Karine wrote the following for our sleeve notes: “I love Rachel’s singing and playing and […]
